Page 17 of Far from Home
Amy nodded again and he took off on a tour of the property. Five minutes later the tea was ready and she could still hear his footsteps on the floor upstairs. She went to the bottom of the stairs and called up to him.
‘Your tea’s ready, Signor Rossi.’
She heard his footsteps as he clumped down the stairs. When he came back into the kitchen, he sat down and picked up the cup. Raising it to his lips, he took a sip and looked across at her.
‘Is this the way you English always drink tea, with milk?’
‘Yes, is it all right? I’m sorry, I forgot that here in Italy you tend to drink tea without milk.’
He gave her a grin. ‘To be totally honest, Signora, this is the first cup of tea I’ve tasted for twenty years.’ He took another sip. ‘And it’s… drinkable.’
She chuckled at his lukewarm response. ‘Please don’t feel you have to drink it if you don’t like it. I promise I’ll get a proper coffee machine before you start work here. It’s just that I don’t trust the electrics.’ She pushed a packet of biscuits across the table towards him.
He took one and studied it carefully. ‘English?’
She shook her head. ‘Italian. I bought them in the supermarket down the road.’
Reassured, he took a bite and then gave his report on the house. ‘Yes, there’s a lot to be done, but nothing insurmountable. I have another small job I must do this week. I can’t put that off any longer, I’m afraid. But, seeing your fairly urgent need, I could start next Monday.’
He took another sip of tea and looked hopefully at the biscuit packet. Amy nudged it closer to him and thanked him profusely. From what Rosa had said, she hadn’t been expecting him to be able to start anything like so soon.
‘That would be wonderful, Signor Rossi, but are you sure you can fit me in at such short notice? Like you say, there’s a lot of work to be done, you know.’ The last thing she wanted was for him to make a start and then disappear off to some other job and leave her high and quite literally dry as a result.
‘It’s the least I can do. Martino was a good man and a good friend. Any friend of his is a friend of mine. And friends need to help friends.’
Amy was impressed. Martin Slater’s popularity really had been extensive. ‘That’s lovely to hear. Thank you so much.’
‘In fact, I have a proposal for you, Signora. I have a good friend who’s a builder. His name’s Lorenzo Pozzovivo.’ Amy immediately recognised the name Rosa had mentioned. ‘He and I often work together and he also knew Martino very well. The three of us used to go fishing together. If I tell him what needs to be done here, he might be able to organise things so that he could join me for a week or two. He could fit a new kitchen for you and create a bathroom upstairs. Two if you like. I’m afraid we’re looking at a fairly major replacement of your whole plumbing system.’ He took another biscuit and nibbled it pensively. ‘And I couldn’t help noticing that your electrical system is not only ancient, it looks positively dangerous.’
‘I rather got that impression myself. I don’t suppose you…’
‘My cousin, Emilio, is an electrician; in fact he’s a very good electrician. If you like, I could ask him to come along and take a look?’
‘That would be wonderful, Signor Rossi. Hopefully it won’t be too expensive.’
Absently, he helped himself to another biscuit and chewed it while clearly doing some mental arithmetic. His eyes closed as he calculated. It took a remarkably short time before he opened them once more and glanced in surprise at his empty fingers. Amy offered more sustenance.
‘Another biscuit?’
He shook his head regretfully and patted his stomach. ‘Thank you, Signora, but I’d better not. Now, I’ll do a formal calculation for you later this week, but don’t worry, we’ll make sure you get a good price.’
Amy nodded in agreement. She didn’t really have much choice and she knew the work had to be done. This would give her more time to decide on her future and whether to sell the house or hang onto it.
‘Thank you. Tell me, how long do you think it will all take? I’ve got a few weeks’ back holiday entitlement to use up and it might be a good idea if I’m around to make decisions. I’m at the Corona Grossa at the moment and I can stay on there until you tell me it’s okay to move in here.’
‘I would hope to get most of the work done before the end of the month, but you should be able to move in before then if you like. There may be a few days when you’ll be without power or water, but, as you say, there’s always the hotel.’ He had a sudden thought. ‘If you like, I have a little electric stove with two hotplates I can lend you. At least you can have some hot food until your new kitchen’s done. I’ll bring it with me next week. Now, I must go. It’s been very good to meet you. Thank you for the English tea. I must tell my wife about it.’
Amy noticed that most of the tea in his mug was still there and decided to run the risk of fusing the whole house and take a chance and invest in a coffee machine before the work started.
Chapter 10
On Wednesday morning, Amy was sitting outside the hotel with a coffee, checking her emails and sending a message to Lucy to ask whether she felt like coming over for a holiday. It had been a busy couple of days, dedicating herself to administrative matters, starting at the bank. The people there had been remarkably helpful although they had told her they were unable to open a bank account for her until she had completed a number of other formalities. Prime amongst these was to get herself an Italian fiscal code, an essential item for all financial transactions. They confirmed that the substantial sum of money mentioned by the lawyer was sitting in the bank waiting to be passed on to her as soon as she had opened an account.
Deciding to strike while the iron was hot, on Tuesday Amy had driven straight to the tax office in Pontedera where she went through the unexpectedly straightforward process of getting a fiscal code. After that she went to the power company and spent a far more wearisome half hour queuing in a stiflingly hot room before changing the account from Mr Slater’s name to hers. Her final visit was to the phone company, where she had received the information that her new phoneline and broadband wouldn’t be available for another few weeks, so in the meantime the hotel was the closest place she would be able to find a decent Wi-Fi connection. As for her mobile, that didn’t work inside the massively thick stone walls of the house and she had been feeling a bit isolated both from friends and from work. But she was now starting to meet new people here in Sant’Antonio, and one of these put in an appearance at the café on Wednesday morning.
‘Ciao, Amy.’
She looked up to see Rosa Grosseto. This time she had left Coco the dog at home.
