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‘It’s five to!’ Valentina said in despair as she checked her watch. ‘And you still need to put on make-up and do your hair!’

‘He said he’d wait.’

‘Sure. what’s another hour when you’ve waited twelve years,’ Valentina muttered under her breath as she went over to Frankie’s chest of drawers and picked up her hairbrush. ‘I’ll drive you.’

‘Thank you.’

‘And make sure you get all the gossip. And I’d appreciate it if you didn’t mention, you know…’ She patted her bump again. ‘I don’t want to be the focus of this evening’s chat when there are so many better things to find out about, like when Drive With Care joined the Foo Fighters on stage in Barcelona, and get the goss about their Met Gala appearance. Ooh, and when their bassist went on that iconic bender with the actor Gideon Fey before he quit the booze!’

After a frenetic half hour of make-up application and hairdressing, Valentina had bundled Frankie into the car and deposited her outside the Trattoria. With a cheerful wave and a reminder to get the gossip, Valentina drove off.

Feeling another little nervous flutter in the pit of her tummy, Frankie opened the door and stepped inside.

CHAPTER 17

FRANKIE

‘Ah, Frankie, bellissima!’

As soon as Frankie entered the trattoria, her grandfather greeted her. Behind the bar, Paul gave her a wink and a thumbs-up as the customers on the stools turned to stare at the person making an entrance. Now a little flustered and self-conscious from the attention, Frankie was relieved to spot Jay in the back corner, already standing up to greet her.

Frankie walked past the barstool gawpers as she heard them whispering,

‘Who’s that?’

‘Oh! She’s meeting him!’

‘Has he definitely split up with Astrid?’

‘Are you sure that’s really him?’

Frankie stopped to say hello to a couple of regular customers at the trattoria and waved over at a family who boarded their collie with her.

‘Hi,’ Jay said a little shyly when Frankie got to the table.

They paused a moment, then hugged, which ended up being rather awkward due to the angle of the table, the corner of which Frankie accidentally nudged, displacing cutlery with a metallic jangle. Jay pulled Frankie’s chair out for her and she caught a whiff of his aftershave; a subtle woody fragrance that was a vast improvement from when he’d doused himself in Lynx Africa at school and university. He was wearing jeans and a shirt the same shade of sky blue as his eyes.

Behind her, the whispering had intensified and she could hear the people summoning up the courage to ask if Jay Costello really was the Jay Costello.

Luckily Matteo swanned over and spoke to them in a hushed voice. Whatever he said seemed to work and then they all turned back to the bar as Paul poured them measures of limoncello. On the house.

‘I guess this must happen a lot; being recognised and whispered about?’ Frankie said.

Jay smiled. ‘You’re the one everyone seems to know around here.’ He gave a modest shrug. ‘When I’m with the guys we’re more recognisable but people are far less likely to come over when the four of us are together. Especially as Si can be a bit unpredictable.’

Frankie remembered reading about the Drive With Care’s bassist being arrested after punching a paparazzo on a night out.

‘To be honest, since I’ve been back in Drumkeldy, people have treated me exactly the same as before. It’s like I never left. They’re all far more interested to know how Mum’s enjoying her cruise! And to make sure I know about the council’s plans to change the bin collection day from a Monday to a Thursday. It’s nice. I feel normal. I feel like me.’ He ducked his head slightly, rubbing his chin. ‘And I’ve spent years not knowing who I am, or meant to be, half the time.’

Before Frankie could comment on Jay’s rather cryptic comment, Matteo came over.

‘Isn’t it good to have this young man back, Frankie? But he needs feeding up, don’t you think?’

Frankie grinned. ‘He’s come to the right place, Nonno.’

‘I hope you’re both hungry. May I suggest some specials?’

Jay nodded. ‘Absolutely.’