Page 21 of The Fall Affair

“I’d love a cast-iron one like what was in there, to keep true to the house, if that’s not a pain in the neck to find.”

It was, and it also changed installing it from being a one-man job to two or three guys lifting over two hundred kilos. But I appreciated her respect for the bones of the place, so I’d figure it out. Though the nearest plumbing-supply store that might stock cast iron was an hour away, so I hit the road. The windows in the truck were down, and after a little while I noticed the wind was blowing my passenger’s bun loose.

“You want me to put on de air conditioning?” I asked.

“No, this actually feels good.” She reached up and plucked something from her bun, and her hair tumbled down in waves.

I focused on keeping my eyes ahead and tapped my fingers on the steering wheel. “How long are you staying in Tuscany?”

She grinned. “Anxious to get rid of me already?”

I smiled. “Nah. Lupo, he likes you.”

“I’m staying three months.”

“You work remote or something?”

“Or something. I’m actually unemployed at the moment.”

I glanced over at her and back to the road. “Sounds like there’s a story there, yes?”

She sighed. “There is. But I’ll spare you the details and give you the abbreviated version. I got passed over for partner, so I quit.”

“Did you deserve to be made partner?”

She lifted her chin. “Of course I did. I’m damn good at my job.”

“Then why you get passed over?”

“Because I neither have a dick, nor suck one, to get ahead.”

“Non tutte le ciambelle escono col buco.” Not all donuts come out with a hole.

She laughed, and I was surprised she’d been able to translate what I’d said. “I think I was eighteen before I realized that meant not everything turns out as expected, and my grandmother didn’t have an obsession with donuts. That was her favorite saying.”

I nodded. “I know. It felt like something she would’ve said right now.”

Allegra was quiet for a moment. “You knew her pretty well, huh?”

“I fix things for her. She make dinner for me. And we drank a lot of wine on the loggia after both.”

“How long have you been next door?”

“Six years.”

Allegra frowned. “I guess that’s why we never met. That’s how long I’ve been a lawyer and too wrapped up in my life to visit the person I loved most.”

I glanced over at her again. “She spoke of you often.”

Allegra smiled but it seemed a little sad. “We FaceTimed every Sunday. I know it’s stupid, because she was eighty-five when she died, but I thought I had more time to visit. Looking back, I don’t know where the last six years even went.”

“Then it’s good you come. Life here is slower.”

“Yeah.” She looked out the window as we passed over rolling hills. “That’s what my grandmother wanted. Me to slow down. She actually left me the shop and all her land in her will, but with the condition that I had to come and stay here for three months.”

“Ah,” I said. “So that’s da reason you are here.”

“It’s the reason I came, yes. But I’m not sure it’s the reason I’m supposed to be here anymore, if that makes sense.”