Page 30 of In Italy for Love

‘Oh, shit. Oops, I’m sorry. Nothing’s going to happen to your cat. Sometimes I think I can see ghosts, but I can’t tell the future.’

‘You can see ghosts?’

She groaned. ‘I’m joking. It’s Halloween soon and there must be something in the water. Is the haunted accordion still haunted?’

‘It’s not working yet.’

‘I won’t take up too much of your time, but I need a little help with the Italian on my application form. It’ll get me out of here sooner.’

With a disapproving huff at her continued insistence that she was a burden, he nodded and followed her into the kitchen, where she’d set up her laptop.

‘I’ve requested a postal redirection because changing my address would require official proof that I live here. I can do the application now. I’ve completed the form for my Australian passport renewal, which was complicated enough, but this Italian one…’

‘Okay. I’ll make sure your name is on the post box – and the doorbell, just in case.’

‘Thanks. You know how to spell my surname by now?’

He nodded. ‘Calabrian Volpe. Did you come to Italy because of your family history?’

She glanced at him as though surprised he was making casual conversation, but he didn’t want to pretend he wasn’t interested. ‘No,’ was the only answer she gave initially. With another wary glance at him, she continued bitterly, ‘I came to Italy for a man.’ Clearing her throat, she pointed out the instructions causing confusion. ‘I’m not sure what I’m logging in for here.’

Skimming the text, he said, ‘You have to make an appointment with the state police in Parma.’

‘Damn it,’ she whispered, rubbing the heel of her hand over her forehead. He noticed an angry red mark on her thumb, probably from a popped blister. He frowned at the evidence thatshe was still working too hard in a position she wasn’t being paid for.

‘If you make an appointment for the afternoon, you can probably go and come back in one day. Look, there’s one available next week. I can take care of Arco.’

‘Oh, God, of course I can’t take him to the appointment. But he’s got his passport at least – his EU dog passport,’ she joked. She paused, biting her lip, then muttered, ‘Thanks for offering to help. Maybe I should have stayed in Parma, rather than cause all this trouble.’

He wondered briefly how he would have felt if he’d been stuck in London after everything had gone wrong. ‘Sometimes reacting is all you can do.’

Her expression was pinched. ‘Yeah, but there are constructive reactions and irrational reactions and coming here to the middle of nowhere is feeling more and more irrational.’

He couldn’t resist chiding her gently. ‘The middle of nowhere is somewhere for the people who live there.’ He was rewarded with an apologetic glance from her pretty eyes.

‘I didn’t mean to imply otherwise. But I survived a year of living with him after we broke up and surely I could have survived another two weeks for the sake of my bank account.’

‘You lived together after breaking up?’

‘That awkward situation is what I got for moving to a foreign country for a brand-new relationship that wasn’t ready for that step. Everyone I knew in Parma was a friend ofhis. I didn’t have anywhere else to go – as I’ve unfortunately proven by getting into this mess! God, I hope I don’t run into him.’ She dropped her hand and Arco came immediately, nuzzling her leg. ‘That’s what I got for moving to Italy forlove.’

The disdain in her voice as she said that last word was clear and he wasn’t sure what to say in reply. A haze at the edge of his vision warned him against drawing parallels, even thoughhis heart wanted to remind him of what he’d done forlove, especially during the worst moment of his life.

His gaze zeroed in instead on the form she was filling out in her browser. ‘Your birthday is November 12? That’s soon.’ He wondered why she’d felt so much younger when he was only three years older than her nearly twenty-eight. To be honest, everyone felt younger than him most days – even Berengario, with his new girlfriend and the spring in his step.

‘If I’m still here then, you’ll be desperate to get rid of me!’ Her sigh was deep.

‘If you’re still here then Due Pini will be spotless with everything in working order,’ he commented lightly in reply. When she stared at him blankly, he brushed his thumb over the raw patch of skin on her palm. ‘Don’t work yourself too hard.’ He dropped her hand again in a hurry.

‘I think you overestimate the contribution I can make,’ she said drily. ‘Do you know why I chose Due Pini from the list of farms to contact?’ she asked. ‘Because it was the farthest I could easily get fromItaly, while staying in Italy.’ Her laugh was pained. ‘As far away as I could get fromhimwithout crossing a country border.’

‘The rest of Italy might view Friuli as the middle of nowhere, but the Furlans know this is the crossroads of Europe. And your problems don’t worry us. We have a word, cumbinìn. It means we join together and find a way. You’re helping us. Let us help you.’

He’d said too much. She was watching him with so much scepticism in her gaze that he wondered what her ex had put her through before she’d been brave enough to leave.

‘Do you need help with the rest of the form?’ he asked, needing to change the subject before the glint in her smooth, brown eyes took him right back to their not-date. ‘Look, colore occhi: eye colour,’ he pointed out absently on the screen. ‘Thissays you need to put “M” for “marroni”.’ A faint smile touched his lips. ‘Do you know, as well as meaning brown, “marroni” is a word for the very sweet chestnuts?’ His smile faded as soon as he realised what he’d said.

When he risked a glance at her, she lifted her eyebrows and gave him an amused smile that sent heat up the back of his neck. He was surprised he’d managed to sit next to her for this long and continue breathing normally, so the tightness in his chest shouldn’t have been unexpected.

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