Loretta took off her helmet and shook her hair. “Papà is protective. Sometimes I feel like a bird in a cage that isn’t allowed to fly.”
“He only wants what’s best for you, and to be sure that studying in Milan is the right option for you.”
“He has told you this?” Loretta raised both eyebrows. “I will not know what is right or wrong for me until I try it. Has he asked you to spy on me?”
Ginny thought it was better to tell the truth. She pinched her thumb and forefinger together in the air. “Maybe a little.”
The teenager twitched a smile. “I am bored of living in the same place and doing the same things. Papà has to accept this. Splendido is stuck in time and I no longer want to study fashion. I try to explain this to him, but he does not listen.”
“Youareonly seventeen...” Ginny stopped herself from saying more. She’d only been a year older than Loretta when she’d told her mum that she was in love with Adrian Splinter.
Ginny’s mum had tutted in response. “You’re too young to say things like that. There are millions of people in the world. Don’t commit to one of them so quickly.”
“Love isn’t a decision, like choosing a library book,” Ginny had argued. “It’s a chemical reaction.”
“That’s the voice of youth, right there,” her mum had said with a sharp laugh. “You’ll live and learn.”
Ginny was certain that loving someone for a lifetime was possible, and she’d been proof of it until Adrian had stamped on her heart.
She followed Loretta toward the bustling market. Vigornuovo village square had become a community gathering space. The stalls all had white canopies and there was much laughter and sharing of recipes. All the fruit and vegetables looked plumper and more vibrant than in any English supermarket and loaves were the size of small pillows. Ginny could smell fresh herbs and the sharp tang of vinegar.
Loretta chatted with a stallholder in Italian and pointed to a red pepper. “Has Papà told you about my mother?” she asked Ginny.
“Only a little.”
“She left three years ago, yet Papà still waits for her to come back. He won’t change anything, about the hotel or himself, until she returns. It’s like he needs her permission to move on.”
Ginny didn’t want to pry but wanted to understand. “Why did she leave?”
“Work.” Loretta’s face clouded. “Mamma wanted Papà to renovate the hotel and Nonna wanted him to keep it exactly the same, so Papà was caught between them. Mamma said my nonna acted like Papà’s wife, not like his mother.”
“And what didhewant?”
“To please them both. It was an impossible task. How can you please others until you please yourself first?” She headed toward another stall. “After Nonna died, Mamma soon realized she and Papà couldn’t afford to transform Splendido. She took up a job as a hotel manager in Naples, a long way away, vowing to return when she’d earned enough money to update our hotel. I stayed with her a few times, and she kept in touch with Papà, but when the pandemic came it meant we could not see her for many months and our calls grew fewer. I think Mamma liked her new life alone and decided to stay in Naples. It is like she has forgotten she has a family at home.
“Papà blames himself and hopes she will return to Vigornuovo one day, but I know she never will. I wish she would tell him the truth and I have taken down photographs of her from the hallway. Papà keeps them in his room instead.”
Ginny wanted to give Loretta a hug but the teenager’s eyes were defiant. She weaved her way around the shoppers in the market and Ginny struggled to keep up.
She noticed young men coyly glancing at Loretta, while others were more obvious with their stares. However, the teenager was oblivious to their attention. Loretta bought some big juicy tomatoes and they ate them as they walked.
Ginny sensed she should change the subject. “Your dad told me it’s your birthday soon and he doesn’t know what you want.”
Loretta finished her tomato. “I want to celebrate with my friends, perhaps a nice lunch at Castello Bella Vista. When Mamma was here, we once had a slumber party, watching films in our pajamas and eating pizza. It was fun.”
A man selling olives said something to Loretta in Italian and winked. She shook a finger at him and held up Ginny’s hand, showing off her wedding ring. “Tsk.”
“What did he say?” Ginny whispered.
“He said you are beautiful and ripe, like the grapes used for finest wine.”
Ginny didn’t know whether to be flattered or offended. She felt her cheeks burning.
Loretta nudged her arm. “Come on, we have lots to buy,” she said.
They strolled around the market armed with Nico’s shopping list, buying bread, strawberries, cherries and carrots. Ginny didn’t know how they’d possibly carry everything back on the moped.
Loretta pushed her purse into her bag and fixed her eyes on a boy leaning against a red moped. “Un momento,” she said to Ginny. “There is someone I want to speak to.”
