I can’t help but wince slightly. While I admire the kids’ courage—and, of course, their principles—part of me worries that Giuseppe’s just going to get annoyed. What if he walks off the job and leaves it unfinished?
There’s a pause. Then—to my shock—Giuseppe breaks into laughter. “Children, I like you. You are brave but you are also right. I know another worker who is not available for the first part of the job. I contact him now and see if he can do the last week. And I speak to Arjan: he is not here on Monday.”
Callum and Mabel look stunned, as if they can’t believe they’ve succeeded. In an instant, their composure shatters.
“Thank you!” bursts out Mabel.
Callum tugs at his fringe. “Thanks so much!”
“Oh, and sorry, but would you mind not saying anything to Dad or Adam?” Mabel quickly adds. “Could you maybe just tell them Arjan’s off sick?”
Giuseppe smiles out of the corner of his mouth. “OK, that is what I say. And well done. You are good kids.”
You took the words right out of my mouth.
As I step back from the ventilation slats, I resolve not to mention a word of this to Callum and Mabel. But I can’t wait to tell Theo.
Chapter 42
On Saturday I’m still quiet and subdued. But it’s time to put the finishing touches to our house renovations, to make the place a bit cozier. As Angelika says, this is the fun part, where our creativity comes in.
Theo and I take the kids shopping in Pietrasanta. We stroll up and down the grid of streets, crisscrossing the main square, popping into shops and picking up pictures, dried grasses and flowers, cushions, tissue-holders, wicker bins and ornaments. Theo buys a leather visitors’ book, saying it’ll make our guests feel more welcome if we invite them to share their opinions. And I’m drawn back to the Venetian blown-glass vase streaked with the colors of the rainbow that we saw at the start of summer.
“I think you should buy it,” pronounces Callum.
“You’ve changed your tune,” I tease him.
“I know,” he admits. “But I was wrong: it isn’t tacky at all.”
I reexamine the vase and notice it’s come down in price.
“Don’t worry about it,” I say, “you saved us some money by making us wait.”
While the shop assistant wraps the vase, Callum says that once we’ve put all the finishing touches to the house, he’s going to retake his pictures to capture it at its very best. And Mabel shareswith us an idea she has for a social media video in which I’m arranging flowers in the vase while explaining that one of the key values of the castello is a commitment to welcoming guests from all the colors of the rainbow.
“Superb,” says Theo.
“I like that!” I chime.
As we move on to the next shop, I pull out my phone to consult the shopping list I’ve written in my notes. And I see I’ve received an email. I open the app and see it’s from Auntie Julie.
“You guys go ahead,” I call out, “I’ll catch you up.”
“Is everything alright?” asks Theo.
“Yeah,” I reply, confident that if I can handle Julie’s last email, I can handle anything. “I’ll only be a minute.”
I spot some stone steps and lower myself down.
Dear Adam,
I hope you’re OK and getting your head around what I said in my last email. This is just a short one because I realised I forgot something. I didn’t say anything about your dad. And I think you need to know how hard all this was for him.
On the night your mum was planning to leave, she left him a letter, explaining what she was doing and why. One of the reasons she got so panicked when Gary dumped her was because she knew your dad would have read it and she was convinced he wouldn’t want her back. He had read it, although I’ve no idea whether he would have taken her back as I only found out about it when I told him she’d had the accident. By then it didn’t matter.
Anyway, I just want you to know your dad had to cope with a lot. It’s his story to tell, not mine, and Mart and I aren’t as close as we used to be, so I don’t even know how much he’d want you to know. But I understand you’ve always been angry with him so I want you to know he didn’t give you up lightly. And I think you should give him another chance. Or at least a chance to explain himself.
Right, that’s it. I’ll butt out now and leave you to enjoy the rest of your holiday. Please send me more pictures!
