The bathroom was furnished with a big walk-in shower beside the cast-iron bath. The shower had been easier for Gran and Jade liked it too. The side jets made it possible to keep her hair dry atop her head while she washed with vanilla-scented soap. She liked vanilla products. They felt creamy on her skin and the scent was a little like the pastries they served each day, familiar in a world where everything else had changed.
Once out of the shower and dried, she dressed in white trousers and a loose aqua-coloured top that went with her skin, remembering Gran saying, ‘Olive skin? What nonsense. Olives are green or black, and you’re golden brown.’ Gran’s pinky-white wrinkly skin had turned waxy white while she’d been in hospital.
But Jade shoved that memory away, preferring to remember the rosy-cheeked and twinkly-eyed Gran who’d helped her choose pretty wallpaper or elegant lampshades for the guestrooms.
After applying tinted moisturiser and mascara, Jade let down her hair, finger-combing the waves before sweeping it up again, using the same plain clasp she’d worn all day but letting a few ringlets fall free. She stepped into flat black sandals and checked the finished effect in a long mirror. She might have lost a few pounds lately, but would never be classed as anything but sturdy. She remembered her ex, Edoardo, watching her help a woman with a large suitcase, crying, ‘You’re not a woman – you’re a horse!’ He’d thought it funny, but it had made Jade feel ungainly. Leo had never made her feel that way, but he was bigger than Edoardo so maybe he didn’t notice. Edoardo had never been such a good fit with her... but Edoardo had been in Como while Leo had been far away, living his life in England.
She looked her reflection in the eye. ‘Why the hell are you letting yourself in for dinner with Leo?’
OK, Sheenagh had apparently ordained it, but Jade could have called her with a straightforward, ‘Very kind of you, but I need space. Call Leo off.’ They’d have laughed over her bluntness. They were such long-standing friends that Jade could even have added, ‘My head’s all over the place.’
She checked the time. Two minutes to seven-thirty.
Despite her misgivings, she stuffed her phone and key into a small white bag and strode from the apartment, across the lobby to the breakfast room, where Leo sat reading something on his phone. ‘Ready?’ she asked coolly.
He rose with no sign of noticing or resenting her lack of enthusiasm. ‘And hungry. Let’s go.’
They stepped outside where the soft air felt warmer than her blood, the sky the pale blue of early evening. When they took the few steps around the corner, the seating outside Anton’s Bistro welcomed them, black tables topped by square parasols and spindly wrought-iron planters frothing with orange gerbera.
At the only table markedRiservatoshe selected a chair bathed by the evening sun. Most of her long day had been spent indoors. Relaxing with a sigh, she gazed across Piazza Cavour, busy with people out enjoying a cooler part of the day and pretty with shrubs and trees, wondering who would want to leave Como if they could live here. Then she glanced at the tall man seated opposite her, his dark hair stirring in the breeze, and she had her answer. Leo.
Before he could feel her gaze, she turned to wave at Hector who ran the bistro with his wife, Mia. Hector’s grizzled hair was brushed straight back from his forehead and his grey moustache turned up at the ends, as if from his habitual smiles. Slipping swiftly between tables towards them, he called, ‘Come stai?’ and winked at Jade as he provided menus with a flourish. For him tobustle up so promptly, he was probably curious about seeing her with a man as she hadn’t dated since Edoardo.
She smiled back. ‘Molto bene, grazie. E tu?’
After Jade and Hector had assured each other that they were in good health, he nodded politely to Leo, though still with evident curiosity. ‘Buonasera.’ He took their drinks order.
After he’d left, it was as if their table had entered a bubble of silence whereas all the other tables were enveloped in chatter and laughter, mainly in Italian and English, though she also detected German. As she already knew she’d order pizza marinara, with which the chef, Emma, had a magic touch, Jade watched the passing people in all manner of clothes and robes, hats and head coverings, and with every shade of skin. Locals tended to hurry in purposeful straight lines and, if they were using a phone, it was clamped to an ear while they gesticulated with their spare hand. Tourists meandered, using their phones to take selfies or photos of the tall, balconied buildings in their muted cream, yellow or pink. Although the lake itself couldn’t be seen from their seats, the mountains were already turning hazy as daylight waned.
Jade sipped the rosé she’d ordered, fresh and clean on her tongue. To break the silence, she put on Gran’s voice. ‘I’ve sworn off whisky for a wee while.’
Leo glanced up from the menu, printed on plain white card withAnton’s Bistroin black script across the top, amusement jumping into his eyes. ‘What happens in the top floor of Villa Panorama, stays at Villa Panorama.’
Hector returned with his pad and some soft bread in brown paper bags, its delicious, yeasty aroma reaching them as he also placed a small white-glass lamp on their table. ‘Pizza marinara is available, Jade, your favourite.’
‘Perfetto,’ she declared.
Leo put down his menu and fell easily into Italian, the early evening sun turning his eyes the colour of the lake. ‘And black truffle ravioli for me.’
Hector scribbled on his pad and then whisked off towards the kitchen.
Leo gazed up Via Plinio as the cathedral’s bells began their deep, soft tolling and a flock of pigeons clattered into the air. ‘It’s strange, but also great to be back.’
‘But from our conversation in Suite Two, you already have plans to leave Como again.’ She made certain to keep her voice pleasant, as if it didn’t matter that when he’d gone last time he’d left her cradling a broken heart.
He frowned, his black brows clashing over his nose. ‘I haven’t begun looking into my next step. But when I find the right business, there will be no partners to screw things up. No being outvoted by a constant round of two against one.’
His answer lit a fuse to Jade’s anxieties. Pressing a hand to an ache spearing her forehead, she replied tartly. ‘You’re lucky to have that option. One of Joey’s kids is arriving at Pensione Three Sisters for the weekend and has gaily invited the other. They’ll soon be my partners. Your two-against-one scenario could easily happen to me unless I can buy them out.’
Leo raised both eyebrows. ‘It’s a tidy little hotel. Mairead was what Mum calls “canny”. When she downshifted after Rocco died, it seemed like she put herself and her new business in a comfortable financial position. Is it viable for you to run alone?’
Jade shrugged. ‘Workwise, yes, of course. Financially, it’s hard to be certain without knowing the precise market value or likely interest rates, but I think so.’ She recounted her afternoon meeting with thecommercialista. Gran had always given Jade a profit share and she wasn’t one to waste it on Gucci. She’d receive her portion of Gran’s savings too and could trim her salary if necessary.
They chatted idly about the hospitality trade in Como until Mia sailed up with two steaming plates, a black apron swathing her narrow hips, silver-streaked hair up and her brown eyes twinkling. ‘Buon appetito.’ She deposited their plates with a flourish and hovered expectantly.
Jade’s cheeks heated at the naked interest in Mia’s eyes that compelled her to introduce Leo, realising the older woman probably thought they were on a date. ‘Mia and Hector rent these premises from Pensione Three Sisters, so we’re friends, Leo.’ They’d taken the tenancy of Anton’s Bistro twelve years ago and she was sure she’d never had occasion to tell them about her history with the tall man on the other side of the table, so she added for Mia’s benefit, ‘You know Sheenagh who sometimes came here with Gran? She’s Leo’s mum.’
Leo appeared unworried by Mia’s curiosity. ‘Jade and I were in the same school year, so we used to see a lot of each other.’
