‘I wonder who the other woman was? Gloria would know.’
Toni shook her head. ‘Gloria’s far too discreet to ever tell. She kept this secret for fifty years.’
At the villa, it was convivial and relaxed. The guests spilled from the living room on to the terrace, talking and laughing. Toni spotted Lou in the middle of a small group, just calmly sipping her drink, not running around looking after people.
Trinity was sitting talking to a couple of younger women and they were all laughing and staring at their phones, discussing playlists and songs they liked.
‘How are you doing?’ said Toni, feeling responsible for having brought Trinity into this gathering.
‘Brilliant! Fabiola and Daria went on a gap year to New Zealand and they’re telling me about it. I can’t wait to go!’ Trinity’s face suddenly clouded. ‘Although, I probably won’t be able to,’ she added.
‘Nonsense,’ said Toni. ‘You’re young. This is the time to do it!’
She didn’t entirely understand Trinity.
On one hand, the girl was clearly clever and sharp. Yet she sometimes got lost in thought, staring off as if her world was about to end.
There was a mystery there, Toni thought. Lou had been right. But solving other people’s mysteries was exhausting and Toni still hadn’t solved her own.
Lou might have found her father and her mojo when it came to not fixing other people, but Toni still had a few things to sort.
It was hard to think of financial ruin and career suicide here. The villa was beautiful, the people were so friendly, and it was so lovely that Lou was happy.
Toni walked down towards the beach feeling a little bit tipsy and yet very relaxed and happy. Angelo and his family had taken her darling Lou to their heart. It was wonderful.
She gazed out at the sea, thinking how easy it would be just to stay here, to not go home and face the music. There was a lot of music to face, the music of how much money had been lost, the music of how she’d messed up her job. She couldn’t think about it. Today had been a wonderful break from the notifications on her phone, the endless worry.
‘Here you are,cuore mio,’ said a voice.
She turned. Matteo was there with two glasses. ‘I don’t think I could drink anymore,’ she said. ‘I’m not much of a drinker, to be honest. I’ll get a dreadful hangover and I’m too old for that.’
‘No, this is water,’ he said. ‘Water to make us feel awake again. We must hydrate for energy.’
‘Oh, good plan.’
They sat on the beach, took their shoes off and let their toes wriggle into the sand. Matteo’s feet were like the rest of him, tanned, elegant, beautiful. Toni looked at him dispassionately and thought that if she wanted to have an affair with a younger man, if she wanted to be a cougar, then he really was a rather fine specimen. But that wasn’t the sort of person she was. Definitely no.
‘So, cuore mio,’ said Matteo, ‘I believe you are a famous person in Ireland, Trinity tells me, and your husband is an actor.’
Toni looked at him and, in that moment, a decision pinged into her brain.
‘My soon to be ex-husband,’ she said, trying out the words for the first time.
There really was no other way round it. If Oliver had merely gambled away all their money, she could have possibly borne it. If he’d come to her and told her he was a gambling addict, and could she help him, she could have borne that too. But the fraud, the signing her name on documents, the deliberate deceit. She could never forgive that.
He could have slept with every woman she knew in triplicate and she would have got over it more quickly than this deceit. He’d gone out of his way to lie to her. Was there any coming back from that?
Another decision to make.
‘You are getting divorced?’ said Matteo.
‘Yes,’ said Toni, ‘I am. I think I am. I haven’t decided. I’m on a break from thinking about hard stuff. What is thiscuore mio...?’
He grinned wolfishly. ‘It means, my love.’
Toni howled. ‘You fall in love very quickly, Matteo.’
‘Yes,’ he murmured, leaning closer and beginning to nibble her earlobe, which she suddenly found the most erotic thing in the whole world. ‘I do.’
