by T A Williams
‘So we’re sitting in this really nice little restaurant on the hill, looking down over Alassio, and suddenly this woman marches in and starts screaming. I didn’t understand everything she said but the message was crystal clear: Dario’s her husband and I would do well to get the hell out of there, pronto, before she stuck a fork in me. Which is what I did. I legged it down the hill to a taxi stand and got a lift back here.’ She wiped her forehead with her hand. ‘What a mess!’
‘How awful for you.’ Sophie got up and went over to perch on the arm of the chair alongside her. ‘And he seemed like such a nice guy.’
Rachel nodded. ‘Yes, he was a nice enough guy, although nothing was ever going to happen between the two of us. It’s not the fact that I can’t see him again that bothers me; it’s being lied to.’ She glanced up. ‘I wish I’d slapped him before storming off. I feel really sorry for that poor woman. Fancy discovering your husband with another woman. It’s awful. To be honest, I’m surprised she didn’t stab me with a fork.’
Perching on the arm of Rachel’s chair Sophie caught hold of her sister’s hand and gave it a squeeze. ‘What was it I was saying about Italian men? Don’t worry, sweetie, you weren’t to know.’
‘If it helps, Rachel, it isn’t just Italians, and it isn’t just men.’
Both sisters looked up in surprise at the sound of Chris’s voice.
‘Something similar happened to me a year ago, not long after splitting up with Claire.’ In response to their inquisitive gazes, he elaborated. ‘I met a woman at a trade fair in Dusseldorf. I took her out for dinner, one thing led to another and she invited me back to her apartment. Luckily I had to stop in the lobby to take a call so she went up in the lift ahead of me. When I got up to her door I found her waiting outside, looking scared stiff, with the news that her husband had unexpectedly arrived home from a trip and so I’d better make myself scarce. I still have nightmares about what would have happened if I hadn’t stopped to take that call or if he’d come home half an hour later.’
‘And you had no idea?’ Sophie was fascinated. This was the first time Chris had mentioned other women to her.
‘Nope. No ring, no mention, nothing.’ He gave Rachel an encouraging look. ‘So it can happen to anyone. Just put it down to experience and move on.’
‘And that’s what you’ve done?’ Now she had got him on the subject of other women, Sophie was keen to keep him talking.
He shrugged his shoulders. ‘Well, I’ve put it behind me, but I don’t seem to have moved on much.’
Sophie was pleased to see that these revelations from Chris were having a positive effect on Rachel. She was sounding much less angry and decidedly curious now. Sophie looked on with interest as her sister picked up the questioning. ‘So what does that mean? Isn’t there a woman in your life at the moment?’
‘Not really.’
Rachel pounced on his choice of vocabulary. ‘What does “not really” mean? Is there someone or isn’t there?’
He actually blushed. ‘I don’t think so. There’s a girl, a woman, but somehow I don’t think anything’s ever going to happen there.’
Sophie exchanged surreptitious glances with her sister. Of course it was inevitable a good-looking man like Chris would have found himself somebody, although maybe if he hadn’t actually hooked up with this woman yet…
Rachel interrupted her train of thought. ‘So, no girlfriend, eh?’ She winked at Sophie before returning her attention to Chris. ‘You need to do something about that.’
He shook his head. ‘I’m fine, Rachel. My job keeps me very busy and I’m often on the road. With a lifestyle like mine, it’s hard to keep a relationship going. It’ll happen when it happens but, for now, I’m fine.’
Rachel was still sounding upbeat. ‘So that means all three of us are currently unattached. I tell you what, why don’t we go clubbing tomorrow night? Didn’t you say the guy in the hair salon told you the best places to go?’
Sophie choked back a giggle as she saw the look of terror on Chris’s face. She couldn’t remember ever having seen him on the dance floor – indeed, this had been one of Claire’s few grumbles about him. She was quick to reassure him.
‘I’m not so keen on going dancing, but Romeo the hairdresser did tell me about a rather nice-sounding little cafe over on the next hill. Apparently that’s where all the beautiful people go and they make a house cocktail that’s amazing.’
The relief on Chris’s face was all too obvious and he shot her a grateful glance. ‘Sounds much more like my kind of thing. Besides, what’s the point of my going to a night club if I don’t speak enough Italian to ask a girl to dance?’
Sophie caught her sister’s eye and gave a shrug of the shoulders. The intention had been to get him dancing with her, not with some random Italian woman. Clearly he wasn’t following the script – or more probably he had no idea there was a script to follow.
Chapter 15
When Sophie got back with Jeeves from their early morning walk, she was surprised to find Chris already outside the back door, sifting through the junk pile. Next to him were half a dozen objects ranging from a gruesome-looking rusty metal poker to a moth-eaten top hat in a battered velvet case, all of which he had salvaged from the heap. Over breakfast he told her all about the items he had identified and she could feel his enthusiasm. Like a bloodhound on the trail, he was in his element. Rita didn’t come in on Saturdays so there were no warm croissants, but Sophie had planned ahead and there was more than enough to choose from, including a fruit tart she had made the previous day topped with apricots from their own trees. She was delighted to see him pick up a piece, taste it, murmur appreciatively, and then return to his favourite subject.
‘At a conservative estimate, the few bits and pieces I’ve rescued from your junk pile should bring in several hundred pounds, maybe a whole lot more. Add in the LPs I saw last night, you must be nudging the thousand pound mark and that’s just the stuff you were slinging out. If you like I can take the LPs back with me. We’ve got a music memorabilia sale coming up at the end of August. When can I see the rest of it?’
By eight o’clock he was already on the top floor up to his armpits in dust, working his way through the room where she had put the items she had deemed worthy of keeping to be sold at the antiques fair. When she showed him the two remaining rooms still dotted with boxes, he was like a little kid in a candy store. She helped as much as she could but it was clear he wanted to take a good look at everything by himself so she ended up standing at the doorway, keeping up a desultory conversation as she watched him happily ferreting about. She would dearly have liked to ask him more about the woman he had mentioned with whom nothing was going to happen but the opportunity didn’t present itself. As for embarking upon some sort of meaningful dialogue about the exact nature of their own relationship, now was definitely not the time. He was clearly totally absorbed by his antiques hunt.
She took a closer look at him as he sorted through the objects and almost for the first time she realised two things: he really was a good-looking man – well, she had always known that, but she now realised that the sensation currently coursing through her body was none other than desire. From the breadth of his shoulders and the strong muscles in his legs and arms, it was obvious that he must have been working out recently. Back in the days when he and Claire had been together, he had never, to her knowledge, done more than play squash – albeit at a high standard – but such had been her gloom and despondency over the past year after the Claudio debacle that she had failed to see that he had slimmed down and toughened up noticeably since splitting from Claire. Never having seen him with his shirt off, she suddenly found herself wondering what he would look like in his swimming shorts and this also came as a shock to the system. This appeared to be the confirmation that she really did fancy him. But whether he fancied her remained unknown, although by the sound of what he had said last night, she wasn’t going to be first on his list.
After a while s
he went down to the kitchen and found Rachel in there having breakfast.
‘Where’s Chris?’
‘Upstairs.’
For an instant she caught a spark in her sister’s eyes. Rachel had disappeared off to bed last night, leaving Sophie and Chris to watch the end of the movie together.
‘So does that mean you and he…?’
‘No, it doesn’t. He’s been on his hands and knees amidst all the junk on the top floor since eight o’clock. You know when Jeeves is rooting around in the dry leaves for his tennis ball, tail wagging? Well, that gives you an idea of the scene.’
‘At least it gave you a chance to take a good look at his butt.’ Rachel gave her an encouraging smile. ‘Any developments since I last saw you?’
Sophie shook her head. ‘Nope, but I keep thinking about that thing he said.’
‘About fancying some other woman?’
‘Yes.’
‘And you have no idea who he might have meant?’
‘None at all.’
‘Has it occurred to you he might have meant you?’
‘Me?’ Sophie hadn’t thought of that. ‘But he said nothing could ever happen…’
‘Which is what he would say if he was talking about his best friend, isn’t it?’
Sophie’s brain cleared. ‘But then that thing about asking some random girl, not me, to dance? No, he can’t have been thinking of me, I’m sure.’
‘All right, if you say so, but I’m still not sure. Assuming he didn’t mean you, he said he didn’t think he had a chance with this woman, so the coast’s still clear for you.’
‘I don’t know…’ In fact, Sophie reckoned she did. Last night when they were sitting alone at the TV would surely have given him a chance at least to hint at something, and he hadn’t taken it. ‘No, I think I’m on a hiding to nothing with him. Anyway, I’d better go back up and see how he’s getting on.’
By the time Rachel called up to them an hour or so later with the news that Dan had arrived and there was coffee in the kitchen, Sophie was feeling uncomfortably hot and Chris was dripping with sweat. There was no aircon up here and the heat of the sun was radiating through from the roof above. Even so, she almost had to drag him away from his treasure hunt. Again to her amazement, she found that gripping his arm and tugging his sweaty body towards her aroused feelings in her that were very different from the way she used to think of him.
‘It’s time you took a break, Chris.’ She glanced at her watch and saw that it was almost eleven o’clock. He had been hard at it for three solid hours. ‘Besides, Dan’s here and you wanted to ask him something, didn’t you? Come down and have a coffee and a rest. You deserve it.’
Downstairs Dan was sitting at the kitchen table with Rachel and, by the sound of it, she had been relating the sorry saga of what had happened to her the previous night with Dario’s wife. He looked up as Sophie and Chris came in and shook his head in disbelief. ‘What’s wrong with some guys? Rachel’s just been telling me her tale of woe.’
Sophie just rolled her eyes and shrugged helplessly while Chris sat down beside Dan and opened his laptop. Sophie and Rachel crowded round behind the two men and stared down at the image on the screen. As Chris had said, it was the portrait of a serious-looking elderly man in elaborate robes wearing a distinctive cap with an unusual blunt point sticking up at the rear.
‘Mind if I take a closer look?’ Dan sounded fascinated.
‘Help yourself, please.’
Dan studied the painting very carefully, enlarging parts of the scene and dwelling in particular on the hat. In the end he sat back and gave his verdict.
‘Well, I think I can definitely tell you what he is, although I’m not sure of his name – yet. That hat he’s wearing is the traditional head covering of a Doge of Venice.’
‘Of course, I should have known that.’ Chris’s voice was a mixture of excitement and annoyance at himself. He glanced momentarily over his shoulder at the two sisters. ‘Doge is what the Venetians called the ruler of their republic, and now that you say it, Dan, it’s so obvious. Of course I’ve seen that hat before. What an idiot!’
Dan gave him a grin and returned his attention to the screen. ‘Don’t beat yourself up, there were a hell of a lot of hats going round way back then. Anyway, I’m going to take a guess and say he might be the one of most famous of them all: Francesco Foscari. Mind if I check something?’
He clicked on a search engine and in a remarkably short space of time came up with visual proof in the shape of a painting by a Venetian artist called Bastiani. There could be no mistake. The likeness was unmistakable.
‘Got him.’ He punched the air triumphantly. ‘That’s our man: Francesco Foscari, one of the best-known of all the doges. This one was painted in 1457, so I imagine your painting’s roughly the same age. This won’t necessarily help you find the name of the artist, but at least you now know who the subject is.’
Chris reached over and high-fived the American. ‘That’s terrific, Dan, thank you so much. I’ll mark it up as School of Venice by an unknown artist, late fifteenth century, and describe it as a portrait of Foscari, just like you’ve said.’ He held out his hand towards Dan and shook it more formally. ‘Really, thanks a lot. Listen, professional advice of this calibre from an expert like yourself is something we’re happy to pay for, and pay handsomely. If you don’t mind us using your name in the description, please let me have your bank details and I’ll see something appropriate lands in your account to say thank you.’
They sat and chatted for half an hour or so. Dan appeared very interested to hear of the carved font in the little church down in Santa Rita and to see the photos Sophie had taken. Because it was a fairly recent church, he had ignored it so far, but he would definitely be checking it out now.
After a while, Rachel revealed that she had made plans for the day. ‘I called Dan while you two were up on the top floor and told him to bring his swimming things. I’ve prepared a light salad lunch with a few bits and pieces. It’s all in the fridge and I thought we could maybe go for a swim first and then eat outside at the table under the shade of the big fig tree by the pool. How does that sound to everybody?’
That sounded excellent and Sophie was soon sitting by the pool in the presence of two attractive men with well-honed bodies, realising that she couldn’t fault Rachel’s logic. Chris without a shirt on was a very pleasant surprise and she felt that same little stirring of lust she had felt back upstairs. Clearly he didn’t spend all his time sitting at a desk. It then immediately occurred to her that this was the very first time he had ever seen her in a bikini and she wondered what sort of impression she might be making on him. To avoid any further conjecture, she decided to join her dog in the pool. A few seconds later the others followed suit.
By the time she emerged from the pool and stretched out on her towel to dry she was feeling less self-conscious. From behind the protection of her sunglasses she watched the others do the same and had to admit that the sensation of finding herself sandwiched – in the most innocent possible way – between these two men was rather nice. She felt pleasantly relaxed, lying here in the shade, with hardly a sound to disturb her – apart from the constant buzzing of bees as they laboured among the blooms all around them. She was almost drifting off to sleep when her sister’s voice roused her.
‘Here, Soph, Dan brought a bottle of fizz. Will you open it and see that everybody gets some?’ Sophie looked up to see her sister set a tray down on the table beneath the fig tree.
Dan reached for the bottle. ‘Let me do that.’
Sophie stood up. ‘Thanks, Dan. I’ll go and help Rachel bring out the food.’
‘I’ll come with you.’ Chris jumped to his feet and together they headed round to the kitchen. They collected the rest of the food and drink and carried it back to the poolside with Jeeves bouncing along at their sides, nostrils flared. By this time Dan had already filled four glasses with Prosecco which he distributed.
‘Cheers, a
nd thanks for the lunch invite.’
Sophie was very impressed by lunch. Rachel must have gone down to Santa Rita in the car that morning while she and Chris had been upstairs. She had bought lovely fresh focaccia bread as well as hand-carved ham and fennel-flavoured finocchiona salami. Along with the meats, she had made a huge salad containing at least three types of lettuce, fresh tomatoes from the garden, quails’ eggs and mozzarella cheese. To accompany the ham there were wonderful, sweet fresh figs from the garden. A bowl of white flesh peaches, again home-grown, completed the meal. To drink there was cold red as well as white wine, along with mineral water. Altogether it was a real feast and Jeeves clearly shared that view as he stationed himself under the table and wandered hopefully from person to person, nudging them with his cold wet nose. But, forewarned by Sophie, they refused to give in to his pleading eyes – although she did see the occasional bread stick disappearing under the table, mainly from Rachel.
It was a tasty meal and Sophie thoroughly enjoyed the company – not just the two men but her sister as well. She was delighted she and Rachel appeared to have returned to the uncomplicated relationship they had once had, and she could honestly say that her misgivings about the two of them being able to cohabit had proved unfounded – at least for now. How the arrival of the Spanish contingent in a few weeks’ time would affect the dynamic remained to be seen but, for the moment, peace had very definitely broken out.
As for the men, it was hard not to make comparisons. Both were intelligent and successful in their own fields. In purely physical terms, Dan would probably have won a handsomest man contest, but it would have been a close-run thing. Both were tall and had blue eyes – something Sophie had always liked – and both had friendly faces. Most importantly, both had the ability to make her laugh, and a good sense of humour had always been high on her list of desirable male attributes.
There was just one complication – she heard Chris telling Dan that they were going to a special bar for a cocktail this evening and inviting him along to make up a foursome. Although mathematically neat and tidy, this effectively ruled out any chance Sophie might have had of getting Chris on his own this evening so she could work on analysing her feelings towards him more precisely. When Chris headed back to his beloved antiques and Dan disappeared along the path towards his house, she gave a long sigh of frustration, turned round, and let herself fall backwards into the pool, closely followed by her dog. When she surfaced and dissuaded Jeeves from licking her face, she saw her sister crouching at the water’s edge with a broad grin on her face.