Page 31 of Change of Heart
‘He and his wife didn’t have any kids of their own and they sort of adopted me when I left home and went to work with them to pay my way through university. All right, I was eighteen, but like I say, I’m a country boy and I was quite lost in the big city at first. I owe them a lot. He gave the car to me when I graduated. It was twenty years old then and not exactly playboy transport, but it was amazingly generous of him.’ She heard him give a frustrated sigh. ‘Why couldn’t my own father be somebody like that?’
After five or six kilometres, he turned to the left onto a narrow, winding road and they started to climb up a series of hairpin bends until they were high above the valley floor. The restaurant was in a delightful little village on the hilltop and their table was outside on the terrace, sheltered from the setting sun by the building itself. From here they had a spectacular view down towards Parma in the distance, and Alice could pick out the unmistakable shapes of the cathedral and the octagonal baptistery in the centre. Disappearing into the haze beyond the city were the sprawling flatlands carpeted with factories that made it one of the most productive areas in Europe, producing everything from luxury cars to some of the most famous foods in the world. In spite of being so far out in the country, the restaurant was almost full, evidently very popular, and the atmosphere animated.
They both chose mixed antipasti to begin with, followed by a grilledbistecca alla fiorentina. The waiter tried to persuade Alice to have a plate of pasta between the starter and the main course but she shook her head. Luca had been telling her about the legendary Florentine steaks that were the speciality of the house and she had no illusions as to the mountain of food that awaited her. At his suggestion, they ordered a bottle of ice-cold rosé that turned out to be excellent. He told her it was made locally and she nodded appreciatively. ‘I’m definitely going to add this one to my list of fine local wines.’ She pulled out her phone and took a photo of the label before clinking her glass against his. ‘Thanks for this; eating on your own can get a bit boring after a while.’
He caught her eye. ‘I’m kind of surprised you’re on your own. How come a gorgeous, bright, talented woman like you is all alone? I would have thought you’d be fighting the men off.’
She did her best to ignore the compliments and shook her head. ‘I’ve had a few relationships over the years, but none that amounted to anything, and nothing recently.’ Once again she ducked out of the chance to tell him what had happened to her – and she certainly wasn’t going to mention Maurizio. ‘To be honest, this is just about the first time for ages I’ve been out one-to-one with a man.’ She was interrupted by the arrival of their antipasti.
This consisted of a plate of thick slices of white bread topped with chopped tomatoes soused in olive oil, alongside a huge wooden board groaning with mortadella, salami and, of course, ham. In separate little dishes were artichoke hearts, sundried tomatoes and olives, all soaked in more of the wonderful thick olive oil, so fresh it tickled the throat. Alongside was a little salad made of sliced porcini mushrooms, covered in slivers of Parmesan cheese and yet more oil. It looked and smelt excellent. Alice glanced across at Luca and smiled.
‘This looks wonderful. Thanks again for bringing me here.’
‘Thank you for coming with me. I love it out here on the terrace, watching the shadows lengthen and the lights of the city gradually start to turn on. It’s idyllic… and quite romantic.’
She had to agree with him on that.
They chatted about everything from walking with alpacas to Simonetta’s big news about her father’s acceptance of her choice of boyfriend, and the conversation flowed easily – as long as it didn’t take a more personal turn. As far as telling Luca about her accident was concerned, the moment had passed for now, but she resolved to return to it as soon as it felt right. She could almost hear Fenella’s voice echoing in her ears telling her to just tell him and be damned. The trouble was that she was terrified at the thought of what his reaction might be, so once again, she bit her tongue and said nothing. In a moment of self-awareness, she reflected that being so reticent bore an uncanny resemblance to Simonetta’s reluctance to mention her relationship with Tommi to her father. It was fear of how the other would react. Things were going so well, it seemed foolish to risk spoiling everything, and Alice wasn’t sure how she’d handle it if her fears were realised.
When they had eaten enough antipasti, a waiter came to remove their plates and then returned with an even bigger wooden board on which was a huge T-bone steak, the size and thickness of a bible, served with a pile of little roast potatoes flavoured with rosemary. The enticing aromas reached down as far as the dog. Alice heard a movement from under the table and then felt a heavy black nose land on her thigh. A pair of doleful brown eyes looked up at her adoringly or, more probably, greedily. She couldn’t resist – and it also got Frank’s nose off her clean white jeans – so she picked up a breadstick, handed it down to him and saw him subside back under the table with it. Luca had been observing the scene and he shot her a grin.
‘Sorry about that, he knows I don’t give him food from the table, but he always tries it on with everybody else. But you can’t blame him, it does smell good.’
‘Good? It smells and looks amazing, and I bet it tastes even better.’
And it did. Unbidden, the waiter proceeded to carve the steak away from the bone and then cut it vertically into slices, onto which he heaped more shavings of Parmesan, fresh rocket, and olive oil. He laid a fan of slices on each of their plates, added a little pile of potatoes and retired, promising to put the bone in a bag for the dog to devour when he got home.
Alice smiled across the table at Luca. ‘Buon appetitoand thank you again.’
‘You’re most welcome. I couldn’t ask for more charming company – and I’m not referring to Frank.’
She studied him over the rim of her glass. With his blue eyes, his broad shoulders and his strong, stubbly chin, he was without doubt a very attractive man. She took a sip of wine before replying.
‘I couldn’t ask for better either.’ His eyes locked with hers as he smiled back at her.
The meal was excellent and then, as she was sitting back, digesting her wonderfully lightpanna cottawith raspberries and sweet raspberry syrup, he said something that since her conversation with Simonetta that morning didn’t come as a complete surprise.
‘Want to know something? This is just about the first time I’ve been out with a woman for a long time.’
‘Really? I thought you’d be much more sociable than me. If you don’t mind me copying what you said earlier, how come a handsome, bright, talented man like you is alone?’ She caught his eye and grinned. ‘I would’ve expected you to have a very active social life.’
‘Nope. Like I said, I’m just fine on my own.’
Alice realised he still hadn’t answered her question about why he was on his own, but she didn’t press him, although she would be lying to herself if she said she wasn’t interested in knowing the answer. There was no doubt about it, however: a serious tête-a tête was looming – whatever the result.
‘This is going to be another very busy week for me,’ Luca murmured, the restaurant quieter now as various tables had left for the night. ‘Now that I’ve finished drawing up all the plans for the castle and I’ve submitted the outline proposal to the authorities, I really need to get back to the other jobs that I put off so I could come to the castle straightaway. This means I’m afraid I won’t be around much for the next few days. I don’t know what you’re doing next weekend but I have to be in Milan on Saturday so I won’t be able to come for a ride with you. On the Sunday, I’ll be visiting an old medieval tower. It’s a bit further to the west of here, high up in the Apennines near the skiing resort of the Abetone and it’s in a very lovely spot. I was wondering if maybe you’d like to come with me. That way you can say that you’ve not only eaten Tuscan food, but you’ve also actually been to Tuscany, although we’ll only really be just over the border. I’ve been responsible for the renovation works to the tower, and the inspector from theBelleArtiis due a week on Monday, so I thought I’d drop by to check that everything’s in order. Maybe you’d let me buy you lunch that day. There’s a really nice restaurant I know that I’m sure you’d like.’
Her disappointment that she was going to have to wait a full week before seeing him again quickly dissolved at the realisation that he had put so much thought into making sure hecouldsee her again. ‘I’d love to, but couldn’t I at least buy you a meal in return?’
He grinned. ‘We can argue about that next week.’
When the time came to walk back to the car, night had fallen and the sky was completely cloudless and a deep velvety blue colour. The near-full moon looked huge and she could even make out the larger craters just with the naked eye. He was dead right about this being a romantic place. Just before arriving back at the car they had to pause as Frank stopped to sniff and mark a battered copper drainpipe and she finally decided the time had come. As she stood there in the moonlight, searching for the right words to reveal her secret to Luca, she felt his hand grip her shoulder, turning her gently towards him. She didn’t resist and could feel her eyes closing in readiness for his kiss when to her surprise he pointed upwards.
‘Look, see that bright object just above the horizon? That’s the International Space Station. Just think, there are people up there right now, looking down at us. It’s an amazing thought, isn’t it?’
By this time Alice’s eyes were wide open again and she was relieved they were well way from the streetlights so, hopefully, he hadn’t spotted her faux pas.
‘Rather them than me. I think I’d better keep my feet on the ground.’
