In Italy for Love

Chapter 10

10

Alex snapped awake quickly the following morning, relieved to hear the thump of footsteps above him. Good, she hadn’t left yet. By the time he’d pulled on some clothes and wrenched his bedroom door open, she was coming down the stairs, backpack in place, holding Arco’s lead.

‘Where are you going?’ he blurted out. Without saying goodbye .

‘Arco needs to go outside so I thought I’d just…’

She looked pale, with shadows under her eyes, as though she’d slept as poorly as he had. She had a lot on her mind. It probably wasn’t because he’d been monosyllabic with her and then made a U-turn and kissed her like a fiend.

Although beating himself up for his own behaviour was probably better than the urge to look after her that kept assailing him. Right then it was the desire to make her coffee and breakfast.

He shook his head firmly. ‘Go sit in the kitchen and use the Wi-Fi to make a plan for where you’re going. I’ll take Arco out.’

She looked at him warily, but just responded with a dry, ‘Yes, sir,’ and handed over the lead.

Annoyed that he felt a thousand contradictory things at once, Alex wrenched open the apartment door with a little too much force and nearly walked into Berengario, whose hand was raised halfway to a knock.

‘Oh good, I caught you,’ Berengario said with a smug grin that only annoyed Alex further. ‘Are you taking the dog to work? That’s a good idea. Davide was at the farm yesterday and Fritz scared the life out of the poor thing.’

‘What?’ Alex snapped. ‘The shop doesn’t open for another two hours. The dog just needs to do his business, but Julia is looking for somewhere else to stay.’ He glanced at the kitchen window.

Berengario’s smile vanished. ‘What do you mean? She’s staying here. I came by to see if she wanted a lift to the farm with me this morning.’

Alex was getting very sick of being the last to understand people’s stupid assumptions. ‘I thought the room flooded. She can’t stay at Due Pini.’

‘Uffa! She is staying with you ! Didn’t you notice the woman in your home last night?’

‘The woman you invited to stay here.’

‘You looked quite happy about that last night after dinner!’

Alex’s mouth snapped shut and he gritted his teeth, resisting the urge to whirl around and scowl at the kitchen window with its inadequate curtains. ‘I’m getting proper blinds,’ he grumbled. ‘I should never have introduced you to Elena, old man. You’re around too much.’

‘Only when you need a kick up the arse. You’re allowed to start a new relationship.’

‘How many times do we both have to explain this: she’s not my girlfriend!’

Berengario’s response was an inarticulate grumble that sounded concerningly like ‘We’ll see about that.’

‘She’s leaving,’ Alex insisted. ‘As soon as she gets her passport, she’s leaving the country.’

Berengario was undeterred. ‘Until then, you have a place where she can stay.’

‘Do you mean you thought I offered to have her stay here for weeks ?’

‘Of course. Why not?’

It took all of Alex’s effort not to repeat Berengario’s words at the top of his voice. Lifting a hand to his hair in agitation, he allowed the bouncing dog to drag him to the persimmon tree, its branches hanging low with ripening orange fruit. ‘Berengario,’ he said sharply, ‘you know why I can’t have Julia staying with me.’

‘Stupidel! It’s been three years, son!’

‘It doesn’t matter if it’s been three minutes! I don’t want her in Gigi’s house, with Laura’s things.’

‘Shh, she’ll hear you!’ Berengario said in a severe tone. ‘Where’s your hospitality? She has nowhere to go and Madda needs all the help she can get on the farm. You obviously like the woman,’ he added with a pointed scowl.

Alex opened his mouth to protest some more, but he couldn’t tell his mentor that liking Julia was part of the problem. That he didn’t want to play house with someone warm and funny who’d made him feel something good despite his best efforts to the contrary.

But he hadn’t wanted her to leave that morning with nowhere to go. It was selfish not to help her – and Aunt Maddalena – because he was still a mess. It was only two weeks – not long enough to tear him open again, surely.

Besides, she was on the rebound from what had probably been an important relationship. He wasn’t the only one who couldn’t embark on something… romantic. They could be friends. As long as he made sure not to kiss her against the kitchen bench ever again, he’d find a way to sleep – or at least sleep just as badly as he usually did.

‘Good man!’ Berengario said before Alex had even expressed his agreement. ‘When the two weeks are up, you won’t want her to go!’

Berengario’s comment caught him in the ribs.

‘Let’s go tell her the good news!’

‘Wait a moment,’ Alex said, grasping Berengario’s arm to stop him. ‘You can’t just tell her she can stay here. I should offer – as though it were my idea.’ He stifled a grimace.

‘Don’t worry. I have more tact than you do.’

Berengario’s idea of tact wasn’t always the same as everyone else’s, so it was clear what Alex needed to do. ‘I’ll talk to her. How about you come back in half an hour to take her out to the farm?’

‘I knew this would all work out,’ the old man said, the disturbing twinkle back in his eye.

When Arco whined to go back inside to his mistress, Alex headed into the house, arranging a smile on his face. The scent of coffee reached him and when he opened the door to the kitchen, Julia looked up from where she had been studying the moka pot.

‘I never got the hang of these things,’ she said with a grimace.

‘I thought that , surely, would be on the citizenship test,’ he said lightly, earning a scowl. She reached to take it off the heat but he shook his head and caught her forearm to stop her. ‘Not yet.’ They watched the moka pot together in awkward silence until it made the first gurgle. ‘Now it’s ready.’

She took the pot gingerly off the stove. ‘Sorry that I rummaged for the coffee without asking.’

‘Don’t worry about it. I hope there’s some for me in there?’ The pair of lime green ceramic espresso cups on the table answered his question. The domesticity of the moment threatened to choke him in memories, but he pushed them away.

Julia had made coffee for him – something any of his friends would do without a second thought. It didn’t mean anything.

‘Right,’ she said with a sigh, after taking her first sip of scalding coffee as she studied her laptop screen. ‘I’ve found a farm not too far from here, in Veneto, but I’ll have to contact them to ask if they have a space.’

‘I have a suggestion,’ he said. ‘Maddalena needs you. I have space here. Why don’t you just stay?’

She went still, her gaze wary and her mouth hanging slightly open. She had such strong features – in the way that strength and beauty were somehow on the same spectrum.

‘Are you inviting me to stay here ?’

He gave half a nod. His eyebrows wanted to betray his conflicted feelings about the invitation but he hoped he kept them still.

‘Did Berengario force you into this? I saw him outside.’

‘No!’

She crossed her arms and gave him an assessing look. ‘Did he guilt you into it, then? You don’t even need to answer that. I can see the truth in your face.’

That was concerning.

‘It’s all right,’ she continued. ‘I’m not your responsibility and I don’t want to be a burden. I’ll go back to Maria Grazia’s place until I can find another farm?—’

‘Your accommodation was Maddalena’s responsibility and I am happy to help.’

‘You sound really happy , Alex.’

Her tone made him uncomfortable, but after everything they’d shared, it was difficult to hide the truth. ‘I have a lot of space. Just stay here. Nothing else makes sense.’

‘I assume you’re suggesting the same sleeping arrangements as last night.’

‘Of course,’ he answered immediately. ‘We’re not… You said it too.’

Her shoulders rose and fell on an enormous sigh. ‘We nearly screwed that up last night.’

He gave a cough to clear his tight throat. It was so damn flattering to think that she’d kissed him even though she hadn’t meant to. That some stranger found him irresistible was both incredibly gratifying and utterly preposterous.

Oh, God, he should have made sure she stayed a stranger.

‘Is the accidental kissing what you’re worried about?’ she prompted.

Yes! ‘Of course not. A housemate arrangement is entirely separate from… that.’

For a moment, he thought she would argue and he nearly broke out in a sweat. But then she said, ‘You’re right,’ and he could breathe again. ‘I’m sure you can’t be irresistible, especially since everything I do seems to make you angry.’

‘I’m not angry. I’m just used to my own space to…’ Wake up in the middle of the night and wander the halls like a ghost . ‘…play the accordion. It’s not a peaceful instrument.’

She gave him a smile – a touch sceptical, but she didn’t seem keen to ask more, which he was grateful for. ‘For free accommodation, I’ll put up with a lot more than a bit of hurdy-gurdy.’

‘A hurdy-gurdy is an entirely different instrument. It has strings, not reeds, and you turn a crank to play it.’

She snorted a laugh. ‘Sorry, I didn’t mean to offend you. I didn’t know a hurdy-gurdy was an actual thing.’

The tension in him slowly letting up, he managed a smile in response. ‘I’ll play you some recordings over dinner,’ he promised with mock earnestness. ‘Mood music.’

‘I’m assuming the mood of a hurdy-gurdy is not calm and soothing?’

‘I just hope you don’t like it more than the accordion.’

‘We don’t need to eat dinner together. Maddalena will give me lunch at the restaurant and I’ll sort myself out in the evening. I’ll start my passport application tonight and I should be gone again in two weeks – three weeks tops. I won’t take advantage of you and you won’t even know I’m here.’

That sounded like wishful thinking. ‘You’re not taking advantage of me. Maddalena and Berengario are, but they’re allowed to.’

‘She’s your aunt?’ she clarified. ‘Does that make Berengario your grandfather?’

‘No – well, not really. But they’re definitely family.’ Which was what made the situation with the one-night stand all the more awkward.

He glanced at the kitchen window, wondering if Berengario could see inside from Elena’s apartment. What did the old man really think of him sleeping with a stranger? Yes, Berengario was family, so he would always be too invested in Alex’s life. There were times when that interest pinched.

‘But you might be right,’ she added, absently patting the dog’s head, where he’d laid his chin on her thigh. ‘If we settle in as housemates – temporarily – then we’ll probably find that all the kissing and… stuff… was so intense because of the element of mystery. Before too long we’ll be arguing about how to pack the dishwasher.’

‘I don’t have a dishwasher,’ he deadpanned, waiting as long as he could before allowing himself to smile. ‘But I like the fridge arranged a particular way.’

‘Oh boy, am I going to drive you crazy.’

‘I’m… looking forward to it?’ And unexpectedly, he really was.