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It was blessedly quiet and cool away from the party and Frankie wondered how Valentina was coping… although, come to think of it, Frankie couldn’t remember seeing her sister mingling at any point throughout the evening.

Although she’d been hot inside the barn, Frankie started to cool rapidly outside. She wished she’d thought to pick up a jacket on the way out.

She looked up at the sky and the snowflakes falling down. An echo of a conversation from what felt a lifetime ago prompted her to notice they seemed to speed up in that position.

Frankie watched her breath mist out in front of her as her thoughts turned to Jay.

Tonight, there was a frisson, a chemistry, a something between them and she was certain it wasn’t in her imagination or wishful thinking.

Frankie could feel herself slipping back to her old self. It was easy being with Jay. So natural, with the intervening years falling away as if he’d only been gone twelve months rather than twelve years. If she wasn’t careful, Frankie risked falling in love with Jay all over again.

Unless she’d never properly fallen out of love with him.

A tear slid down her cheek, momentarily warming her skin, before leaving it even colder than it was before.

The music and chatter from the party momentarily got louder as the door opened before closing again. Seconds later, Jay appeared around the corner, holding his coat.

‘I thought you might need this.’

Frankie quickly wiped the tear away, but not before Jay had noticed.

‘Are you okay? I keep turning up to find you crying.’

‘That was because there was a⁠—’

‘Sad bit in your book, yeah.’ He stood for a moment looking at her, snowflakes settling on his shoulders and head before he said, ‘But you’re not reading now, and I know I may not be up on Jilly Cooper novels but I didn’t think she wrote weepies.’

Frankie sniffed. ‘There’s a lot of depth to her books. Her writing is very nuanced.’

Her teeth began to chatter and Jay walked behind her, putting his coat over her shoulders, holding it in place by wrapping his arms around her. They stood like that for a few moments and in the still and the silence, the security light flicked off again. They weren’t plummeted into complete darkness thanks to the orangey glow of the snow-filled sky.

Frankie relaxed her body against his; the longing sensation that had been in her chest since he arrived back seemed to thrum gently like a plucked cello string.

‘The other night when you saw me, I was thinking about Nonno. I think he might be ill,’ Frankie eventually said, in barely more than a whisper.

‘Ill? I thought he was on great form, full of his usual zest for life. I know he’s really busy at the moment.’

‘You do?’

‘Uh, yeah. We had a good long chat the other night when I was waiting for you.’

‘I’m worried he’s putting on a front.’ Frankie launched into the story of what she’d overheard when working in the trattoria.

When Frankie had finished there were a few beats of silence before Jay spoke.

‘You need to talk to him. You’ve heard half a conversation and possibly jumped to conclusions.’

‘It sounded quite definite.’

‘Is it, though? Well, you said he plans on telling you soon.’

Frankie said nothing.

Jay took a breath. ‘And tonight? Is… can I ask… is… I hope I’m not the cause of any of your upset? Me coming back and… and everything with Rocco.’

Frankie laughed softly. ‘You’ve certainly got tickets on yourself! Not everything revolves around you, Mr hotshot rock star.’ But she didn’t deny it.

‘Ouch. Okay, I deserved that.’ His warm breath tickled her neck. ‘Sorry. My ego’s back in check.’