Page 12 of Italy and Forever

‘I don’t suppose you’ve decided to use this as a fresh start? Meeting new people might help you find your place,’ she said with a sigh.

‘I have my place,’ he contradicted her lightly. ‘Behind a camera.’ For a few years, while he’d got used to processing colour again, he’d worried he’d lost that too.

He stifled a grimace. He’d felt blind and inept behind a camera at one time in his life, and the prospect of photographing another wedding brought it all back.

Not to mention the matter of working – closely – with Ginny. He was out of his depth with her as well. He kept his distance for self-preservation, while for her, everything was personal. Ten minutes in her company today and she’d asked about his past, shared about her dead mother and made him agree to something he’d never intended to help with.

She was a menace – a beautiful, kind-hearted menace. She’d probably even be sad when he left for Canada, when she barely knew him and he apparently made her nervous.

‘What’s vexing you, lovey? That’s quite a scowl.’

He shook his head to clear it. ‘I agreed to be the photographer at Andreas’s wedding, that’s all.’

‘Oh? I thought you’d decided against it.’

‘The wedding planner was desperate.’

‘Oh,’ was all she said at first. He peered at her face, looking for hints in her features. He’d felt something in her tone, but he couldn’t be certain he wasn’t simply imagining his mother could see all the Ginny-related turmoil inside him.

He couldn’t get to Canada quickly enough.

‘That’s why I’m here, actually,’ he said, hoping to distract her. ‘I was in Bath to…’ He decided he didn’t want to finish that sentence after all.

His mam laughed, a good-humoured trill that always eased the tension in his shoulders. ‘The way you’re blushing, I’m going to start thinking this is about a woman.’

He pressed the backs of his fingers to his cheeks without thinking, the heat – and accuracy of his mother’s suspicions – making him wince.

‘The wedding planners are all women,’ he mumbled. ‘But don’t get any ideas.’

Her exhale was sharp. ‘Why not? You loved Annie, didn’t you? Why couldn’t you find someone else? In Canada, perhaps?’

He couldn’t quite stifle his groan. Yes, he’d loved Annie, and that relationship had still gone to pieces. Getting close to people had never been easy for him. Not the way it was for Ginny.

‘I’m better on my own.’

‘Better than with the right person?’

He laughed to himself when Ginny was the one in his mind again, with her piercing and her glossy hair and her clothing with ruffles. Ginny, who was far too young for him anyway. She was not the right person. It was just the worst time to discover he could still feel so attracted to a woman when he couldn’t remember her face.

‘There’s no such thing as the right person,’ he said gently. She should understand that. Her great love had run out on her, leaving her with a mortgage and a two-year-old.

She waved her finger in his face, but he knew the gesture was full of affection. ‘Do not dare say that at the wedding! I don’t want to hear you spoiled the big day.’

‘I’m not going to spoil it,’ he said, holding up his hands as he flinched away from her waving fingertip. ‘I’m just taking the photos. I won’t be saying anything.’

He felt her gaze on him – speculatively, he suspected. There was something about the way she was sitting back in her chair, the appearance of casual. Then she leaned her elbows on the table and said, ‘Send me a photo.’

‘Sure. The wedding is in the Alps, northern Italy. It’ll be full autumn colour by then. I’ll make you a landscape print.’

‘That would be lovely,’ she said with a nod. ‘But not what I meant.’

‘I’ll send you a photo of the wedding dress from my phone,’ he agreed drily. ‘I imagine it’ll be white and fluffy.’

‘You’re not great at compliments, my son,’ she quipped. ‘But that’s also not what I meant. Send me a picture of the pretty wedding planner who’s turned your head.’

‘Mother!’

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