The House by the Cypress Trees

by Elena Mikalsen

  “Quite a view up here.” Julia waved a hand. “Look at all those cypress trees. I feel like I can do anything, being on top of this hill.”

  “I feel rather powerless,” Daniel said. “We’re trapped here.”

  She laughed. “There are worse places to be trapped.”

  “You are right. And in worse company,” he added.

  She looked back at him, their eyes meeting. He tried to read her expression, but he never quite knew what women were thinking.

  “It’s just a car. They break. It’s not your fault,” she finally said.

  “I promised you a ride. It’s utterly my fault.”

  “We’ll get the car fixed. It’ll be okay.” She touched his arm.

  He wished she’d leave her hand there for a bit. It was comforting.

  “I love the colors down in that valley,” she said, indicating below where they sat. “See all those flowers and the lavender.” She stood up to see better.

  “Here you go.” He pulled a small lavender stalk out of the ground and handed it to her.

  “Thank you.” She twirled the flower in her hand. “You know, I still don’t have a place to stay. I love it here. Do you think they might have guest rooms? I should just let you go ahead to your sister’s and stay here.”

  Daniel felt a stabbing pain of anxiety in his chest. He had to ask now. “What if you stay at my sister’s tonight?”

  “What?”

  “My sister has an estate. Plenty of space.”

  “You said it was a vineyard.”

  “Well, it’s just a small farm. But a perfect place for you and Lizzy to stay until you figure everything out.”

  Julia looked puzzled. “You are going to spring me and a dog on your sister like this?”

  “Why not? Mandy and Gian love company.” He was lying. Bloody hell! Mandy would kill him for bringing Julia. But he owned half the place. He would put his foot down. And he was certain that little Mia would love a dog.

  “I’m just not sure that—”

  “It’ll be fine. Trust me. Let me call and ask Gian to be on his way, in fact.”

  He dialed the number, but the call went to voicemail. “I left a message. Let me try Mandy.” He dialed again and got voicemail. “Well, left another message. They must be having dinner. We’d better get more wine. We may be here a while.”

  “Watch out. This wine is rather strong,” Julia warned.

  “Yeah, well, we’re stranded at a vineyard. I will follow your example and enjoy it,” he said, pouring himself another glass.

  “It’s like a bad romance movie,” Julia said.

  “More like a bad comedy,” Daniel said. “The last two days have been like a poorly written script for me.”

  “Am I such bad company?”

  “I didn’t mean spending time with you. It was about my job and my driving.”

  She laughed, and he saw the dimple again. How could she laugh, given their present situation? Of course, she didn’t have a sick niece. And she wasn’t worried about being sacked from her job. She wasn’t about to spend a thousand pounds fixing a car. She was on holiday. With her ridiculously cute puppy.

  And he was suddenly so happy to spend an evening with her that nothing else mattered.

  Chapter 10

  They drank their glasses and then two more. The surrounding tables emptied. The waitress came out several times and asked them if they’d like to order anything else. Yet Daniel’s family hadn’t returned his calls. As Julia emptied the last of the wine into her glass, Daniel tapped on the table, his forehead increasingly tense.

  “She’s giving us a signal.” Julia tipped her head toward the waitress cleaning the table next to them.

  “I know.” He shifted in his seat and glanced at his phone again.

  “There’s no Uber here, is there?” Julia asked.

  He gave her a raised eyebrow look and shook his head.

  “Should we ask if they have guest rooms?”

  “Not a bad idea. Signorina!” he called to the waitress.

  Julia made herself busy checking on Lizzy as Daniel engaged in rapid Italian and lots of gesturing. As the waitress left with Daniel’s credit card, Julia looked at his face and saw the answer.

  “No dice?”

  “They have three villas for guests, and all are occupied at the moment. There’s another vineyard about ten kilometers away, but no guest rooms. They would also prefer for us to leave now.”

  “I guess we must wait for your family.”

  “Let’s walk back to the car. I’ll get it sorted, don’t worry.”

  But of course she was worried. She was more than a little drunk, very tired, and had no place to stay for the night. More than that, she was now responsible for the little life peacefully sleeping in her arms. Lizzy was getting heavier by the minute. How fast did puppies grow? Possibly it had been a mistake to trust Daniel to get her to Tuscany safely. It didn’t seem as if he had it together.

  Julia looked at Daniel. He walked, shoulders squared, slightly in front of her, biting on his upper lip. He was rather charming when he wanted to be. Like right now, when he looked back at her, stretching his arms for Lizzy, knowing she needed relief without her having to ask. Was this the British politeness she had always heard about? Or was it something more? It seemed as if they’d had some moments today, while sitting down and not dealing with disasters of one sort or another.

  “Well, here we are,” Daniel said, looking around as if hoping his brother-in-law would suddenly materialize in front of them.

  It was dark now, and fireflies became visible in the woods, floating between the tree trunks, filling the darkening skies with their flickers. “Look,” Julia said. “How magical.”

  She realized she was perfectly fine with staying longer in the olive grove on top of a hill in Chianti. Nothing this exciting had ever happened to her before. And possibly never would again. Malcesine was filled with unknowns for her. Meeting her mother held nothing but anxiety. She might as well enjoy this part of her trip.

  So Julia allowed herself to marvel at the view and pretend she didn’t have to go anywhere, didn’t have to give up her dog or her kind and handsome companion. She imagined having forever to stand there with the woods and the fireflies on one side and the hills with the spiraling rows of cypress trees on the other, inhaling the scents of apricots and lavender, thick in the heat of the evening air.

  Daniel’s phone rang, breaking the silence, and it was time to return to reality. She walked away to give him some privacy and to give herself a few more minutes to take in the beauty of the hill.

  He didn’t take long. Even in the darkness of the settling night the sadness of his eyes was clear, as he collapsed on a tree stump, his head hanging low.

  “My niece, Mia. She’s been very sick. The doctors didn’t know what was wrong. She is only five. I guess she couldn’t tell them. Her appendix burst, and she is having an operation. She is not well. My brother-in-law is not coming. He and my sister are at the hospital with Mia, waiting for news from the doctor after the surgery.”

  Julia set Lizzy down and kneeled next to him. She took his hands into hers. “I’m so sorry. We’re stuck here, and you can’t be with your family. You must be heartbroken.”

  “I’m fine. Mia will be fine. It’s only an appendix.” His voice shook.

  “I know what it’s like to have family in the hospital. Your heart breaks in pieces,” she whispered.

  “You mean—your mother?” he asked.

  “Yes.”

  “I feel so helpless.”

  “I know. What if we hitchhike to Greve?”

  “Well, if we see a car, we’ll try to wave at it, but I believe we’re sleeping out here. Oh, God.” He got up, went to the car, and opened the trunk.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Looking for my Swiss Army knife.” He pulled out the knife from his suitcase and opened the bottle of wine they had bought at the winery. “I wish we’d bought several.”


  “Getting drunk won’t make you feel better.” She got up and walked over to him.

  “You are wrong.” He stretched, holding the bottle toward her. “We’re about to spend the night sleeping in a tiny car on the side of the road. Some wine will surely make it better.”

  “Let me have the bottle,” Julia said.

  Her taste buds registered the cherries and the plums and the herbs and the tobacco. She swallowed with pleasure, then pulled out her phone. “I’ll try nearby hotels. Maybe someone has an opening and can pick us up.”

  “Good luck,” Daniel said, taking another sip of wine.

  Fifteen minutes later, she was tired of hearing rejections as Daniel smirked at her.

  “It is high season in the region,” Daniel said.

  “I know. I had a reservation. It’s just not for two days. I can’t wait for you to drop me off at the bus tomorrow. I’ll be off to Florence and out of your hair, and you can take care of your niece.”

  “Come on in.” Daniel opened the car for her and Lizzy. “The mosquitos are biting. We might as well get comfortable.”

  Julia groaned but got into the tiny car and placed Lizzy on the back seat. The dog curled up into a ball and went to sleep, her belly full of salami. Julia felt terrible about not being able to provide the puppy with any decent dog meal, but at least she wasn’t starving.

  “You can’t leave.” Daniel turned to her. “If your reservation isn’t for two days, you must stay at Mandy’s for a night.”

  “I can’t stay at your sister’s when everyone is taking care of a sick child.”

  “Why not?”

  “It’s a major imposition on a family that’s worried. I’d never do something like that.”

  “You are staying by my invitation. Do you really expect I’d leave you at a train station with no hotel or car? What kind of a person do you think I am?”

  A kind person, Julia thought. An exceedingly kind and thoughtful person whose family will kill him for bringing a stranger into their home at a time of sadness and worry. She couldn’t allow it.

  “Honestly, you don’t need to be so overprotective. I’ll be fine. Florence is a large city. There must be a room available somewhere. We have all night. I’ll look.”

  He placed a hand on her fingers, and she shivered from the warm electric touch. “I’m inviting you, and a guest for one night will not inconvenience my family, I assure you.”

  She looked at his fingers, her cheeks suddenly warm. “I’ll think about it. You are good company, you know that,” she told him, settling herself into the seat.

  “You are not so bad yourself,” Daniel said, lowering his seat. “We should play games or something if we’re to stay up for a while, though.”

  “Games?”

  “Yes, like summer camp.”

  “You went to summer camp?” She raised her brows.

  He laughed. “No, I went hunting with my father to Scotland. Did you?”

  “No,” she said. “I helped my grandparents at their farm with peaches, and I went tubing with my friends on the Frio River, but that’s all I got to do in the summer.”

  “Tubing? Never mind. We shall have to come up with something to do.”

  Julia thought for a while, looking at the trees waving at them. “We can play Never Have I Ever.”

  “What on earth is that?” Daniel sat up, staring at her in confusion.

  “It’s a drinking game.” Julia reclined on her elbow. “For example, I say, ‘Never have I ever owned a dog in the past.’ Since you have, you must take a sip of the wine.”

  “Sounds fairly simple. Do you have to be honest?”

  She gave him a look indicating he was taking this way too seriously. “Depends on how drunk you wish to get, I suppose.”

  “All right, sounds like this could keep us up for a while, especially by needing repeated runs to the loo.”

  “The loo?” Julia laughed.

  “The forest loo. I’m ready. Hit me.”

  “All right. Let me think.” Julia stroked Lizzy’s head in the back seat for a few moments.

  “No, hold on,” Daniel interrupted. “I got one. Never have I ever gotten a tattoo.” He looked at her with expectation.

  “Nice try,” she said. “I don’t have a tattoo. All right, my turn. Never have I ever danced in an elevator.”

  “Good God, why would I do such a thing? Never have I ever eaten a snake.”

  “Ugh.” Julia shuddered. “Gross. Never have I ever been arrested.”

  “Oh.” Daniel took a sip of Pellegrino.

  “Really? You? Story, please.” Julia stretched out on her blanket.

  “I was in a protest at Cambridge. Everyone was doing it. It was nothing. I was released after an hour.”

  “What were you protesting?”

  “The University invests in fossil fuel companies. A small group of us disrupted a boat race. My turn. Never have I ever done karaoke.”

  “Really? Never?”

  “It’s utterly ridiculous.”

  “It’s fun.” She took a sip. “You must try it one day.”

  “Absolutely not. Never have I ever been scuba diving.”

  “Oh, neither have I. But I want to.”

  “Me too. It sounds incredible. My sister goes at least once a year,” Daniel said.

  “Lucky. Never have I ever cheated on a test.”

  “Sure you have. Everyone cheats on tests.”

  “Not me.”

  “Liar,” he said. “Never have I ever married.”

  “Neither have I. Never have I ever accidentally said, ‘I love you’ to someone.”

  “That would be bloody awful. Nor I. Never have I ever dated a best friend.”

  Julia took a sip and coughed as it went down her throat too fast. “I have,” she said, recovering, “and it’s not always a good thing. Not like in the movies at all.”

  “What went wrong?”

  “He broke up with me.” Julia was glad the wine was rapidly flowing through her brain. She felt brazen. She didn’t care what she shared. Or with whom. “My turn. Never have I ever had a good blind date.”

  “Oh, no, those are the worst. I detest dating.”

  No, he didn’t. “What about the A-cup?” Julia propped up on her elbow to see his face.

  “The what?”

  “Lacy pink 32A bra hanging in your apartment in Rome?” She smirked. “How thin do you like your women?”

  “First of all—not that thin. Second, how do you women notice everything? Third, that belonged to a temporary girlfriend who dumped me as soon as we got to Rome. I detest dating.”

  Julia looked mournfully at her breasts. “I have always wished to be an A-cup. We notice because we envy A-cups.”

  “I love curves on women.”

  That’s what all men say, Julia thought, but what the women find in their bathroom is A-cups. “Fine,” she said. “Back to the game. Never have I ever fallen in love at first sight.”

  Daniel stared at the car’s ceiling, his hands behind his neck.

  “Hey, you are not answering. Have you?” Julia asked as a few minutes passed.

  “I’m trying to decide,” he said. “I’m not sure.”

  “It’s just a game, not life and death.”

  “Never have I ever lied to a friend,” he said, winking at her.

  She lay back on her seat. “Are we friends now?”

  “Why not?”

  “You’ve been kind to me and Lizzy. Thank you,” Julia whispered.

  “I got you stuck here.”

  “It was an accident, but you didn’t have to help me at all,” she protested.

  “I enjoy your company.”

  The car went quiet for a while, with only the sounds of Lizzy’s quiet snoring.

  “I enjoy your company too,” Julia whispered finally.

  Daniel’s hand squeezed her fingers, then moved away. “Tell me a story.”

  “What kind of a story?”

  “Tell me what life is like in
Texas for you.”

  “Well…” She turned her head to him. “I live in a small ranch house—a ranch house is like a one-floor home. It’s about five minutes away from my mom and dad.” She stopped herself. “Was about five minutes away from my mom and dad.”

  “I’m sorry about your mother.”

  “It’s okay. She was sick for a long time.”

  “What was she sick with?”

  “She had Huntington’s. It’s a neurological disorder that causes dementia and then sort of rots your brain and your body. It took five years.” She swallowed, the pain suddenly stuck in her throat.

  “That’s a very hard way for someone young like you to lose her mum.”

  “I hardly remember what it’s like to have a mother,” Julia whispered. “We took her to the doctor because she kept forgetting little things, like Dad’s birthday or where the store was or how to turn off the stove. Then, after the diagnosis, she started just sitting on the couch all day watching TV, old Masterpiece Classics she’d find, over and over. She sort of got lost in that world and never came back out again.”

  “Must’ve been awful for your dad, too,” Daniel whispered.

  “Dad almost lost his mind as she was losing hers. He didn’t want to believe at first that she would forget everything. He kept trying to help her remember, but then he gave up and tried to just keep her happy.”

  Julia suddenly understood why Dad had given her a ticket to Italy. He wanted her to find her happiness too. Dad always took care of everyone he loved. It was his job to keep everyone happy, their happiness above his. He did love her. Enough to let her leave. She wiped a tear beginning to trickle from her right eye.

  “How did you pick geography to teach?” Daniel asked suddenly.

  “I always wanted to travel the world, before my mother got sick. Geography was a no-brainer. Plus, science was always easy for me. So what’s your life like in London?” Julia wanted to switch the subject to Daniel.

  “I have a flat in Kensington. My mother also lives in London, although I have no desire to visit her more than obligation requires. She and I don’t quite get along. I have a few friends, but not many. Most of my family is here in Italy.”