Page 23 of Italy and Forever

‘Sophie has been… preoccupied,’ Ginny said weakly. ‘I think it’s like that thing where doctors make the worst patients. She didn’t seem to want to focus on the wedding for long. I know the pregnancy has been distracting her – of course it has. I just didn’t want her to compromise. Fuck, I hope I’m not making them miserable.’ She groaned.

By the time they made it back down to the town, she could no longer see the romantic view of the summits and the narrow valley. Her thoughts were stuck, spinning problems and solutions faster than she could note them down.

A nudge at her back made her jump and she whirled around to find Rhys behind her. Clutching her chest, she grasped his arm to steady herself – or hold him back. Either way, her gaze fixated on the spot where her fingers were bunched in the woven fleece of his sleeve, the silver bracelet peeking out. She forced her fist to unclench and pulled back.

‘Er, I was just wondering if you had any thoughts about how I should photograph the zip lining?’

Zip lining. For a moment, she’d blissfully forgotten the next activity on the schedule for the day – the adventure activity she did not have the head for right now. ‘Shit.’

When Rhys raised his eyebrows, she realised she’d said that aloud.

Ginny walked with the hardy group of adventurous guests along the rushing creek to the other side of the town, under vivid golden willows, past a stone church and countless alpine houses with wooden balconies, in the direction of their second destination for the day. A light mist had banished yesterday’s bright sunshine, the peaks shimmering in and out of focus in the moist air, bringing a brief glimpse of barren rock and ice, which disappeared again before Ginny could believe she’d seen it.

In the town itself, a sense of battening down the hatches pervaded. The glimpses of white up above presaged what would arrive in the valley in a few short weeks – the first snow. But for now, the temperature was a mild twelve degrees – enough for a cosy chill and nothing more – and the mountain slopes were alive with colour.

After the houses thinned and the surroundings turned to fields and forest, they crossed over another stream and met Sophie and the rest of the group in the car park. The mountains weren’t silent and solemn here. The gentle background hum of rushing water infused the air with anticipation – or perhaps it was just Ginny’s wariness of the activity her colleagues at Great Heart had organised for the afternoon.

‘It’s not difficult. You just get strapped in and off you go, flying over the waterfalls,’ Kira had said. The words hadn’t comforted Ginny then and they didn’t help now, as she peered up the hill, still unable to see the line through the trees. This one wasn’t exactly a zip line; they called it a fly-line. It was a permanent construction, like a narrow monorail. Passengers sat in a harness attached with a bracket that controlled the speed. It was safe even for Tash’s four-year-old daughter. ‘Very tame,’ Kira had also said.

‘Very tame, my arse,’ Ginny muttered under her breath, imagining dangling over the waterfalls and maybe losing a wedding guest or two in the white water.

It didn’t help Ginny’s unease when Sophie said, ‘I’m going to stay here and enjoy a San Pellegrino in peace,’ pointing to the little café and deli. A lush vine grew thick over the pergola, the leaves pink and yellow.

‘Are you sure? It’s apparently a beautiful walk. There are three different waterfalls,’ Ginny replied, since she’d pretty much memorised the guidebook – and had been hoping for an opportunity to talk to the bride in a non-confrontational setting that wouldn’t hint at how much Ginny was overthinking everything.

‘It’s the walk back while the rest of you are flying that I’m not so keen on,’ Sophie said with a dry smile, resting a hand on her belly. ‘But you are doing it, Ginny. You can have a nice scream, when you’re scared. Andreas will look after you.’

‘I can stay with you,’ Andreas offered.

‘No, you go and enjoy yourself,’ she insisted. ‘You know Cilli will love it. Get me a video of Tita. She’s been looking forward to this ever since Kira booked it. I’m completely fine on my own for a minute.’

Whatever Sophie thought of all these wedding events, Ginny had no choice for the moment but to leave her be.

10

‘Are we going to go find a wall somewhere for one final climb before you throw your life away?’

Rhys listened with detachment as Laurie spoke to Andreas. He held his Nikon loosely in both hands, occasionally framing a shot of the guests marvelling at the rocky gorge, cut by the stream tumbling down from the high mountains.

It had briefly crossed his mind that he could bring up his plans for after the wedding while they were strolling casually through the forest. He didn’t have any other ideas for how to broach the subject. His friends were not like his mother. They would understand the appeal of escaping for a longer period – maybe even for good. They’d probably be jealous.

But he remained silent. Perhaps he’d be able to just slip out of the country unnoticed.

The outing to the waterfalls reminded him of the wedding in winter: the photo shoot inside a glacier. He didn’t mind photographing people when they were just another element of the composition, framed in wild landscape.

At the ice cave, Ginny had directed the bride and groom to smile, or look at each other, unconsciously providing the exact service he’d needed from her – a service she’d offered to provide again at the lake, but he’d been too strung out to accept. Carelessly stripping off in front of her hadn’t helped normalise their relationship.

He was trying not to think about that, although it was difficult when her high ponytail kept drawing his gaze. She was walking in front of him, speaking to Kira – when she wasn’t eavesdropping on the conversation behind her. She was upset about something. He was trying not to wonder about that.

He was supposed to be staying away from her, although it wasn’t working all that well today. He hadn’t been able to resist snapping a photo of her speaking to Cillian. The way she’d tilted her head to listen to him had triggered his professional instincts for a compelling photo. There was something about the quality of the light that afternoon in the overcast conditions.

Laurie clapped Andreas on the shoulder. ‘We don’t want to waste a trip to the Alps. I bet you have a favourite spot to climb. Or do you want to keep it a secret, in case the tourists find out about it?’

Up ahead, Ginny’s footsteps stalled and she shot a glance over her shoulder.

‘We’ve got time on Thursday,’ Andreas answered. ‘But we might have to stay at the climbing park, rather than anywhere more remote. It’s not really the occasion for an expedition.’

This time, Ginny’s response was a huff with a jerk of her shoulders.