They stood together, neither of them wanting to pull apart, until Gianfranco blasted his horn.
“I am sure it is the loudest in Italy,” Nico said.
“It certainly sounds like it.” Ginny laughed. “I have to go.”
“Sadly, yes.”
She carried the bag of sandwiches to the car and handed them out to Edna and Eric.
Nico returned to his doorstep and waved as the minibus swept through the iron gates and onto the road. Ginny looked over her shoulder and watched until he became a speck in the distance and then disappeared. Ordering herself not to cry, she fixed her eyes on the trees along the side of the road. She said a silent goodbye to the not-really-a-castle on the hill.
Inside, the vehicle was quiet apart from the rustle of lunch bags on laps.
The closer Gianfranco got to the airport, the more Ginny felt she was leaving a different life behind. Something she wasn’t yet ready to let go.
35
Coffee
It was soon time for Eric to go to the boarding gates. He waited with Edna and Ginny under the screen displaying his flight details, with his rucksack hoisted high on his back. “This is it,” he said. “Back to reality.” He patted his hands to his sides.
Edna stepped over and gave him a tight squeeze with her cheek pressed against his chest. “Take care of yourself, young man.”
“Will do, Edna.” Eric looked over her shoulder. “Thanks, Ginny.”
She nodded and was the next to hug him.
“Thanks for accepting me as I am,” Eric whispered into her ear, which made Ginny hold him even tighter.
He pulled away and with a brisk wave was gone.
Edna dabbed a handkerchief to her eye. “I’ll miss him. I’m going to miss everyone.”
Ginny took her by the crook of her arm. “Come on, let’s get a coffee,” she said. “It won’t be as good as Nico’s, but it’ll be hot and wet.”
“I don’t want to go home,” Edna grumbled in a café, a few minutes later. “Bloody Shady Pines. I suppose they aren’t allowed to call it Shady Prison. I’m feeling all pernickety just thinking about it.”
“You might like it,” Ginny said. “People might want to contribute to your quilt. There might be bingo.”
“Everywhere has bingo except for Splendido,” Edna said, laughing and breaking her mood. “Nico will be pleased to learn I’ve left my game behind in my room, for his next guests to play. I’ve also left my quilt.”
Ginny frowned at her in astonishment. “Really? Why?”
“It was irreparable, really. Leaving all our blocks behind was a little like casting off our heartbreak stories and moving on from them. Daisy will always be a part of me and I don’t need scraps of fabric to feel that way. I have many happy memories of her to enjoy.”
“I promise to look after her necklace,” Ginny said, touching the chain around her neck where the daisy charm, wooden heart and her wedding ring hung. “I bet you never imagined that calling my show would lead to all this.”
Edna looked into her coffee as if it was a bottomless well. She patted her eye with her handkerchief again.
Ginny touched her arm. “Please don’t look so sad about it.”
“I have something to tell you.” Edna’s voice was low and quiet. “It’s about my phone call...”
Ginny sipped her drink. “What about it?”
“I actually made two calls to your show, one about the holiday and onebeforethat,” Edna said. “We spoke to each other.”
“We did?” Ginny frowned. She tried to recall what problem Edna might have called her with. “Did you use your real name?” she asked, sure that she’d remember a Mrs. Edgerton-Woods.
