A Place in the Sun(11)

“How long have you been dating then?” I asked, hoping to prolong our conversation for a few minutes. Traveling alone can be…well, lonely.

“Oh, nearly three years,” she replied in an accent that wasn’t a far cry from mine. “We got together just after I arrived.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, I’d only planned on staying on in Italy for a week or so, but he convinced me to stay.”

“Sounds so romantic.”

A few people were starting to wander around the open-air market, passing stalls and glancing over the vegetables and flowers. She glanced over, and I knew she needed to get back to her shop before more people arrived.

“I know you’ve got to get back to your stall, but could you tell Massimo thank you for me? I didn’t really get the chance when they dropped me off at my room.”

She glanced back at me and tilted her head as if studying me for a moment. “How about you come to dinner with us tonight instead? You can thank them yourself.”

“Them?” I asked, playing dumb. Really, I just needed her to say his name.

“Massimo and Luca. It’s been ages since we all sat down for a proper meal and it’d be fun to get more time to talk.” She was glancing back and forth between her stall and me then, needing to rush off. “Eight o’clock down at Taverna Del Capitano. Say yes!”

I laughed. “Yes. Okay!”

“Brilliant.” She grinned and reached her hand out as if to shake on it. “I’m Katerina by the way.”

“Georgie.”

Our hands hung together in the air for another moment and then she let go to rush off, throwing a farewell over her shoulder.

“Welcome to Vernazza, Georgie! I’ll see you tonight!”





MY VILLA IN Vernazza sat up on a terraced hill overlooking the square. It was private and secluded, surrounded on three sides by grape vineyards and gardens. Everything was overgrown, greedy for sun and water, soaking it up until most of my house itself was covered in bougainvillea vines. They sprouted up bright purple in late spring and I didn’t have the heart to cut them back. Eventually, the plants would completely overtake the crumbling villa, but I’d do something about it then. Maybe.

A single rocky road led from the square up to my villa. It was half a mile long and though a few houses sat at the base of the trail, most of it belonged to me. When it was level, I could use my motorbike; when it wasn’t, like now, I had to walk. During the last storm, the ground had soaked through and started to erode the stone wall built to prop up the hillside along the path. It was a long section of trail that I was responsible for maintaining and I’d been putting it off for the last few months. The job would be tedious to say the least.

All the walls around Vernazza were built using dry-stone masonry. Centuries ago, they’d skipped mortar and concrete, opting to lay the walls by skill alone. Over the last few weeks, I’d started to pick apart the wall, pulling off stones that had shifted or fallen. Once I got it down to its bones, I could build back up from there.

Now, I was working on it with the late afternoon sun on my back and the wind ruffling my hair beneath my cap. I lugged a heavy stone from the wall and dropped it into a small wheelbarrow resting beside my feet. Then, another. My muscles were tired. I’d been going at it for most of the day, but it needed to get done and I had no plans of hiring someone else to do it.

A small green lizard scurried across the top of the wall, trying to hurry away from me. I bent down for my water, giving him the time he needed, just as Massimo’s voice carried up the trail. He was cursing in Italian, specifically cursing me, wishing I’d fall into the depths of hell for forcing him to make the trek up to my house.

I smiled and moved a few more stones before he finished his ascent.

“Merda,” he groaned, breathing hard and propping himself up against the stone wall.

“There’s water inside if you need it,” I said, continuing my work.

He propped his hands on his hips and glared at me, but that wasn’t new. Massimo was always going on about something. It was easier if I pretended I didn’t notice until he’d calmed down.

“Do you have a phone in that house of yours?”

I glanced back at the two-story villa my grandmother had left me when she’d passed. It’d been ancient and crumbling when I’d found it, but I’d done a good job of restoring it over the years.

“Last time I checked.”

“I phoned you half a dozen times.”

I shrugged. “I’ve been out here, fixing the wall.”

He shifted in front of me, stopping me from grabbing another rock. “Forget about the wall! We have plans.”

I arched a brow and shifted around him, starting on a new section. “Plans?”

“Dinner plans.”

I held in my reaction. He and Katerina were good mates, but lousy dinner partners. Even years after getting on, they couldn’t make it through a meal without hanging on each other, sipping from each other’s wine glasses and sharing meals. Given the choice, I’d have rather gone hungry.

“You go on ahead, I’ve got to—”

“No, mate, you haven’t let me explain. It’s not just me and Kat. We’ve got another person coming.”

I was still working then, removing stones from the wall. “Who?”