Page 29 of In Italy for Love

‘I’ll give it back to Maddalena tomorrow.’

‘God, no! Use it. And don’t work yourself to the bone like you did today. I don’t want to feel guilty about that on top of everything else.’

It was a shame he was such an adorable grump. Something of her thoughts must have shown on her face because he bolted for the door with a mumbled, ‘It’s warm now.’

‘Are you—?’ she began before she could stop herself. He turned to her warily. ‘Are you going to be able to sleep?’

His answer was an eloquent shrug, his fingers open and hesitant and although Jules didn’t know his situation, the vulnerability in the gesture was clear and shot straight to her heart. ‘We’ll see,’ was all he said.

‘Buonanotte,’ she said, hurrying him off before she started wishing he’d stay.

‘Buine gnot,’ he replied quietly, turning away before she could ask him to repeat the words in Furlan so she could learn them.

When she was wrapped in blankets in bed and trying to stop her thoughts from spiralling with suspicions and assumptions,she glanced at her phone, charging on the bedside table. It was past two o’clock.

She tiptoed downstairs the following morning, a pacifying hand on Arco’s back to keep him quiet, but despite her attempts not to make any noise, they were greeted in the kitchen by a hiss and the clang of pots and pans as the cat ran for his life, zipping past in a furry white blur.

‘Shit,’ Jules muttered, righting the pans and glancing warily back down the hallway. When Alex’s door opened and he appeared, utterly rumpled and wearing only a pair of loose cotton boxer shorts, she felt triply guilty for enjoying the sight.

Wrenching her eyes away, she hurriedly set the coffee on, determined to get out of his way as soon as she could. He didn’t come into the kitchen until fifteen minutes later, when she’d grabbed some toast and slugged her coffee. Slipping past him into the hallway and definitely not noticing the scent of his soap, she legged it for the door, pausing only to give him an awkward wave because it felt rude not to acknowledge him at all.

Safely out at Due Pini, she accepted both her mission for the day – which would mostly involve washing and sterilising steel tanks in preparation for the new oil – and a pair of worn, sturdy boots that belonged to Maddalena’s son, Davide. She hesitated before heading into the storage lean-to by the farmhouse – long enough even for Maddalena to notice.

‘What’s wrong, dear?’ the older woman asked.

‘Are you sure it’s okay for me to borrow this jacket? I got the impression from Alex… Now you have that look on your face too. I don’t want to keep reminding people of someone who—’ Oops,she was making it worse, if Maddalena’s stricken expression was anything to go by.

‘Alex told you? About Laura?’

‘He…’

Maddalena grasped her arm in a firm grip. ‘He needed to. If he’s going to keep living in the past like this, then at least he should explain himself. We’ve been so worried about him, but it’s not your fault.’

‘That’s what he said,’ Jules mumbled, feeling that somehow the opposite was still true.

‘We just all want to see him smiling again. It’s been so long.’

‘He smiles,’ Jules insisted. Her memories of their not-date were vivid and he’d definitely smiled. She could still remember the way his deep laugh had tingled over her skin. ‘At least I’ve seen it on occasion,’ she added – just no occasions since she’d moved in with him.

‘Good,’ Maddalena said with a look that was a touch too hopeful. But before Jules could protest – again – that there wasn’t anything romantic between her and Alex, the older woman continued briskly, ‘I’m glad the jacket is useful. You’ve been such a help already. I don’t know what we would have done without you.’

If Maddalena only knew how good those words made her feel. A grin spread across her face – which abruptly died when the older woman continued with a humph, ‘And it’s not as though my sister will come back for the jacket.’

Her sister…If she was Alex’s aunt, could Maddalena mean hismother? He’d inherited the building, returned home from London. If Jules lost her mother, she’d be in a state too. She had suspected something else, but losing his mother made sense.

But it was clear that Jules should keep her questions to herself and get on with work – and her escape from Italy. This family’s grief wasn’t any of her business.

13

Julia was avoiding him.

While Alex could see it was only natural, given his inability to deal with the various sources of awkwardness with his new housemate, he was disappointed every time she quickly escaped the dinner table and when she disappeared with Arco all of Sunday. His disappointment made no sense, because he didn’t want the domesticity to begin with, and he only cooked for her because he wasn’t certain she’d eat a thing if he didn’t.

She appeared at the door of his workroom on Monday evening and he stood in surprise almost as quickly as Attila leaped, panicking, off the table and out of the room.

‘I never see him properly,’ she commented. ‘I wouldn’t recognise him in a missing cat poster.’

‘I hope he never goes missing,’ Alex blurted out.

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