One Summer in Italy…

‘Was I? I didn’t know.’

‘That makes it even more intriguing. You were wrapped up in some private thought of your own; one that fascinates you. Perhaps you are plotting something?’

He paused, but she stayed silent, merely turning her smile directly onto him.

‘I see,’ he murmured with a slow nod. ‘You mean to pique my curiosity.’

‘What makes you think it has anything to do with you at all?’

‘I hope it has.’

‘Then you’re very conceited. My thoughts had drifted elsewhere. I apologise. Since you’re entertaining me it was rude of me to be thinking of other m-that is, of anyone…anything else.’

She thought she’d managed that rather well. He thought so too because his eyes gleamed appreciation.

‘Not Bruno,’ he said. ‘Only promise me that. It would disappoint me to think you were yearning for that piece of trash.’

‘Not Bruno, I promise. In fact, it was Tomaso.’ She gave a wistful sigh. ‘I wonder how I managed to lose his interest so quickly. But you, who are his friend, can advise me how to win back his heart.’

He raised her hand and brushed his lips against the back. ‘Magnificent,’ he whispered. ‘Your tactics are perfect.’

‘So is my strategy,’ she assured him.

‘Don’t tell me I’ve met a woman who actually knows the difference between tactics and strategy?’

‘Strategy is when the enemy is out of sight, and tactics are for when the enemy is right in front of you.’

‘And I’m the enemy?’

‘I don’t know. Are you?’

‘I haven’t quite decided.’

Holly leaned back, regarding him with a slow, luxurious smile.

‘Neither have I,’ Holly assured him.

The second half featured a well-known soprano singing of love betrayed. She was a superb performer, but Holly was untouched. Heartbreak was yesterday. Today led to tomorrow-and the next day…

As they left the baths he said, ‘It’s only midnight. We have time for a little supper.’

He made it sound like a spontaneous decision but she wasn’t surprised when they reached the restaurant to find the table booked.

He gave the order for food, then asked, ‘Do you have any preferences for wine?’

‘I should like to drink champagne, please. I have a special reason.’

The champagne was served at once, and when they were alone again Matteo asked, ‘What are we celebrating?’

‘My freedom,’ she said, raising her glass with a sigh of delight. ‘I wasn’t sure of it until tonight, but now I am.’

‘Why tonight? What is it? Holly, why are you laughing? Am I being stupid about something?’

There was an edgy note in his voice, as if she’d touched a nerve.

‘Not at all,’ she hastened to reassure him. ‘It’s just that we’re here, in public. If you can risk being seen with me, then I must be safe.’

‘I don’t think you have anything further to worry about. Bruno is no problem as long as he makes himself scarce, which he seems to be doing. Forget him. You’re here to have fun. How long since you last had any? The last time you saw him, I suppose.’

‘No,’ she said, suddenly realising. ‘Being with Bruno was heady and thrilling, but I was too tense to simply enjoy myself. Maybe I sensed even then that something else was going on.’ She gave a half-smile. ‘But that’s the beginning of wisdom, isn’t it? Knowing that something else is always going on.’

‘Perhaps not always,’ he said cautiously.

‘Oh, I think so. Or at least far more often than people realise, and usually with the last person you’d expect.’

‘But according to you it can be expected from everyone,’ he pointed out, watching her.

‘I’ve had time to learn from experience, and it’s very illuminating.’

He didn’t answer at once, but she could feel the teasing humour die.

‘Yes, it is,’ he said heavily at last.

‘I can’t look back far enough to find an evening I’ve enjoyed like tonight. It’s as if you’ve given me a new world. You’re right. This was a wonderful idea. And practical, of course.’

He was refilling her glass but he stopped, looking up in surprise.

‘Practical?’

‘Certainly. We need to talk about Liza, and it’s difficult at home because she’s such a sharp little thing that she always knows what’s going on, and wants to be part of it. So arranging to meet outside was a really clever idea on your part.’

‘I see. I was as clever as that, was I?’

‘Oh, yes. Of course, it helps that you’re a judge-having an businesslike mind, I mean.’

He regarded her with ironic appreciation, and didn’t even try to find an answer to this. One up to her, she thought.

‘Now, about Liza,’ she resumed. ‘I think I’ve gone as far as I can on my own, but I need you to tell me a lot more, not just about her, but about her mother.’

‘Surely you can learn that from Liza herself,’ he said gruffly.

‘Not really. A little girl can’t know everything, even about herself. I know she’s trying to see her mother in me, but sooner or later she has to let go. If she starts telling herself that Mamma has somehow come back-well, that wouldn’t be good for her. I’m going carefully, feeling out each situation, one by one, but I’m groping in the dark.’

‘Then you’re doing something right by instinct,’ he said. ‘That book that you’re reading together-it belonged to Carol. She used to read it to Liza. She wanted her to be fluent in her own language as well as Italian.’

‘That was shrewd of her. We talk in English and Italian, and we’re both improving. Sometimes I think she’s teaching me more than I’m teaching her. That’s good for her. It helps her self-esteem.’

He made a restless movement. ‘Carol used to say exactly the same,’ he said. ‘It’s almost eerie. You are exactly what Liza needs.’

‘But she needs you much more than me-’

‘She needs a mother-’

‘She needs a parent,’ Holly said firmly. ‘Liza’s lost one parent and she needs the other one more. I’m just a substitute, but you’re her father. You’re more necessary to her than anyone on earth.’

‘You talk as though I weren’t here-’

‘Sometimes I think you’re not-in any sense that matters. The other day she and I were in the garden, she was talking about you, and I’m sure you were there, standing close by in the bushes.’

He nodded.

‘Then you must have heard what she said about you.’

‘Yes,’ he said quietly. ‘I heard.’

‘But you slipped away. I wish you hadn’t. If you’d come out, and put your arms around her and told her how much you loved her-it would have meant the world to her. Why do you never do that?’

‘How do you know that I never?’ he asked sharply. ‘You don’t always see us together.’

‘Are you any more demonstrative when I’m not there?’

‘No,’ he admitted. ‘I’m not a demonstrative man.’

Recalling what she’d seen in the photographs, Holly didn’t believe this for a moment.

‘You demand a lot of understanding from an eight-year-old child,’ she said with a touch of anger. ‘What about what she wants? Why don’t you try understanding her? She needs to be reassured about your love, all the time, every minute, every second. She needs to see you as soon as possible in the morning and last thing before she falls asleep. She needs you to put your arms around her suddenly, spontaneously. She needs to look up and find you smiling at her. You could do all this once, so why is it so hard for you? I know you adore her, everyone says so…’