Page 8 of Far from Home
‘Knowing you were coming, I went into the house this morning and turned the electricity and water back on. Take a look around and if there’s anything you need, you know where I am.’ She glanced up at the cloudless sky and fanned herself with one hand. ‘Never seen anything like it. It’s still only the beginning of June and it’s almost as hot as August. I think I’ll go back to the shade.’ She called the dog, who had been occupying himself marking all the trees along the pavement, and Amy was pleased to see him return obediently, although his tail had stopped wagging as he realised he was going back into the house. ‘Goodbye for now.’
Amy thanked her warmly and watched as Signora Grande shooed the reluctant dog back inside and then made her way slowly back into the relative cool of her garage, presumably to engage in a struggle for territory with her cat. Evidently, this was the most comfortable place for her to sit and do her knitting. No doubt, the garage also had the advantage of giving her a good view of any passers-by and the opportunity for a chat. Amy was turning away when she had a thought and glanced back.
‘I’ll be here for a few days. If you like, I can come and collect Max and take him for walks.’
‘That would be wonderful, thank you, my dear.’
Amy smiled back at her. It would appear that she had made a friend – two, if she included the Labrador.
Chapter 4
They headed across the road and Amy gave Gavin a brief translation of what Signora Grande had said before selecting the biggest key from the bunch and using it to unlock the massive gates. Although the lock looked a bit rusty, it opened without protest and they walked through onto a broad gravelled parking area in front of the building. Around this were fine tall oleander bushes, even taller clumps of bamboo and a series of vicious-looking spiny cactus plants, some almost as big as she was.
L’Ospedaletto was built of dusty sandstone, the mortar weathered by the passage of the seasons and many of the joints dug out over the centuries by generations of birds and animals. Massive wooden doors right in front of them in the lower part of the building protected the entrance to a cellar or garage under the property, and the house itself was accessed up a flight of old stone steps that led to a terrace. An ancient rambling rose sprawled across the whole façade with buds already well formed. It wouldn’t be long before they flowered and when they did this whole area would no doubt smell divine. As Amy climbed to the front door, families of lizards scuttled into crevices in the walls. She caught Gavin’s eye and grimaced. Hopefully they weren’t going to find the house full of reptiles.
At the old wooden front door, one of the more modern keys turned the lock and they stepped inside, glad to get out of the direct sunlight. It was cool and dark in the house and the drop in temperature compared to outside was welcome. Amy stood on the doormat and breathed deeply. The last hour had been unexpectedly emotional. It was good to have a moment to herself. She stood there, vaguely conscious of Gavin moving about, before light suddenly flooded into the house and along with it she felt a wave of warm air from outside as he went around the room, opening the windows one by one and pushing the heavy wooden shutters outwards. The sound of birds twittering in the trees outside suddenly became much louder and Amy shook her head, emerged from her daze and stared about in wonder before glancing at Gavin.
‘Wow! What a place.’
He looked equally impressed. ‘You aren’t joking.’
The front door led straight into a single, remarkable room. The walls were bare stone and the arched window surrounds were made of carved stone. The ceiling was very high – two or three times the height of her flat back in London, but it was the shape of the ceiling that was most impressive. It was ribbed all along its length with stone arches that supported the massive dark timbers that in turn carried the floor above, giving the room an almost ecclesiastical feel. The ceiling timbers were very old beams, likely oak, and the plaster between the beams had clearly not been painted for a long, long time. It could almost have been a chapel, or the great hall of a castle, although it was completely without ornamentation. The room was enormous and a hundred people would have been able to fit in here without trouble.
‘Mr Slater certainly had no shortage of space if he felt like entertaining. You could shootStrictlyin here.’ Gavin sounded as awe-struck as Amy felt.
Amy stared around the room. The floor was paved with ancient terracotta tiles that looked as though they had been there since the dawn of time. In the middle there was a huge old table, surrounded by a dozen chairs. Against the side wall were numerous bookcases and at this end of the room, a leather sofa was positioned in front of the monumental fireplace, with a number of old rugs strewn across the terracotta-tiled floor. At the far end, a stone archway led to a kitchen area. The overall impression was of immense space and a terrific sense of history.
‘Come and take a look out here, Amy.’
Amy glanced across and saw that one of the huge archways along the right-hand wall had been transformed into a pair of French windows leading into the garden. She followed him out onto the patch of gravel that served as a patio. This was flat, although the hillside sloped steeply upwards to their left and down towards the road to the right. All around them were bushes and cypress trees, many of them considerably overgrown, and a strong scent of rosemary was in the air. A fine palm tree towered above them, almost as tall as the house. The result was a dappled area of blessed shade where the air temperature was not only bearable, but delightful.
‘What a place!’ She couldn’t help repeating herself. ‘The house is amazing and the garden could be a real gem with a bit of effort.’
She saw Gavin shudder. Manual work had never been his thing. ‘A bit? You’d need a gang of labourers with chain saws.’
‘But it’s gorgeous, even if it is a bit overgrown. Mr Slater certainly had an eye for property.’
Gavin was fiddling with his phone. After a few seconds, he waved it at her and pointed up the hill. ‘The signal here’s rubbish. I need to make a call. I’ll be back in five minutes.’ And, without giving her a chance to say that she might like to come with him, he disappeared through the trees.
She sat down on an old bench and admired the view, soaking up the warmth and the clean country air. For a few moments she allowed herself to dream of giving up her life in London and coming over here to live. In fact, she had been considering it from the moment they had pulled up outside the notary’s office. Of course, that wasn’t going to be possible for two reasons: her job and Gavin. He didn’t speak a word of Italian and she couldn’t imagine him ever being willing to give up his job, his friends or the big city. But, for a few minutes, she let herself enjoy the thought. There was something about Italy that felt so familiar and yet so exciting.
She was still sitting there ten minutes later when he reappeared. ‘I had to walk halfway up the hill before I got a proper signal.’ His tone made clear what he thought of such a primitive place. ‘Maybe the peasants here make do with jungle drums.’ He sat down on the bench beside her. ‘What are we going to do about accommodation for tonight? You’re not planning on staying here in this house, are you? A hotel will be far more comfortable.’ And Amy knew how important Gavin’s personal comfort was to him.
‘I suppose we might stay here, but first we’d better check out the rest of the house before I commit myself to anything I might regret. I’m still a bit worried where all those lizards disappeared to.’
They went back inside and walked slowly through the house. Apart from the huge living room on the ground floor, there was a kitchen, a bathroom and another room piled high with junk. The kitchen itself wasn’t a pretty sight. The units were all in good repair, but very old-fashioned and covered in a thick coating of dust. The mould growing around the sides of the sink would probably have got Alexander Fleming very excited and Amy could see there was a major cleaning and disinfecting job to be done here. She opened the fridge and rapidly closed it again. The contents had doubtless been there since well before Mr Slater’s death the previous year. No amount of cleaning would remove the amorphous brown mass that had slid through the bars of the shelves before congealing in the vegetable compartment at the bottom into the sort of droopy, melting shape that would have made Salvador Dalí proud.
She started to compose a mental list of things she would need before the place could be rendered even remotely habitable.Fridgeoccupied the top line. She felt Gavin’s eyes on her and gestured towards the fridge.
‘That’ll have to go, and I’m afraid the cooker’s had its day.’
He grimaced. ‘It looks positively lethal.’
The rusty cooker was attached to a gas cylinder by a length of seriously corroded rubber pipe. This had probably started life red or orange, but it now reminded her of a rather wrinkly poisonous snake.
Gavin ran his finger across the worktop and it came back not only black, but sticky. He removed a tissue from his pocket and fastidiously wiped his hand clean. ‘New kitchen: stick it on your list.’
‘How do you know I’m making a list?’
