Page 79 of In Italy for Love

Although Jules tried her hardest to ignore the envelopes, her gaze seemed to fall on them every five minutes as she stirred the polenta for dinner. It disturbed her how much she wanted to sneak them into the bin, but a small, panicky part of her also insisted she needed to take control of her life again. Alex was not Luca, but she had fallen into a familiar pattern of relying on him.

‘How about you open them.’

She glanced up to find him studying her gravely. ‘I suppose I should.’

‘Is it difficult to book flights to Australia? The farthest I’ve ever been is Turkey.’

Do you want to visit Australia?

‘It’s a really long flight, isn’t it?’ he prompted.

‘It’s awful,’ she agreed distractedly as she slipped her finger under the seal and pulled out her red Italian passport, stroking her thumb over the gold embossed star and wreath.

‘All official now,’ Alex said, pressing a kiss to her cheek. She caught his quick smile that might have been half-hearted. ‘Julia Volpe of the Calabrian Volpes.’

‘After all of Berengario’s comments, I kind of feel like a Furlan Volpe.’

‘You can visit, you know.’ That comment was definitely half-hearted and she didn’t want to ask herself why.

‘Maybe I will. That’s part of the reason I wanted to make sure I had the passport – so nothing would stop me coming back.’Or you could ask me to stay…

After checking over her passports, she grasped the power of attorney forms – although ‘grasped’ was the wrong word for the flood of Italian legalese she had no hope of understanding. Her hair stood on end when she remembered how close she’d come to signing it without thought.

‘I can help you with that,’ Alex offered from his position at the stove.

‘You already did,’ she said weakly. ‘You asked me if I trust him and the answer is no. Maybe I’ll have to take out a loan and fly back for the sale. Unless…’ She glanced up at him and quickly back down. No, she couldn’t ask him that.

‘Hmm?’

‘I’ll find a way,’ she said with a sigh.

After dinner, she opened up her laptop and started looking at flights while Alex sat across the table with a book he didn’t seem to be paying much attention to. But he’d taken out his contacts and he always looked hot in his glasses.

The quoted amount for last-minute flights was far more than she’d feared – twice the credit limit on her card – and she chewed on her lip as she imagined coaching her parents through an international transfer and then finding a way to pay them back. Then she clicked through the information about transportation of pets, panic rising the more she researched.

‘Oh, shit!’ she said under her breath.

Alex wrenched his gaze up. ‘What?’

‘I can’t go. Oh, God, I’m an idiot.’ She was even more of an idiot for the shot of hope that rushed through her at the prospect of more time here – with Alex.

‘You can’t go?’

She froze, her heart squeezing. The longer she stayed, the longer she was a burden on Alex and the others. ‘I thought transporting Arco would be expensive,’ she began, her voice high, ‘but I didn’t realise it required blood tests and vetcertificates and all kinds of stuff! Australia has really strict requirements for animals entering the country.’

‘Okay, what does he need? Immunisation?’

She tried to tell herself that Alex was just being helpful and not a little too keen for her to leave, but the idea took root anyway.

‘The whole process takes six months. I’msuchan idiot. What am I supposed to do?’ Her heart sank, torn between the idea of staying for another six months, but horrified by the thought of making her own way for another half a year here.

‘Shh,’ Alex said, snatching her waving hand and placing it gently back on to the table. ‘You’ve had a lot on your mind. It’s not your fault and it’s something we can find a solution to.’

‘I can’t just stay with you for six months, Alex.’

He gave an odd grimace and half a shrug that confirmed her suspicion. ‘Perhaps not, but Arco can.’

‘What? Leave him here?’

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