Page 57 of In Italy for Love

Jules didn’t know what to say, but she was beginning to understand how deeply – how completely – the loss of Laura had reshaped his life. She was glad he’d had Berengario and Maddalena, even if the old man was nosy and interfering – and a menace with the wine, constantly refilling their glasses.

Maddalena returned from the mill after dark and the helpers who didn’t trudge home in exhaustion moved insideto the fire. She was efficient and down-to-earth as always, but Jules imagined she must be ready to drop after the weeks of preparations.

Alex had found himself drawn into a conversation about music, so Jules drifted to where Maddalena was stoking the fire on the big hearth.

‘Can I help with anything?’

‘Ah, bless you, dear,’ her host said with a warm smile. ‘But you go enjoy yourself.’

‘I don’t know anyone and I don’t speak Italian well enough to hold a long conversation – and certainly not in Furlan.’ She didn’t want any more flashbacks to the awkward meals with Luca and his friends when the conversation had swirled around her until she’d felt slow and stupid.

‘Go and talk to Alex, then. He smiles more with you.’

Jules swallowed, trying to keep her game face on. She wouldn’t cause any trouble for Alex. ‘He seems happy right now,’ she pointed out.

As if on cue, the group of men he was sitting with broke into laughter and raised their glasses. Alex was the only one without any grey hair. The barman from their first date was in the group and Jules was forced to think of Alex’s nervousness that night in a different light. Everyone was a friend and a neighbour and they all knew he’d lost his wife in tragic circumstances and struggled to get past it.

Berengario declared something with a slap on the table and then started singing in a rowdy voice. The other men joined in with the jaunty song that seemed to match the felt hats that some of them wore.

Jules expected a kind of landlubbing sea shanty, but the song soon became an a cappella masterpiece in four-part harmony and she stared, her jaw dropping when Alex joined in with asturdy bass part. They knew all the words by heart; their voices blended until the room seemed to be transported back in time.

After holding the last note, a nod from Berengario was enough for the song to dissolve into cheering and lifted hats – and more wine sloshed into tumblers. The rest of the pickers applauded and raised their glasses.

Maddalena smiled indulgently. ‘Papà was only in the army for two years, but he’s stayed an Alpino at heart all his life.’

‘That was an old army song?’

She nodded. ‘He directs the local Coro Alpino, the charity choir for veterans and supporters – and he’s made Alex come along since he was a teenager, the poor boy.’

‘It’s good that he’s had you two. Where are his own parents?’

‘It was always just his mum when he was growing up and she moved to Verona when he and Laura got married. She has a new partner. Alex would never let her come back and look after him, but I keep her updated.’ Maddalena gave Jules a conspiratorial smile.

Jules was faintly disturbed that those updates might have included her. Surely not. She hadn’t been here long and would be gone again soon – not worth a news report in Alex’s life.

‘I think,’ Maddalena began again, studying the table of old men – and Alex, ‘he might have had a little too much to drink.’

He blinked lazily and leaned on his hand, his cheek bunched and his lips pouting. When the older men broke out in laughter again, he grinned sluggishly, but he looked ready to melt into the floor.

‘He must have been so tired,’ Jules commented.

‘He still sleeps badly?’ Maddalena asked, her eyes suddenly as haunted as Alex’s. ‘I thought that had improved. It hasn’t improved since you moved in?’

Jules flushed and dropped her gaze, her stomach swimming. ‘We’re not… Really, it’s not helpful for anyone to think I’m goingto make his life better or make up for the loss of Laura. I’m here to work for a couple of weeks, not to cure his insomnia.’

Maddalena squeezed her arm and when Jules looked up, the older woman’s expression was grave and contrite. ‘You’re right, of course. You need to follow your own path and he believes his is set. But I can see he enjoys your company and, well, I can’t stop that small sign from giving me hope.’

‘I don’t want to disappoint you, if you get your hopes up on my account. To be honest, I don’t think hewantsto improve and there’s nothing I can do about that.’

‘It’s okay,’ Maddalena assured Jules with a firm nod. ‘And don’t worry about disappointing me. I’m lucky you’re here! I don’t know what I would have done without you.’

Jules quietly fell apart at those words, holding her head up only out of stubbornness. Despite her poor Italian, her tired emotions and her plans to leave in a hurry, she felt lucky to be where she was too.

At the table on the far side of the room, Alex’s eyes drooped and he pitched forward, before catching himself and propping himself up on the table with one big hand that was covered in scratches from the harvest. Berengario slung an arm around him, disguising what was obvious to Jules as concern in boisterous affection. He said something gruff that made the others laugh and squeezed Alex to him.

Jules turned briefly to Maddalena. ‘I’d better take him home. I managed to avoid the worst of Berengario’s refills, so I’m okay to drive.’

Alex managed to stand and trail Jules to the door without stumbling, but she snaked an arm around him as soon as they were out of sight of the others, glad Arco bounded straight for the car rather than tearing off into the darkness. Alex swayed a little, but thankfully remained upright as far as the Fiat, since there was no way Jules could support his weight.

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