Ginny narrowed her eyes at him. “Bess was Eric’s best friend, just as much as youweremine,” she said.
Adrian sat back as if she’d punched him in the chest. “Ouch,” he said. “I suppose I deserve that.”
“Yes, you do.”
“Sorry, I stand corrected. They’re all lucky to have you sorting out their problems.”
“We’ve been helping out each other.” Ginny set the photo frame to one side. “I’m not trying to be the Patron Saint of Problems any longer.”
Adrian digested her words. “When I saidthat, I didn’t mean it as a bad thing. Maybe I’ve felt left out, because you’re always helping others...”
“I’ve tried to help you, too, and you didn’t like it.”
Adrian ran a finger around the collar of his sweater. “IknowI’ve been thoughtless and unreasonable. I know you’ve deserved more from me. Lots of people lock their problems away and I’m one of them. I can’t expect you to be a mind reader.” He reached out and smoothed his thumb across the back of her hand. “Itisreally good to see you.”
Ginny couldn’t deny that she felt the same way, too. Adrian was the person she’d thought of when she was tumbling in the waves and coughing up salt water on the beach. He was her partner in life, her friend and soul mate. His touch raised a flutter in her stomach.
“I miss our life together,” Adrian said. “Nearing fifty years old feels like the curtain coming down halfway through a play. You shuffle off to the bar to get a drink and then forget what’s just happened on stage. I’m sorry it took Phoebe’s pregnancy to make me appreciate what we had, what we dohave, together.”
They both fell quiet so the only sound was the chirrup of crickets in the undergrowth. Ginny curled her fingers away from him. The hurt Adrian had caused her was so deep it would take more than just words to heal it. “Showing up with a present doesn’t mend the things you’ve said and done,” she said.
“That’s just the start...” Adrian paused. “There’s something else, too.”
A metallic taste appeared in Ginny’s mouth and she swallowed it away. “What is it?”
“I’m staying at the castle hotel on the hill and have spoken to the owner, Gianfranco. He says we can still renew our wedding vows, just like you wanted to. We can have a fresh start, look to the future and leave everything behind us.”
Ginny felt like she’d been pushed off a high diving board and was bracing herself for a belly flop. Her head floated upward as her stomach plunged to the depths of her body. Adrian was saying all the things she’d wanted to hear, so why did his suggestion sound like white noise in her brain? Shecouldn’trenew her wedding vows with him. She was on holiday with Eric, Edna, Heather and Curtis and had to think about them. She had to make amends with Nico and make sure Loretta was okay.
Her pulse quickened when she pictured herself with Nico in the Venetian garden, his lips pressing softly against hers. She wished she had a fan to waft her face.
“Come back to Castello Bella Vista with me tonight,” Adrian said. “I’ve got a suite with an enormous bed and a whirlpool bath. You only have a few days of your holiday left and we can spend it together in style.”
“I can’t leave my friends, just like that...”
“Surely, they won’t mind. You’ve only known them a little over two weeks. Please say yes.”
Ginny shivered and hugged the blanket around her. “This is all too sudden. I need to stay here tonight.”
Adrian gnawed his lip, thinking to himself for a while. “I have something else to tell you... It was going to be a surprise.”
Ginny was now so tired she felt like flopping her head forward onto the table, to go to sleep. “What is it?”
“Phoebe and Pete are here with me,” Adrian said. “They can join us for our vow renewal.”
Ginny’s mouth hinged open and she rubbed between her eyebrows. “What? They’re here, in Italy?”
Adrian’s smile was a little self-congratulatory. “I wanted to do something special for you and invited them along. I knew you’d love to see Phoebe.” He took hold of her hand again. “We can renew our wedding vows at two o’clock this afternoon, and then Phoebe and Pete can get married afterward.”
Ginny shook her head, trying to take this in. “Can they do it so quickly?”
“It will be a symbolic ceremony, before the baby arrives. They can marry afterward in England, to make it official, when they’re ready.”
Ginny was sure her body was shaking, but when she looked down, she was sitting still. She knew their daughter wanted to get married sooner and with less fuss, but this seemedtooquick and more complicated. “Is this what Phoebe wants?”
“It was my idea to invite them to the renewal, and Pete’s idea for their ceremony at the same time. We can all cement our futures together, as a family.”
Although Adrian’s grand gesture was full of the passion she’d yearned for, a spate of dizziness overcame her. “You hurt me so much...” Ginny whispered.
