What Happens in Tuscany... (23 page)

They followed it with homemade lemon ice cream and coffee. As Paul was going to be driving, he did his best to ensure that the girls drank the lion's share of the wine and, after all the fresh air and sunshine, they were both feeling drowsy by the time he led them out to the car.

The drive home, with the setting sun behind them, was uneventful, apart from one thing. As they were speeding along the
superstrada
in the direction of Florence, Paul's phone rang. He checked the caller ID and then held it to his ear, rather than using the hands-free speaker.

‘
Ciao.
' The conversation was in Italian. After a few greetings, he was silent for a while as the person on the other end did a lot of talking. From time to time, he would grunt or occasionally add a “
si
” or a “
no
”. Now and then he would ask for clarification. Finally it was his turn to speak. ‘I see. Well, try not to worry. I'm driving at the moment, but I'll be back in half an hour. I'll come straight round to your place. OK?'

He dropped the phone back into his pocket, but didn't supply an explanation to Katie. She didn't press him on it. His affairs were his affairs.

In the back seat, Vicky, exhausted after the cumulative effect of the wine, sun and her broken night, spent most of the journey fast asleep. Katie did her best to keep her eyes open to show solidarity with the driver. He and she chatted a little, but only about trivia until they got home. It was only as they bumped up the rough road to the villa in the twilight, with Vicky again hiding on the floor behind, covered by a blanket, that he surprised Katie.

He reached across with his right arm and curled it around her shoulders. She looked surprised but made no objection as he gently pulled her towards him until her face was close to his head. The car was travelling at walking pace by this time and he was able to turn his whole face towards her. She could feel his breath against her and she thought he was about to whisper something in her ear. Instead, she felt the gentlest touch of his lips against her cheek. No sooner had he kissed her than he released his hold. He didn't say a word.

Katie blinked in annoyance; annoyance at herself. She realised that her eyes had been closed from the moment his arm had made contact with her shoulder. There was so much going on inside her she couldn't concentrate for a moment. She shook her head and stared out through the windscreen. Ahead, she could make out the shape of the villa walls and she started scrabbling in her bag for the remote control to open the gates.

‘It's all right, I've got one here. I've already pressed it.' Sure enough, the gates were already opening. Paul reached across and caught her arm. He gave a gentle squeeze and released it, then he turned back towards the little lump under the blanket. ‘We're home, Vicky. You can come out now.' He steered the car in through the gates and braked, waiting for them to close behind them. As he heard the clunk, he accelerated down the drive and pulled up outside the villa.

‘Thank you so much for a really, really lovely day.' Vicky scrambled out of the car and stood there, still half-asleep, looking a lot younger than her twenty-five years. Katie grinned. All she needed was a teddy bear or a comfort blanket in her hand and a thumb in her mouth and she could have passed for a little girl.

Paul climbed out and went round to the boot. He opened it and a shaft of light illuminated the gravel drive around the car. Katie collected herself and got out in her turn. The girls gathered all their stuff together and turned towards the villa. Vicky managed to rouse herself sufficiently to ask Paul in for a coffee.

‘Thanks for the offer, but I've got to go.' He glanced at Katie. ‘Thanks for staying awake to keep me company.'

‘The very least I could do while Sleeping Beauty here was snoring the place down.'

‘I wasn't!'

Paul was quick to reassure her. ‘No, of course you weren't. Now good night to you both.'

Katie waited until Vicky had hugged and then kissed him, before stepping up and kissing him on both cheeks. Once again she felt a slight tightening of his grip on her arms as she did so. She watched the red tail lights of the car disappear up the drive and she sighed for what might have been.

Chapter Eighteen

‘That was a good night's sleep.' Katie looked up from her book as Vicky came into the kitchen. She glanced at the clock and back to Vicky. ‘It's gone nine. You missed Nando. He was here half an hour ago with food and more wine.' She slipped an old train ticket into her book and let it close as she looked up at Vicky. ‘I don't know how much he thinks we're going to get through, but he's brought another twelve litres.'

Vicky laughed. It was a good, happy laugh. Katie scrutinised her face. Any residual effects of her ordeal at the hands of the pseudo count appeared to have been extinguished. Vicky smiled down at Katie. ‘I'm going to make some tea. Want some?'

Katie nodded and stretched. She hadn't slept as well as Victoria would appear to have done. Blame for her insomnia could not fairly be laid at the door of the
fritto misto
. What had kept her awake had been the feel of his lips on her face. That and the sense of irritation that a man already in a relationship should think he could kiss her and, worse still, that she had let him. And, if she were totally honest, that she had enjoyed it. She snorted and ran her fingers through her hair. In spite of the shower she had taken before going to bed, there was still sand in there. She caught Vicky's eye. ‘Sand. You still covered in it?'

Vicky grinned broadly. ‘You wouldn't believe where I've got sand. My sheets felt like sandpaper this morning.' She scratched her head as she poured the water into the teapot. She placed it on the table and went to the fridge for milk. ‘Wow, smell those melons.'

The previous day, as they left the beach, they had stopped at the melon farm and bought a tray of melons. The old farmer had helpfully selected some that were already ripe, as well as some that would keep. These were on the floor in the larder, while the ripe ones were producing the amazing perfume in the fridge.

‘I hope Paul remembered to put his melons in the fridge last night.' Vicky smiled at the thought. ‘They'll go off in no time if he forgets.'

Katie refused to let the mention of his name start her mind churning once more. ‘You'll be glad to hear that Nando brought us clean sheets from Rosina this morning, so ours can go off and be washed. I can drop them in to her a bit later on.'

Vicky sat down and poured the tea. She handed a cup across the table to Katie. ‘So, what's the plan for today? Are you going into town to buy a new phone?' She paused, her expression less happy. ‘I wish I could go shopping. Bloody newspapers!'

‘There's a bit of good news on that score. Nando said there are only two or three photographers left down by the gate this morning. And he says that ever since he went out rabbit hunting the other night, they've stopped trying to come up to the villa.' She glanced at Vicky with an encouraging smile. ‘So you should be able to pick up your life again any day now.'

‘So what about today?' Vicky picked up her phone and glanced at the screen. ‘Oh, look, there's a message here from Tom. He wants to have dinner with me again.' She caught Katie's eye. ‘I would really enjoy another evening with him. Would you like to come?' In spite of the polite offer, Katie could quite clearly see that her company was definitely not wanted.

‘Well, I'm certainly not coming along to play gooseberry. I'm sure you'll have a really good time together.'

‘Are you sure? It feels a bit mean of me to just go off with Tom and leave you all alone here.'

‘That's perfectly all right. If I go into town today and buy a new phone, I can play with that all evening.' She sensed that Vicky had got something on her mind. ‘Is there a problem?' To her surprise Vicky blushed bright red.

‘Erm, I was just thinking to myself that tonight might turn out to be a very special night.' She caught Katie's eye. ‘Tom's a very nice man and a very handsome man. I was thinking that he and I might…' Her voice petered out, but Katie had already grasped what was on her mind. She sat back and reflected before replying. For a moment, a hazy image of her friend Melanie's brother crossed her mind, closely followed by a frighteningly graphic picture of herself with her head down Melanie's toilet being sicker than she had ever been before or since. If she were able to trade first times, then a handsome army officer, a bed in an old stone farmhouse and a Tuscan sunset beat the hell out of Melanie's mum's spare bedroom. She looked across the kitchen table at her friend and smiled at her.

‘Go for it, girl.'

They were interrupted by a familiar scratching at the door. Vicky got up and opened it for the dog. He came in very cheerfully and so thoroughly licked their hands that they both had to head for the sink to clean up after him. Katie gave him the last of yesterday's loaf and he set about demolishing it on the kitchen floor. By this time, Vicky had been able to collect herself and she watched him in fascination.

‘It's a pretty good life for old Dante, isn't it? Everybody around here knows him. He gets lots of handouts. I can't understand why he isn't as fat as a pig.'

‘Don't forget, he goes for lots and lots of walks. In fact,' Katie checked the time, ‘I might go for a walk with him this morning. What are you doing? Want to come?' Vicky shook her head.

‘No, thanks, I'm feeling lazy this morning. I think I'll sit here, drink coffee and consider my plan of attack for tonight.' She looked up with a grin. ‘I was just thinking, Tom's got a lovely hairy chest. And his legs, too.' Her eyes went misty. ‘Isn't it funny that body hair is sexy on men, but not on women?'

After the broken night she had had, Katie really didn't want to get drawn into too much consideration of hairy chests, whoever they might belong to. She finished her tea and stood up. ‘Talking of body hair, now it's time for a walk with my big hairy pal here.' She looked down at the dog. ‘Tom's not the only one with a hairy chest around here.' The dog, aware he was being addressed, stretched his legs and emitted a cavernous yowl. ‘You see, I told you he understands English.'

They had lunch together and then Katie left Victoria experimenting with nail varnish. She decided to leave the car at home and so she once again walked down to the station. As she was going past Nando's house she remembered she had promised to drop the dirty sheets in to Rosina. She made a mental note to do that when she came back.

This time her arrival at the station in Florence was without incident. She followed the stream of people down into the underpass that led beneath the wide Piazza Stazione to the other side. When she emerged into the suffocating heat once more she started making her way up through the crowds towards the cathedral. She soon found a phone shop and set about buying a replacement for her stolen one. As her old one had been fairly ancient, she found the wealth of new features on the newer models quite bewildering, especially when described in a foreign language. In the end she bought the same type as Victoria's. That way, Vicky the student could become Vicky the teacher and help Katie find her way around twenty-first century technology. Katie found herself smiling. The irony of the change in status was not lost on her.

Leaving the air-conditioned shop and walking back out into the stifling heat was like being physically hit in the face. She checked her watch and saw that it was barely half past three. There would be a train home at six so she decided to do a bit of shopping first. Since starting work with Victoria, her hefty salary had been piling up in the bank and she had hardly spent a thing. She headed in the direction of the Ponte Vecchio, diving in and out of shops on the way, as much for the aircon as for the merchandise. She bought some new sandals, new shorts and a very short, tight-fitting summer dress. She spent a long time in a T-shirt store and ended up buying a couple. One was a
Snoopy in Italy
shirt for Vicky and one with a reproduction of the poster to be found all over the place warning of pickpockets for herself.

After her shopping spree, she still had time to walk around, checking out a few English language schools whose addresses she had taken from the phone book. She had been amazed to find over twenty different establishments claiming to teach English. Her little tour proved to be very interesting in helping her identify which might offer potential job prospects. She actually went into the two largest and picked up brochures, In one, in particular, she met a man little older than she was who turned out to be the Director of Studies. He had been very interested to hear of her background and asked her to make an appointment for an interview as he was actively looking for staff to begin in September. She came out well pleased and looked at her watch again. It was a quarter to six so she gathered up her purchases and hurried back to the station.

As she waited on the platform for her train to arrive, she felt the first drop of rain on her face. By the time she got back to Monte a Signa, it was coming down like stair rods. This continued all the way back up the road from the station. Unsurprisingly, the downpour had, at least, had the advantage of finally chasing off the last of the paparazzi. The entrance to the Chalker-Pyne villa looked empty once more, apart from the mass of cigarette ends strewn all around.

Katie was completely drenched by the time she got back to the opera singer's villa. The temperature had dropped a good few degrees and the air, as she walked in under the thick canopy of trees, was pleasantly cool. She let herself in through the kitchen door and found Vicky in the final stages of getting ready for her dinner date with Tom. She had washed her hair and was wearing one of the new dresses she had bought in Exeter. That seemed a long time ago now. She was wearing sandals and Katie couldn't help noticing that her toenails had been painted in a variety of different colours. Strangely, the effect was quite good. Vicky spotted the direction of her eyes and explained.