She slipped her hand away to blow her nose and he instantly missed the contact. ‘Me, too,’ she said. ‘Because they’ll be able to outvote me, like Isabella and Teddy outvoted you. Already, I mentioned that Gran and I had been putting funds aside to reroof, because we know –knew– old roofs need periodic inspection. Erin said, “Let’s make sure that money needs to be spent before we spend it.” She knowsnothing, but she questioned my management. I think she realised and then she laughed it off.’ She blew her nose again, then sipped her beer.‘They’re to come back when Mary’s got everything sorted. We’ll all sign the agreement.’ Her face crumpled and her words began to disintegrate. ‘And I’m g-going to h-have to clear out Gran’s room for them for visits, because I can hardly put them in guestrooms and charge them, can I? And they’ll h-have the right to look through Gran’s things and take what they want.’
Her head fell forward and her shoulders heaved.
Helpless, because everything she said was true, but felt so unfair, Leo patted her back and let her cry, hating the tremors and sobs that racked her body. Reaching along the bar for napkins, he pressed them into her hand. ‘Haven’t you felt able to sort out her things?’ Though never having had to do it, he shrank from the task of going through the possessions of a lost loved one.
As if his words brought her back to herself, she visibly pulled herself together like a puppet gathering its own strings. ‘Not yet. Sorry to blubber and blether, as Gran would have said.’ A last wipe of mascara and a sniffle, and she finished her beer in a long chug.
‘Another?’ he asked, reaching for his own cold bottle.
She shook her head. ‘I’ll go home.’
He thought how that home was changing around her. ‘I’ll walk you.’ At least that way he’d still have her company for a little while longer.
She didn’t argue, even when he lightly took her hand to help her off the bar stool and then didn’t let it go. It fitted into his, warm and familiar.
Outside, a dusky purple sky looked ready to welcome the night. Soon they were crossing Piazza Volta, where black iron chairs and tables crowded outside eateries. The four-storey pastel-coloured buildings that surrounded them were topped with sloping terracotta roofs, ornamented with shutters, plaster mouldings and painted patterns. The warm air was redolent offood and happy chatter as they wandered back to Piazza Cavour, encountering mainly foot traffic between the occasional bus or taxi.
Outside Three Sisters, Jade finally withdrew her hand from his and dusted the palms together, as if physically brushing him off. It made him feel like a bothersome fly. ‘Have you found a business to buy?’ She sounded as if she was retreating, redirecting him from the memory of her tears. Her hair blew across her face as if reluctant to be hidden, and she pushed it back.
‘I’m looking at one in the UK and one in Italy.’ He edged forward to allow a family with a buggy to pass. The evening streets were busy, here, between two piazzas, yet he felt as if he and Jade floated in a bubble. He didn’t want passing pedestrians to burst in and destroy their fragile connection. ‘And tending towards Italy.’ He heard surprise in his own voice as he realised it was true, so added a joke. ‘What if I return to England and find I’m wanted in connection with car thefts? Teddy would probably be happy to fit me up for it.’ He didn’t want to admit that bloody Teddy had had the freaking cheek to suggest he return to support Isabella while Teddy pissed off back to South Africa. Not only did it enrage him – he didn’t want Jade to see him as someone so easily manipulated.
‘What sort of property?’ It was her turn to step aside, this time to allow through three laughing couples in a group. They looked to be in their sixties and two of the couples were holding hands, as his parents still did sometimes.
They were lucky. Here he was, a year from forty, newly single, his first love’s sadness seeping into his heart while her question reminded him that he should be concentrating on forging a brand-new life for himself. ‘To manage alone means twelve to sixteen bedrooms and a small staff, I think. Traditional rather than modern, but not in need of renovation, becauseI can’t afford to prat about for months with no revenue.’ A man strode impatiently around them, snapping Italian angrily into his phone. Instinctively, Leo raised an arm to prevent him from barging into Jade. ‘Breakfast only, probably, because a restaurant means work-intensive, long hours. A view,’ he added, because Villa Panorama enjoyed such a sublime one.
Jade frowned blackly at him. ‘You’ve just described Three Sisters! Perhaps you’re waiting for me to fall out with Rosalie and Erin, so they’ll want to sell. Then you’re going to offer?’
His mouth dropped open as he took in her stormy gaze. The realisation that he had, indeed, described Pensione Three Sisters, tickled his sense of the ridiculous and he had to struggle not to laugh. He lifted his hands placatingly. ‘Yes, it does fit my bill, but that’s a coincidence.’ He couldn’t resist adding, ‘Unless youwantto sell, of course...’
She snorted, taking a step nearer to the arch of the pensione. ‘Huh. Working with my sisters is becoming more attractive.’ But her eyes widened and her throat worked as if she was once again fighting tears.
All desire to laugh left him. He reached out to touch her arm, careful to keep space between their bodies, easing her close to the building out of the path of a group of young men pushing by. ‘Don’t be upset,tesoro.’
From her sudden pause, he realised that in the heat of the moment he’d called her ‘darling’ but couldn’t find a way to take it back. He just squeezed her arm and wished that whatever he’d made of her past, he could help with her future.
Chapter Nine
Pink apron over black dress, Jade was busy in the kitchen for the early part of the next morning, Sunday, while Vittoria waited on tables. When Jade finally carried a tray into the breakfast room, Rosalie and Erin were already eating. Rosalie waved wildly to get her attention. ‘Holy shit, Jade, why didn’t you mention it?’ Her voice was loud. Erin merely raised questioning brown eyebrows Jade’s way. Shouting and waving didn’t seem her thing.
Surprised, and not massively pleased about bad language in front of guests, Jade frowned at Rosalie before crossing to a middle-aged daughter and elderly mother holidaying together to deposit white china teapots on their table. After checking the ladies had everything they needed, she joined her business-partners-to-be. She stooped, hoping it would serve as a hint not to blether – as Gran would say – their business to all and sundry, and murmured, ‘What are you talking about?’
‘That first evening.’ Rosalie lowered her voice, clearly getting the message. ‘We left without settling our part of the bill and you didn’t tell us.’
‘Oh. I realised you’d forgotten.’ Jade said nothing about the stabs of annoyance she’d felt at the time.
Erin’s usual smooth cap of hair was ornamented by a pair of green-rimmed sunglasses atop her head. Her white sleevelessshirt was pristine. ‘It’s our last night tonight, so we’ll go somewhere, and Rosalie and I will pay, to make up.’
Jade wished again that Erin would ask rather than tell, but was beginning to realise that Erin was used to being team leader and her aim was usually to benefit others rather than herself. It felt like a crucial insight. And did Jade ever put her ‘in charge’ hat on? Yeah. So did Sheenagh. They were all strong women in management, after all. ‘OK. Lovely. Thanks.’
Then it seemed as if every remaining guest in the place came down to breakfast at once. Jade remained in the kitchen, dashing from egg-scrambling to cappuccino-frothing while Vittoria, thick ponytail swinging, ran food and drink out to the tables and ferried dirty dishes back, then carried out clean top cloths and gleaming cutlery.
Jade was unloading plates from the dishwasher when Vittoria sailed back in with a tray piled high. She lodged it on the metal worksurface with a scrape and a clang, her eyes comically wide. ‘Your sisters are asking to speak to you,’ she whispered, as if there was someone in the kitchen to overhear and disapprove.
Jade blew out her cheeks in frustration. ‘OK. As I’m not busy atall.’ She swept a pile of clean white plates into her arms, then hustled through the door to the breakfast room. After a swerve to the buffet to deposit the plates, she arrived at Erin and Rosalie’s table. ‘Did you want me?’ She tried to inject a whiff ofcan’t you see how incredibly busy I am?into her voice.
It didn’t seem to work – Erin finished typing into her phone before looking up. ‘Oh, hi. We were wondering whether you were free to do something this afternoon.’
Jade took a calming breath and reminded herself that Erin knew nothing about hotel work. ‘I’ll be here, because Vittoria and Carlotta will finish at eleven o’clock today so they get some of Sunday with their families. I’ll service any rooms Carlotta hasn’t managed and cover Reception when Yara goes on breaks.’Jade was more chained to Three Sisters than ever without Gran, who’d always been happy to sit on Reception and charm guests... She smiled to cover a quiver of her heart.
