The bone shot onto the tip of her tongue. She discreetly removed it. ‘Oh, thank you,grazie!’
‘Di niente, it was nothing. I could not have you choking to death; it would be bad for business.’ He had a twinkle in his eye.
‘You own this restaurant?’
He spread his hands. ‘Alas, no. But my younger son, he is the chef here and I could not afford to support him if this place closed down.’ He gave a little chuckle. ‘But I will have to complain to the kitchen; this dish should be filleted, should it not?’
‘No, please… it was my fault for eating too fast.’
‘Do you do everything fast? You departed my shop in a big hurry yesterday. Whoosh…’ He flung out an arm. ‘And you were gone!’
Natalie’s face burned.
‘You two have met before?’ Cate said.
‘I’m so sorry, how rude of me, I must introduce you. This is Cate; she and her husband, who arrives tomorrow, are appearing in the television show I am presenting… Cate, this is Pietro, a very talented mask maker, he has a shop and workshop in the Dorsoduro area of the city.’
‘Pleased to meet you.’ Cate held out a slender hand.
He took it in his large, hairy paw. ‘Enchanted. Please excuse my appearance; I assure you my hands are clean, just stained by the dye I have been using. And now I must leave you to enjoy your meal. I did not wish to interrupt. Ah, there he is! Eraldo!’ He raised a hand towards the doorway.
The watch restorer let the osteria’s heavy door swing shut behind him. Natalie felt the tail end of the draught. Eraldo signalled to the waiter that he was in no need of assistance and approached Natalie and Cate’s table, running a hand through his dark hair, his expression somewhere between surprise and pleasure.
‘Buonasera. Natalie, what a coincidence! I did not think… but now…allora, we meet again.’
‘You are lucky Eraldo is looking more presentable.’ The mask maker grinned. ‘Earlier today, he was not fit to be seen!’
‘I have been working too many hours. I have barely left my workbench.’
‘I found him upstairs asleep when I unlocked the shop this morning.’ Pietro laughed.
Eraldo gave a rueful smile. ‘I am a little obsessive, what can I say.’
‘I went out and brought himcornettifor breakfast but he cannot live on those and coffee. I had to bribe him to leave the workshop and have a proper meal with the promise of this fine food. But first, I had to send him home to shower and change.’
‘And I am now glad that I did… I mean… well, it is a smart restaurant; I do not like to look out of place.’
‘Eraldo, this is Cate,’ Pietro interrupted, making the introduction Natalie had failed to. ‘And now, if you excuse me a moment, I will go into the kitchen to greet my son.’
‘Piacere, pleased to meet you, Eraldo.’ Cate smiled.
‘And you.’ Eraldo’s eyes landed on Cate’s eternity ring, the row of emeralds glittering in the candlelight. ‘That is a beautiful piece of jewellery.’
‘My husband had it made for me at a little workshop in Hatton Garden.’
‘I studied gemmology, but I rarely use precious stones in my work.’ Eraldo’s eyes stayed on Cate’s ring.
‘What exactly do you do?’ Cate asked.
‘I am a watch restorer. I like to take unwanted or broken antique timepieces and give them a new life, to add my own twist, to create something unique.’
‘How talented you must be.’
Cate was probably just making conversation but the way she beamed at Eraldo made Natalie determined to butt in.
‘Eraldo is working on a secret watch,’ she said. ‘The face is hidden beneath a rotating pyramid.’
‘Thanks to you bringing me the watch parts I have been waiting for.’
