Page 15 of In Italy for Love

The man with the chainsaw flipped open the tinted visor of his helmet to reveal a pair of kind brown eyes and a prodigiously wrinkled, smiling face – in contrast to the power tool held carelessly in his other hand.

‘Ah, la signorina!’ the old man said, tossing the chainsaw into his left hand to extend his right. ‘Mandi! Welcome!’

‘Uh,’ was all Jules said, rather rudely, although she managed to shuffle Arco in her arms to poke out a hand for him to shake.

‘Oh! You are Julia!’ the woman said in English, running a hand through her hair in agitation and leaving it standing up in a curly mess. ‘I forgot you are coming today. Oh dear, I— Davide, take Fritz away,please!’

Mouthing ‘sorry,’ the younger man shepherded the black dog back outside and shot her a quick smile. She couldn’t be certain whether he was apologising for the behaviour of the dog or for leaving her alone with this eccentric pair who were apparently his mother and grandfather, if she’d caught the Italian correctly.

Between the chainsaw welcome, the broken glass and the fierce dog, if she’d had any other options for a place to stay, she would have considered turning around and marching back to town.

‘Yes, I-I’m Julia,’ she stammered, stumbling as Arco wriggled in her arms.

‘I’m afraid I have bad news,’ Maddalena said, her eyes a little wild – at least Julia assumed the woman was Maddalena, even though she hadn’t introduced herself. Julia’s stomach sank as she waited to hear the next stumbling block on the road out of Italy. ‘A pipe burst last night and the bunk room was flooded. The wiring is unsafe and I don’t know how or when?—’

The woman looked entirely at the end of her tether and despite the panic rising in her throat, Jules felt a stab of sympathy.

She set Arco down, keeping him on a short lead. ‘Sounds like you need help.’

‘You see, Maddalena!’ the old man said, raising his hand for emphasis. ‘Dut va ben!’ It sounded enough like ‘Tutto va bene’ that Jules assumed the old man actually thought everything would be all right. That made one of them. Putting down his chainsaw, he approached with a wide smile, clutched her shoulders and pressed a kiss to each of her cheeks. ‘Juuulia,’ he said, drawing out her name almost… fondly? ‘We are so happy you are here.’

She blinked at him. She was here for free accommodation in exchange for work. She wasn’t a long-lost granddaughter.

‘Papà! I don’t have a room where she can stay! The wiring is a mortal danger and the floor is more crooked than one of your jokes. As much as we need the help, I have nothing to offer in return. Dear,’ she said, turning earnestly to Jules, ‘it will be best if you continue with your travels. I’m so sorry.’

Jules allowed her eyelids to fall shut, unbearably weary.

‘But she doesn’t need to go anywhere,’ the old man said, cryptically. Why he was still smiling was beyond her. ‘Why stay on the farm here when there’s a perfectlywarm bedwaiting for you, eh?’ He patted her arm as though he couldn’t contain his excitement and Jules began to wonder if he had a screw loose. Turning to the equally puzzled Maddalena, he said, ‘She is the answer to prayer!’

When he continued, his explanation knocked the breath out of Julia’s lungs.

‘Thisis Alex’s girlfriend!’

8

While chaos reigned at Due Pini, business was slow in Luigi’s bike shop, where Alex worked. The man himself was out with his friends from the motor club, leaving Alex to ring up the couple of purchases while he kept on top of the repairs in the workshop out the back. Autumn was a popular season for repairs which Alex always felt had some deeper meaning.

Catching himself, he shook off the thought. He shouldn’t be looking for deeper meaning in anything, especially not something as prosaic as the changing of the seasons, or he’d soon be off in his own world imagining there was symbolism in his new life repairing other people’s brakes and tyres and lamps.

Wow, he’d needed the break from his own company last night. With oil on his fingertips, a multi-tool in his hand and a satisfying project in front of him, he was content, almost… happy. The sex had something to do with his mood, undoubtedly, but he refused to think of that cause and effect. He hadn’t slept with Julia to make himself happy. It had just been… the natural next step.

Not for the first time that day, he asked himself where she could be now and what she was thinking about the nightbefore. The other question that swirled through his thoughts was: had last night been so easy and wonderfuldespitetheir ‘no expectations’ rule orbecause ofit?

Whatever the answer, he still experienced the occasional shower of goosebumps remembering everything that had happened, and had to shake himself back into the present to concentrate on the bolts and screws and cables.

In the mid-afternoon, the bell over the shop door chimed and he called out a cheerful greeting to the customer while he finished polishing a carbon fibre frame. When he emerged onto the shop floor, he recognised Fulvio Quercig, the father of one of his students – the students old Berengario would probably never take back now Alex had started filling in for him.

He shook hands with the man. ‘What can I do for you?’ Picking up a battered leather case, the man placed it on the counter and Alex frowned. ‘The key stuck again?’

‘No, the keys are fine after you fixed them last time, but now it won’t shut up. Plays a note constantly. I’m surprised it didn’t drone at me in the car all the way here.’

‘Don’t worry. Sounds like there’s a pallet open. It shouldn’t be a difficult fix. Leave it with me and I’ll take a look tonight.’

‘I’m not convinced the thing isn’t possessed, to be honest. Gianni joked about it, but barely a week’s gone by when this thingdidn’tmake some pretty other-worldly sounds – and I’m not talking about Gianni’s practice.’

‘It’s not haunted, Siôr Quercig,’ he assured the man with a grin, using the local version of ‘signor’. ‘If you think it is, you’ll have to take it back to Berengario. I don’t do accordion exorcism, only repair.’

‘You were so busy last time, I tried Berengario, but he said you’re the only one who repairs accordions around here now.’