He hurried out from behind the bench again, grasping her and pulling her tightly against him. ‘It’s okay.’ It wasn’t, but his lips formed the words anyway.
They were a matched pair – in the worst, least constructive way.
‘I wanted to be angry with you, you know,’ she spoke bitterly. ‘I need to be. This wedding – this island – there’s romance everywhere. I didn’t want it – Idon’t. I unfortunately know themanythings that could go wrong for the bride and groom and it means that sometimes, I think their big dreams are so… naïve.’
She released a long breath, as though those concerns had been churning inside her for a long time.
‘But it is what it is. I hope their wedding is something that makes them stronger in the years to come and not something that… hurts. Love justsucks, Gabri. It’s not restricted to you. It’s true foreveryone.’
He had the strangest urge to laugh, but he knew this wasn’t one of her crooked jokes, so he just settled his cheek against her forehead and held on tight. ‘I suppose, I wish that weren’t true for you.’
In the quiet that followed, two voices from outside travelled clearly into the shop.
‘Will Mum’s shopping take a while? I want to show her the rock pool and my new net!’
Toni stiffened in his arms and alarm zipped up his spine. The voice was unmistakable, as was the one that replied.
‘When she’s finished, we might have to go back to the hotel, but you can play at the beach with the net. Oh, look. There’sa florist, like Mum’s friend! It looks a lot like the window she showed us…’
The hairs on the back of Gabri’s neck lifted as the sentence petered out. Toni took a ragged breath. He eased back from her, knowing it was too little, too late.
‘Toni? What are you doing here? And who ishe?’
24
Toni had trained herself out of swearing years ago, but a string of profanities was looping through her mind right now as she forced herself to face her mother and son with something resembling a smile.
For better or for worse, Gabri had chosenright nowto finally explain what had happened to him before he left the mainland – and his wife. The pieces fit. He cared too much, so he’d retreated to somewhere without cares. She was both frustrated and incredibly sad for him.
Damn it, her feelings were too close to the surface.
‘That’s Gabriele!’ Cillian announced, answering Daphne’s question literally, bless him.
‘Gabri—’ Daphne’s sudden pause made Toni’s stomach sink even deeper.
‘Yes, I’m sorry I didn’t introduce myself properly yesterday,’ he said, recovering more quickly than she did. ‘I’m Gabriele Orzati. This is my workshop, if you’d like to look around.’
Shit. Toni should never have lied. It was embarrassing enough that she’d made her mother think Cristina was herfriend, but how could she explain this to Cillian? Cilli was a child, but he still needed an explanation for what she’d done.
‘You’re… doing the flowers for the wedding?’ Daphne asked. Toni recognised the sharp nod of her mother’s head as though she were fifteen again.
‘Yes.’
‘You’re called “Gabri” for short?’
‘That other lady was called Gabri too,’ Cillian added cheerfully and Toni waited for the ground to swallow her up. She would happily be exiled like Napoleon right now, if that meant she never had to explain this to her mother and son.
Daphne swung her gaze to Toni. ‘The facials, the wine… Raoul Bova. That’s not what you were doing this week?’ The colour in Daphne’s cheeks would have been amusing if Toni weren’t the subject of her suspicions.
‘Raoul Bova?’ Gabri repeated in bewilderment.
‘A very handsome Italian film star, apparently,’ Daphne murmured as her eyes glazed with confusion.
‘Yes, I know, but?—’
‘Cristina came by the beach yesterday and Mum… recognised her,’ Toni muttered.
‘Who is Cristina?’ Daphne asked.
