A Place in the Sun(47)

“Gorgeous, right?”

He looked to me and smiled.

“I’m talking about the paintings, Gianluca.”

“They’re nice too,” he replied with a cheeky grin.

After wrapping up our days together, I tried my best to keep my evenings open for Katerina. If I suddenly dropped off the face of the earth, she’d suspect something, so most nights we met up for dinner or drinks. One night, she insisted that Gianluca and Massimo join us. The four us were outside at Belforte, working our way through our second glasses of red wine as we waited for our dessert to arrive. Gianluca sat across from me beside Massimo and though we weren’t talking, our legs were twined between the table. We were as close to one another as we could get in such a public setting.

“How are the repairs coming along at the bed and breakfast?” Katerina asked. “I took a peek inside the other day and it looks so close to being finished!”

“It’s getting there,” I said. “We settled on a name finally: Il Mare. Simple. Gianluca says the place should be ready for guests in two weeks. I set up a little website over the weekend so we can start taking reservations.”

“She’s already got someone booked for a month from now,” Gianluca said with a proud smile.

Katerina clapped. “No way! That’s awesome, Georgie.”

“There will still be work to do,” he continued, “but I can do it during the day when the guests are out exploring.”

“He wants to fix up that little balcony on the top floor, so the guests can use it.”

Her brows perked up. “That’ll be brilliant. I reckon they’ll have a perfect view of the sea up there.”

I know it’s silly, but I was thrilled by the idea of Gianluca continuing to work at the bed and breakfast even after it was open for guests. I was eager to move in and start managing the place properly, but I didn’t want our days to change. Right now it was easy. We didn’t have to make plans or go on dates. I didn’t have to linger by my mobile, eagerly awaiting his calls and texts. Every morning, I found him at the bed and breakfast, just like the day before. I didn’t know what would happen once he finished up and truthfully, I didn’t want to think about it. For the time being, our arrangement was working just fine.

“I’ve told Georgie she can go ahead and move her things into the first floor.”

The plumbing and electrical were finished on the bottom floor. I’d painted the bedroom earlier in the week, trying to stick close to the original sunflower yellow, and I’d left the windows open for a few days to air out the fumes. The only thing left to do was gather my things and move to the opposite corner of the square.

“I’m excited to move out of that tiny hotel room.”

Chiara had all but ignored me since our beach trip all those days ago; it’d been painfully awkward to sidle past her in the mornings.

“That’s awesome,” Katerina said. “You’ll have a real kitchen and living room.”

“Well, it’s technically for the guests, but I suppose I could hang out there when we haven’t got any reservations.”

She nodded and reached for her wine glass. “I think this calls for toast. I can’t believe you got this moody bloke to fix that place up with you. It was long overdue.” I laughed as she continued, “To Georgie!”

“To Georgie!” Massimo added.

I glanced across the table just as Gianluca lifted his glass. To them, he looked the same as always, but I saw the playfulness in his gaze as he lifted his glass for me, that little smirk playing on the edge of his mouth.

“To Georgie…”

“I think we ought to throw a party,” Massimo suggested. “To celebrate.”

“A party?” I shook my head. “No way! We’ve just spent weeks fixing the place up. I won’t have people trash it just before we open.”

Katerina perked up. “How about we do it up at Gianluca’s villa! The weather is still perfect and we have to take advantage of it! We could keep everyone outside, and we don’t have to invite loads of people, just a few friends. We could have a proper cookout and put on a bit of music. It’s so far away from the square that no one would complain.”

That actually sounded nice. The three of us turned toward Gianluca, hopeful. He didn’t seem too keen on the idea, but I leaned forward and smiled. “C’mon, I think it’ll be fun. We deserve to celebrate all of our hard work.”

With our legs twined beneath the table and memories of our morning still fresh in his mind, I knew he’d caught my double entendre. He nodded and offered up a dimpled smirk aimed right at me.

“All right. Let’s do it.”





IN THE WEEKS leading up to the completion of the bed and breakfast, Georgie and I were busier than ever. I helped her move her things into the first-floor bedroom (she had accumulated a significantly greater number of shoes since that first day we carried her bags across the square) and she spent an entire day getting settled in. I was upstairs replacing a patch of crumbling plaster in the bathroom later that evening when she called my name to show me the finished look.

She’d completely transformed the dark, neglected room. The massive window on the right wall was flung open and there were no screens to dampen the moonlight spilling into the room. She’d replaced the old bedding with fluffy white pillows and soft blankets. Furniture was sparse and mismatched; she was using an old wooden stool as a nightstand, but she’d stacked a few paperbacks and set a vase of white hydrangeas on top of it. I’d brought her the flowers from the market that morning.