Page 76 of In Italy for Love

When Jules forced herself to turn away from Alex’s comforting presence, what she saw made her pause. Siore Cudrig had on her best pinched expression. The tattoo artist leaned an arm casually on the windowsill, but his eyes were sharp, as though hinting atconcealed weapons. And Berengario… His bushy brow had never looked so grim as he studied her ex without flinching.

Jules wanted to laugh – she wanted to cry. These neighbours had watched and gossiped and judged, been gruff and stand-offish at times, but they had their pitchforks lined up now – forher. She almost wished Berengario had brought his scythe.

The sheen of sweat on Luca’s smooth brow suggested he had picked up on the hostility. Just hearing his voice again had made her want to run. Seeing his face made her taste her own failure again, the twinge of memories she’d tried to save but now wanted to erase.

Her thoughts were consumed with possible reasons for his sudden appearance. He hadn’t called. Her feelings swerved from joy at the possibility that they’d sold the B&B easily and her troubles were over, to misgiving about the conversations they needed to have about their relationship. He wouldn’t have come all this way just to say goodbye.

The brief thought that he could want her back flitted across her panicked brain, but she dismissed it. She’d never been more certain that everything between them was over and he’d known it before she had.

The lively, intense man who’d captured her attention so fully when they’d met in London wasn’t who Luca really was – at least not with her any more. Looking at him now, without a scrap of lingering attraction, only hurt, she had to admit she’d been deluded during their relationship – irrational. Maybe she was being irrational now, imagining herself in love with Alex.

Making decisions forlovewas a laughable approach. For commitment, maybe, but nobody committed after knowing someone a matter of weeks – and Alex had always been clear that he couldn’t commit.

More than irrational, Jules had been utterly foolish to ignore reality and allow her feelings to develop, but something still squeezed around her heart and insisted Alex wasdifferent.

Luca glanced from one intimidating face to another and then beseechingly at Jules. ‘Who are all these people?’

‘Neighbours,’ Berengario said. ‘Jules is our neighbour.’

‘Andyou, I’m assuming—’ Luca turned to Alex, his eyes narrow ‘—are Signor Mattelig? Her new…’

‘Housemate,’ he said flatly.

Jules’s stomach sank. Yep, she’d walked right into another mess, when she’d been determined to pull herself out of her old one. Her skin crawled; not with the revulsion she felt when she looked at Luca, but with the first sparks of loss. She would lose Alex. Her stupid, irrational heart had forgotten that she had to go – and his heart already belonged to someone else.

His hand landed at her back, fisting in her shirt. How many times had he gripped her like that, as though he couldn’t let her go? How difficult it was to believe what he said and not what he did.

‘Jules,’ Alex said softly, ‘you don’t owe him anything – not your feelings.’

She swallowed, trying to get her racing heart under control. Alex thought she was upset about Luca? It was almost funny.

‘Are you going to talk to me now I’ve come all this way?’ Luca asked with a huff.

‘I didn’t tell you where I was. You could have called instead.’

‘Well, when a letter arrived confirming your postal redirection, I was confused myself. I’d never heard of this place and I have no idea how you found it.’

‘That was the idea,’ she said weakly.

‘But you obviously didn’t realise that the redirection doesn’t work for couriers and I couldn’t exactly give you your passports over the phone, could I?’

‘What?’

He rummaged in his leather shoulder-bag, coming away with two fat envelopes, one of which bore the seal of the Australian High Commission in Milan. No wonder she’d been waiting a little longer than expected for her passports. She took the envelopes automatically, her mind stalling. The letters in her hand were supposed to be the open door to a brighter future, but they felt heavy in her feeble fingers.

Luca continued, ‘You should thank me, really. I came out to this place in the middle of nowhere to give them to you.’

Berengario and the others bristled and Luca eyed them warily.

‘It’s not the middle of nowhere for the people who live here,’ Jules said firmly. ‘Friûl is the crossroads of Europe.’ She kept her gaze trained on Luca’s stifled sneer. She didn’t dare try to work out what Alex was feeling.

‘“Crossroads of Europe” or “arse of Italy”, I see you’ve settled in well here with these people. Do you even need your passports, now you’ve found your next “passion”?’

She flinched and before she’d had time to react, Alex was pushing forward, nudging her behind him. ‘Don’t blame her for whatyoudid wrong!’ He continued in Italian, but Jules understood enough to know he was accusing Luca of exploiting her and the slap of his palm onto the table was clear.

‘Ehi, stai calmo, amico.’

‘I’m not your friend,’ Alex snapped in reply, switching back to English with a glance at Jules. ‘I’mherfriend.’

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