“Thank you!” I gush. “Thank you, thank you, thank you!”
“I am pleased you are happy,” Giuseppe says, looking a little stunned.
“Why are we celebrating?” asks Archie.
“We’re having a party!” I sing-song.
“I know that!” But he jumps up and down and wiggles his bum anyway.
“Right, I need to call your mum,” says Theo, scouting around for his phone.
“Can I speak to her too?” I ask.
Theo looks at me with a confused expression.
“I’ll explain on the way,” I say, urging him towards the olive grove.
Then I remember. “Hang on a minute; I need to take out myfrittata!”
Chapter 49
On Friday, the builders put the finishing touches to the cottage, including applying a second coat of paint to the bedroom. We didn’t want a color that would be too overpowering so opted for a soft ivory. The bathroom, on the other hand, has walls that are painted an oyster gray, which complements its new ivory suite. The whole cottage looks stunning. If it weren’t for the smell of paint, I’d be tearful.
I go outside to water the garden for what I realize will be the last time this summer—before Stefano takes over. It’s the first day of September, so the season will be changing soon. Already, there are noticeably fewer flowers and less color than just a few weeks ago, although there’s still just as much greenery. The grapes on the vine twisting through the pergola are almost ready to harvest—I know this because Stefano has examined them and said they’re “OK,” which Luisa joked means the same as “excellent” from anyone else. The cycle of nature will indeed continue without us. Again, it’s enough to make me tearful.
Towards the end of the morning, Theo and I take the kids up to the castle to see Luisa and her team of diggers. They’re supposed to be packing away, as today is their last day before Luisa, a couple of other middle-aged teachers and the young studentstart the new academic year. I expect everyone to be in a downbeat mood but there’s excitement in the air, overlaid with loud chatter in Italian.
“We’ve found another wall!” Luisa trills.
“It’s at the back of the castle,” adds Vito, equally upbeat. “And it looks well-preserved.”
“Amazing!” I say.
“Superb!” chimes Theo.
“Can we see it?” asks Archie.
Luisa and Vito lead the five of us through the site and indicate the very top of a stone wall peeping through the earth.
“It’s a shame we don’t have time to excavate it properly,” comments Vito.
“But at least we’ve got something to look forward to,” Luisa adds.
We discuss when the dig can be resumed. Although the dates will be dictated by academic holidays, I no longer feel the need to be present when the team are on site. On the other hand, if we get any bookings for the house, they’ll have to work around those. But this still hasn’t happened—and I’m starting to think I may have to tout myself around for some contract work in HR when I’m back in Manchester. It’s a grim thought and one I’m keen to suppress, at least until the end of our holiday.
I break into a smile. “Well, it seems to have been a successful dig. I had no idea you’d find so much.”
“I know,” says Luisa. “And who knows what’s to come?”
We leave the diggers to pack up their tools, trowels and rolls of tape and load up their trolleys.
When we arrive back at the house, the builders have finished in the cottage and are in the process of vacating it. The five of us move inside to clean everything, install the furniture and ornaments, and hang a few of Wilf’s watercolors on the downstairs walls, discussing what we’ll do with the upstairs walls after they’ve dried. Theo and I had intended to move back into the cottage for our last few nights but the delay put paid to this—and now the smell of paint is too strong. But we work as if we are moving in, as we want to show off the place to our guests tomorrow. And allthis we do to the sound of Wilf and Arnaldo’s opera records, which I tell myself is probably the last time we’ll hear them this summer. But I’m determined not to feel sad.
Outside, the builders switch focus onto loading their workbenches, wheelbarrows, dust sheets and boxes of tools into the van. The skip has already been collected for the last time but they have plenty of unused materials—half-full bags of plaster, sand and cement, piles of stones and tiles, plus lengths of piping, trunking and electric cabling—that also need transporting away. As it’s clear they won’t be able to take everything today, I agree they can stash what’s left in the garage and collect it next week.
“Just as long as it doesn’t get in the way of the party!” I tell Giuseppe.
“Don’t worry,” he says, “nobody sees anything.”
