Page 47 of An Italian Wedding Adventure

His mother’s expression pinched and he stifled a sigh. When she opened her mouth to speak, he cut her off, ‘Maybe we can skip the criticism of Andreas tonight? Especially since Tatta would miss out.’ He felt Sophie’s curious eyes on him as though they scratched his skin.

‘I was going to say that you haven’t been away as much recently. Perhaps you’ve discovered the value of home and don’t need to prove yourself in the earth’s most isolated corners.’

His leg twitched and he had to fight to stop his knee bouncing restlessly under the table.

Then Sophie opened her mouth and said entirely the wrong thing. ‘But what about Manaslu?’

Caro’s head jerked up. ‘Manaslu?’

His mother went white.

‘You’re going again?’ Caro prodded. ‘When?’

‘In the autumn,’ he answered as casually as he could.

‘Who with?’

‘Brzezinski and Kastelic so far – Dexter might join. We don’t have a firm plan yet.’

‘We need Andreas in mid-September to be one of the guides for a wedding party,’ Sophie added, trying desperately to smooth over her mistake. ‘I hope he’ll be able to. I made a bet that he’d cry at the wedding,’ she added with a smile, but his throat closed all over again. If she said anything about the terms of that bet in front of his family…

He stood abruptly, his chair scraping on the terracotta tiles. He would have had another dumpling or two, but the conversation had turned into a treacherous snow bridge on a glacier, where one wrong step could see him falling into a crevasse.

‘Andreas at a wedding?’ his mother commented lightly as he dumped his plate in the sink and started running the water. ‘You must be very persuasive.’

‘No, he’s only doing this for Willard – his overdeveloped sense of responsibility.’

‘His sense of responsibility doesn’t extend tosomethings,’ his mother said tightly. ‘No mother likes to imagine her son frozen or in pieces, in some place on another continent that God left behind. We have plenty of mountains right here at home and they’re not enough. Nothing is enough for my son.’ Her voice trailed off.

He’d heard it all before, but this time, he was desperate to know what Sophie made of it all while dreading finding out. He glanced at her, but she had that expression of wide-eyed dismay on her face that reminded him of the day he’d told her he wouldn’t marry her. She would understand his mother’s sentiment.Nothing is enough for Andreas.

But she also understood more:You struggle with how much you love them.

She stood, grasping her plate. ‘Can I help with the washing up?’

‘No, we had a big day. You should rest, if Caro and Mama are going to drag you around to a thousand shops tomorrow.’

‘I do have quite a lot of stamina when it comes to shopping, you know.’

‘Well, I’m glad I don’t have to take you,’ he quipped, but kicked himself when her cautious smile slipped.But I would, if you asked me. I’m going to drive an hour and a half to meet you for lunch. I want to spend all the time with you, except my mother’s right and you’re right and I can’t give either of you what you need.

She stifled a yawn.

‘Go,’ he said gently, ‘read your book. I’ll be there soon.’

* * *

When he slipped into the bedroom an hour later after nursing a schnapps on the balcony, the room was dark and Sophie was a stretched-out shape on the far side of the bed. He should have come earlier so they could talk, rather than being the coward he usually was when it came to feelings, but there were just too many feelings, all conflicting.

When he peeled off his T-shirt and jeans and slipped into the bed, his thoughts unexpectedly calmed to a still day on the lake, rather than the stormy sea he’d been since his family had interrupted them. Sophie rolled over, her hand landing on his bare arm and absently stroking his skin, making the warm, calm sensation spread through him like syrup.

‘Andreas,’ she sighed sleepily.

‘I’m sorry.’

She stilled and he wanted to take her hand and move it along his arm until she understood that she should keep touching him. ‘For what?’

‘Everything,’ he said with a sigh. ‘Me.’

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