In a flash, I remember how I behaved when my dad introduced me to the woman who’d become my stepmum. Did I ever think about his happiness—or hers? Did I consider either of them for one second?
I mop a hand through my hair. “We can’t give up yet, Theo. We’ve only been here three days.”
Theo blinks and furrows his brow. “Ads, who’s thinking about giving up?”
“Nobody!” I bounce onto my feet and force out a smile. “We’ll get there, I know we will!”
But I’m not sure I do know that.
I grab the car keys.
“Where are you going?”
“I need to take some recycling into the village. A load of paper me and Archie ripped up.”
What I don’t tell him is I also need to be alone with my fears. To do everything I can to stop them from overwhelming me.
“OK,” Theo says. But his beautiful eyes have a look of sadness.
As I walk to the door, I want to kiss him.
But I hold back, afraid he might pull away.
Chapter 10
“Iam very sorry,” says Giuseppe. “My men make a mistake.”
I’m standing behind the chapel, inspecting a stone wall that’s started to sag and looks like it’s about to fall down. The scaffolding the builders set up on the side of the cottage somehow put too much pressure on the wall’s foundations and undermined them.
“It is a modern wall,” explains Giuseppe, running a hand along his black beard. “Maybe thirty, forty years old. It is supposed to contain the land behind the chapel but it is not very strong. Maybe your uncle does not have enough money to build a good retaining wall.”
I’ve noticed that Giuseppe speaks great English but only in the present tense. Not that I have any right to criticize: I’ve basically given up on my Italian course.
“Well, if that’s the case, I’m sure it would have fallen down anyway,” I reassure him. “Don’t worry about it.”
But I can’t help thinking this is another job to be added to the list—and it’ll cost more money, which I don’t have. I wonder if there’s anything in the house I can sell. Anything I can be sure wouldn’t have been of sentimental value to Wilf.
Giuseppe explains that his men will clear away the stones andmake it safe by pinning back the land until they can build a new wall.
“Brill,” I pipe. “Sounds like a plan!”
His builders start lifting the stones and piling them up, out of the way. As they’re all shirtless—their muscles flexing and glistening with a light film of sweat—it feels indecent to watch. I turn away and spot a stone that has landed near my feet and has some scratches on it. I pick it up and read an inscription: WILF+ ARNALDO.
The sight of it knocks the breath from my chest.
Is Arnaldo that man in the photos? Does this mean he and Wilfwereboyfriends?
I’m not sure what to do with the stone. But I don’t want anyone to know about it until I’ve worked out what it means.
I slip away and stash it in my bedroom.
Luisa and Stefano stand by the stones from the dismantled wall. Luisa picks one up and turns it around in her hands.
“These stones were taken from the castle,” she declares.
“Really?” I say.
“Yes. This used to happen a lot when castles were destroyed: the stones were taken to reuse elsewhere.” She balances her stone carefully on top of the pile.
