He rose too, taller than her even in bare feet. Picking up the bottle, he screwed on the cap and slipped it back into her bag. Then he smiled. ‘Seeyou soon.’
It sounded like an interesting promise. She found herself smiling back, right into his gunmetal eyes. ‘OK.’ She hesitated over whether to offer a hug, then jumped as he lifted her hands and pressed his lips to the backs, before drawing closer to brush hot kisses on her cheeks. His scent seemed to engulf her, filling her senses, making the air around them shimmer with promise.
She stepped backwards so suddenly she almost slipped off the terrace. ‘OK.’ Then she turned and hurried away. Letting herself out through the gate and past two smiling women holding hands, she felt unreal. She’d come to console Leo... and leftagreeing to see him?
Not commitment. Not even sex. But something.
It was hard to concentrate even on crossing Viale Gino to the broad lakeside prom, hurrying past the marina of small watercraft sunbathing behind the breakwater. Fluttering anxiety warred with flickers of hope. The urge was strong to protect herself by taking out her phone and calling Leo, saying, ‘No, we’ve got this all wrong. The past is past. Let’s just be friends.’
But when she reached the pensione she found Yara dealing with a grumpy, red-faced British woman who was aggrieved breakfast hours couldn’t be extended to eleven. ‘We’re onholiday, for goodness’ sake!’
Jade slid behind the counter instead of returning to the apartment to scramble back into her black dress, and wrong-footed the complaining woman by awarding her a giant smile. Utilising the combination of charm and cheek that Gran used to pull off so well, she apologised that extending breakfast was not possible. ‘But it’s so good. It really is worth getting up for.’
From her bag, her phone buzzed extra loudly, maybe vibrating against the whisky bottle. She hoped she wasn’t breathing fumes over the moaning guest.
The woman glared at Jade’s bag. ‘I think somebody wants to talk to you.’ She made it sound as if Jade had deliberately encouraged an interruption.
Jade only made her smile sweeter. ‘But I’m already talking to you. How are you finding Como? I’ve lived here all my life and I love it.’
Plainly flattered, the woman forgot her irritation and began telling Jade that Lake Como was the deepest lake in Italy, as if Jade wouldn’t know.
Finally, after a whole lot of being affable and marvelling at the lady’s local knowledge, Jade waved her off to enjoy her evening, slipped back into the apartment to change, checked her phone and found a message from Leo.
Dinner tomorrow?
She typed back, before she could second guess herself.
OK
Immediately he replied.
I’ll cook. Pick you up and bring you back to Villetta Nascosta.
Probably he was falling into Italian ways again by offering to pick her up – especially as he didn’t have a car as far as she knew, so he’d walk from Villetta Nascosta to Pensione Three Sisters and back again. She answered:
No need. See you there around 7.45.
Neither of them said:This is like old times.
Because it wasn’t. It couldn’t be.
But new times? What would they look like?
Chapter Fifteen
On Sunday, life threw Jade a new curve ball – in fact, two – when Vittoria and Carlotta trooped into the kitchen and, gazes flickering uncertainly, asked to see her when they finished their shift at two o’clock.
Jade, preparing a tray of lattes, glanced at them askance. ‘Can’t we talk now?’
The cousins exchanged glances. ‘It will be better later.’ Vittoria’s brows met over her nose. ‘Now, you need me for the breakfasts and Carlotta to begin upstairs.’
‘OK.’ With a wriggle of unease, Jade hoped there was no more illness in their family. Life was tricky when they needed to be off simultaneously.
But when the three women finally convened in the front office at 2 p.m., the situation proved much worse than she’d anticipated.
Vittoria plunged in first, hands twisting in her lap. ‘I’m very sorry, Jade, but I need to take my annual leave soon – not in September, as we agreed.’
‘Oh.’ Heart sinking, Jade turned to the computer on the desk and opened the staff roster. ‘When?’
