Chapter 21
21
Jules was jolted awake by the tinkle of Alex’s phone, where it sat on the table. She lay awkwardly sprawled on him, nearly falling off the bench now he’d slumped further.
He grumbled something unintelligible and was so groggy she would have mistaken him for drunk if she hadn’t known it was just the long day and his erratic sleep. Snatching his phone, she silenced the ringtone and extricated herself as carefully as she could, slipping into the kitchen to answer.
‘Pronto,’ she said. At least she’d trained herself to confidently answer the phone in Italian over the past three years. The person on the line had a thick accent that she struggled with, so she asked him to speak more slowly, eventually understanding that the breakdown service had arrived. ‘Arrivando! Un minuto,’ she assured the man that she was coming, fetching her jacket and ending the call.
Glancing at Alex, she quickly collected a few more seat cushions and propped his head up, tugging his feet onto the bench seat with a silent apology to Gabriella. But his sleep was worth the bad manners. Finding Alex’s keys in the kitchen, she headed outside to deal with the car.
It seemed to be an easy fix, once the mechanic towed the Fiat down onto the flat and crawled underneath, and the car didn’t need to be repaired in the shop. When the flashing lights of the truck disappeared again down the mountain, the night was cool and still and dark. Glancing at her phone, Jules saw it was past ten o’clock.
There was no way she’d wake Alex to drive down the mountain now.
Instead, she locked the car and slipped back inside, sighing when the warmth embraced her. She opened the stove and carefully added another two pieces of wood. Tiptoeing to the bench, she checked that Alex was still sleeping, allowing satisfaction to creep over her when she observed his even breaths and the relaxed lines of his face.
She wanted to slip back onto the bench with him, but there wasn’t room now he was stretched out on it, so she fashioned her own bed on a row of chairs, turned off the light and tried to sleep despite her spiralling thoughts.
Now she knew about Laura, it was as though the stopper on his personality had been popped and the man from their first date had appeared in front of her again. Except now she knew he was also a stubborn, grieving husband, and that part didn’t just disappear. She didn’t want it to disappear, even though tearing her heart out over a man was not a sensible next step in working out her life.
Everything in Friuli had been more than she’d bargained for, but as long as she left at the end, these few weeks could be a seminal period of learning and change in her life, not another poor decision like moving to Italy for Luca.
When she opened her eyes, there was light creeping around the shutters. Awkwardly pushing herself up from the narrow chairs, her back twinged and her shoulder ached. She must have slept for longer than she’d thought, if the crick in her neck was anything to go by.
‘There’s no hurry.’ Alex crouched in front of her with a half-smile on his lips. His hair was mussed and his beard a little fuzzy, but his eyes were bright and it was lovely to see his face first thing in the morning.
Arco bustled up to her, nuzzling her knee firmly until she gave him a rub. Alex had his coat on and she realised he must have taken the dog outside and let her sleep.
‘Don’t we have to get back?’
‘The clocks changed overnight, so it’s only six thirty.’
‘Well in that case…’ She stroked a thumb over his cheek, her fingers drifting into his hair. His smile faded, but he didn’t pull away. Still not sure if she was supposed to do it, she pressed a feathery kiss to his lips and pulled back again, but he followed, dropping his knees to the floor for stability so he could take her face in both of his hands and kiss her properly. A zing of gratification – and well-being and comfort – shivered through her as his fingers tangled in her hair.
‘Good morning,’ he murmured as he drew back and peered at her, his voice rough. ‘Did you deal with the car in the middle of the night?’
She nodded. ‘It’s all fixed. You were sleeping so…’
‘Thanks.’ He pressed another hard kiss to her mouth.
‘Did you sleep okay after that?’
He gave an eloquent toss of his head. ‘Not too bad. How’s your neck? You didn’t look comfortable.’
Her cheeks heated at the thought that he’d watched her while she’d slept, but she’d done the same to him last night. ‘It hurts a bit.’ He dropped his warm fingers to the back of her neck. ‘Ohh, that’s better,’ she rasped as his fingertips dug in and massaged.
‘I took Arco out already, but maybe you want to see the place in the daylight?’
She grinned. ‘Definitely. I wished last night that Berengario had found a way to send us on this fool’s errand in the light.’
‘An oversight, for sure,’ he said with a chuckle. ‘Come on.’ Grasping her hand, he tugged her to her feet.
Outside, it was still cold even though she was wrapped up. The mist had cleared and the sight that greeted Jules as she came around to the front of the building made her come to a sudden halt. Wild forested hills stretched before her, with the hazy grey mountains in the distance, topped with white. Trees welcomed the morning light in every shade from deep green to glowing orange and red. The only signs of human settlement were the occasional tiny hamlets of clay-roofed houses with thin ribbons of smoke emerging from the chimneys.
She was looking down on a secret valley. The forest didn’t judge her – and had seen much worse than a woman who had fancied herself in love with someone who didn’t love her back. The landscape hinted at a bigger picture – a future that would wind its path no matter how many mistakes Jules made.
When Alex’s arms came around her and she leant back into him, she wondered whether perhaps her next mistake was currently keeping her warm against the chill. Now though, she was looking forward to making it, no matter the consequences.
The Fiat made it back down the mountain, although she could tell Alex was nervous. The roads grew wider and the more frequent houses, businesses and workshops were evidence of returning to civilisation.
She knew the river was coming and pressed her face to the window to catch a glimpse of the ravine and the rushing green water. When she turned back, Alex was smiling indulgently at her.
‘There’s something about that river. It’s not wide or grand, but it feels like… this place. A hidden gem.’
‘When you leave, we’ll have to swear you to silence.’
She laughed, leaning back against the headrest. Although thoughts of her departure were a little mixed, especially when she glanced at a particular square jaw and a figure that didn’t quite fit in the driver’s seat of the little car, that prospect was somewhere in the hazy future and not today.
She recognised the outskirts of Cividale, the newer houses that still had clay roof tiles like the ancient buildings within the city walls. A white sign announced they were entering Cividale del Friuli, with ‘Cividat’ in Furlan added beneath, but they had left the area where the names were repeated in Slovene.
Navigating back streets until they reached the city wall, Alex drove through the narrow gate and then they were in the old town of colourful buildings with painted shutters, brick bell-towers and ancient stone walls. Passing carefully under the crumbling arch into the courtyard in front of Alex’s house, they pulled into the parking space behind.
Alex hopped out before Jules had decided whether or not she was going to grab him for a kiss and she was rather grumpy about that until he wrenched open her door and hauled her out – and against him. His arm tight around her back, he lifted a hand to her face and rested his cheek against hers for a moment, before pressing a light, restrained kiss to her lips.
‘I hope you’re okay with…’
‘This?’ she asked, gratified when her joke coaxed out his smile. God, she’d missed that smile. She kissed him back. The hand on her face stiffened and he deepened the kiss, making her skin tingle right to her toes. When he drew back, she looked him in the eye and reassured him. ‘But I know it’s not… we’re not…’
‘“This”,’ he began with another little kiss, as though he couldn’t help himself, ‘is what it is, hmm? Just keep talking to me.’
‘You too,’ she warned, giving him a playful shove, ‘Mr Strong-Silent-Type.’ After she’d attached Arco’s lead and let him out of the car, Alex laced his fingers with hers as they headed for the front door.
But as soon as they passed into the courtyard, Alex stiffened and shook off her hand. The sting of the action caught her by surprise and she was about to ask what was wrong with him when she saw the reason he’d panicked. Walking across the courtyard from Elena’s apartment was Berengario, dressed for another day of olive harvesting.
‘Eccovi!’ he exclaimed at their appearance, gesticulating with his wrinkled cap. He drawled something else that sounded like a question.
Alex threw up his arm as well. ‘ What happened ?’ he repeated in a raised voice. ‘Exactly what you wanted to happen.’ He slipped into his native language as the two sparred, Alex agitated and Berengario puffing up his chest and sneering to hide the defensive glint in his eye.
‘That old car is a piece of shit,’ he said suddenly, in careful English. ‘I told you to buy a new one two years ago.’
‘And you told me to take Jules sightseeing in the dark!’
‘Jules, hmm? You are friends again I see. It worked out well, didn’t it?’ Berengario asked, his chin in the air. Jules wasn’t sure if she imagined his gaze dipping to their hands – or the emphasis on the word ‘friends’. ‘But you can go and wash.’ She wasn’t imagining the wrinkle of his nose. ‘I’ll see you at Due Pini later.’
She followed Alex to his door, where he fumbled with his keys before heaving it open with a little too much force. When she’d closed it carefully behind her, he leaned on the wall by the stairs, his head falling back.
‘I’m sorry.’ The apology – and the strain in his jaw told her he was as mixed-up as she was – went a long way to settling her resentment. ‘I reacted without thinking, but I still have to live here after you go – live with their concern. I thought I could just go with it, but that’s harder than I thought.’
The tension drained from her, replaced by a bleak kind of acceptance. ‘You still have to hide from your interfering Italian family and your zombie neighbours,’ she said with a nod, her voice trailing off. ‘And I won’t always be here to protect you.’
With a chuckle that was almost a sigh, he snagged the waistband of her jeans and tugged until she bumped up against him again. ‘Just remember,’ he said, giving her a squeeze and a breathy kiss to her cheek before straightening and setting her away from him again, ‘I never don’t want to kiss you.’