No, she wasn’t indifferent. If he could just buy himself some time, prove to her that he had changed, remind her of all that had been good in their relationship, then maybe they had a chance.
She had brought spontaneity and joy into his life. Maybe it was time he returned the favour. And he knew exactly how to do it. It would involve a little subterfuge at first, but the cause was good. His mouth curved into a smile. Winning back Charlie wouldn’t be easy, but it would be fun.
CHAPTER SIX
CHARLIE LOOKED UP as Matteo walked slowly down the stone steps leading to the swimming pool, then jumped to her feet in alarm. He looked terrible, as if all the rest and recuperation of the last eight days had been for nothing. She could have sworn there were new scrapes and bruises on his arms; his skin had lost some of the recently acquired healthy glow and perspiration shone on his forehead.
‘Whatever happened to you?’ she exclaimed. ‘Are you okay?’
‘Nothing’s wrong. I’m fine,’ he said not altogether convincingly. ‘I just decided to do the walk down to Amalfi; I needed to clear my head.’
He’d done what? ‘Walk down to Amalfi? In this heat? Are you insane? You haven’t been given a clean bill of health yet.’
‘It’s only a few kilometres, three at the most. It’s fine. If it hadn’t been for an unfortunate encounter with a scooter, you wouldn’t have noticed any difference. I’m fighting fit, I promise you.’
Charlie crossed her arms as she looked at him sceptically. ‘Please elaborate on what an unfortunate encounter with a scooter means?’
Matteo grinned unrepentantly at her and her heart tumbled as he walked over to her, casually taking her hand in his, a zip of desire running through her veins at his touch. She was a sad case, lusting after the man who’d broken her heart.
‘I’d like to say that the scooter came off worst in the encounter, but sadly it rode off unscathed. My fault. I wasn’t looking where I was going.’
‘Yes, you’re clearly fighting fit if you are walking out in front of scooters and think taking a long walk in the midday sun is a sensible idea,’ she couldn’t help but scold him, trying to sound calm even as she frantically searched his face for any sign that his concussion had returned. ‘I’m not sure that any of this will have helped your ribs to mend, to say nothing of your concussion.’
‘I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to worry you, but I am pretty sure the concussion is gone. You’re right about my ribs though; if it’s any consolation they are making their feelings about the matter very clear. But, to be honest, I’ve had worse outcomes from climbing sessions or riding particularly aggressive waves before. Honestly, Charlie. You don’t need to worry.’
‘It’s all very well saying that,’ she said, freeing her fingers and returning to her sun lounger, both relieved at the space between them and instantly missing his touch. ‘But you’re the one doing crazy things. Maybe if you didn’t I wouldn’t need to worry.’ Charlie didn’t want to examine her feelings too closely, think about the fear that had quickly filled her when he’d limped in pale and bruised, how her heart had skipped a panicked beat and she’d mentally been reaching for her phone to call the doctor. He was a grown and free man. If he wanted to do stupid things, that was on him. ‘How was the walk, heatstroke and nearly getting run over aside? It’s on my list of things to do while we are still here. The walk part; you can keep the other two.’
‘Absolutely beautiful, but I’d recommend doing it early in the morning or in the evening. Truthfully, it was a little bit too warm to really enjoy it. How about you? How was your morning?’
‘Buon giorno,’ Charlie said very, very slowly and carefully, pronouncing every syllable. ‘Mi chiamo Charlie. Tu com ti chiami?’
Matteo’s eyebrows shot up and she giggled at the surprised look on his face. ‘I decided that if I was going to try and teach Italian children ballet I needed to be able to say more than thank you in their language so I finally opened that app I installed when we got married. To be honest I’m no natural linguist; my mother would be so disappointed in me. It’s a good job I decided not to follow her into diplomacy.’
‘You’re starting to learn Italian? Does that mean that you’re happy to go ahead?’ He looked and sounded pleased, but there was a studied wariness in his expression she couldn’t quite read.
‘I guess so,’ Charlie said slowly. She hadn’t been able to think about much else apart from whether to stay and help out at the gala—stay with Matteo—for the last twenty-four hours, reasons for and reasons against tumbling around in her mind. The reasons against were clear: she shouldn’t have been in Italy in the first place, no matter how good her motives or how little choice she’d felt she had. Staying any longer meant crossing a line from good intentions to downright deceit as Matteo, scooter accident or not, was clearly getting better every day.
On the other hand, it could be argued that her reasons for staying were noble. She’d be helping out some very disappointed children, and Charlie could never bear to see disappointed children. She’d be saving the day by enabling the planned show to go ahead and that was exactly the kind of activity she thrived upon. Better still, she’d be helping some of the poorest, most desperate people in the region. But she also knew that her reasons for saying yes weren’t all altruistic. The last week and a bit had been a little too close to perfect
