Chapter 28
Stella flicked the shop sign round. After just a few days she was getting used to being her own boss but she wouldn’t be calling the shots for long. Domenico would be back next week and no matter what his doctor and daughter advised, nothing would keep him from his beloved shop.
There’s no use worrying about that now, she told herself sternly.
She unlocked the door; three customers surged in.
Luckily for her they seemed intimately acquainted with the stock and soon enough she was ringing up purchases of storage jars and floral coasters for one woman whilst a mother and her young son argued over a new lunchbox.
After a bout of wailing, the child got his way, grinning delightedly as he plonked his frog-patterned selection on the counter.
‘Twice the price of the plain one,’ the mother muttered, emptying out a purse full of small coins with unnecessary force. A fifty-cent piece shot off the counter, bouncing off Stella’s foot.
‘Don’t worry, that will count towards it, I’ll get it later,’ Stella said.
She bent down to retrieve it, stretching as far as she could, noting the ring of the bell over the door as yet another customer entered.
She was glad to be busy. The busier she was, the less time she’d spend thinking of Gino.
‘Got it,’ she said aloud. She straightened up, holding the coin aloft.
Gino was standing by a pyramid of boxed crockery sets. ‘I was wondering where you had disappeared to.’
‘I could say the same about you,’ Stella snapped before she could stop herself.
‘You mean yesterday? I am sorry. I will be honest: it was such a shock to see you and then to know you were with somebody else. Of course, why would a woman like you not be engaged to be married?’ He paused.
‘I’m not…’ she began. Joe’s ring had gone, a faint pale mark the only sign she had ever worn it. She’d stashed it away safely at the back of the shelf where she’d found Violetta’s squashed hat. No burglar was likely to go rummaging through faded silk flowers and reams of cotton thread.
‘So I hear. I now learn you are here alone,’ he said.
‘I suppose your mother’s houseguest told you that.’
‘Amy? Yes, she did. I hope you will not be cross with her.’
‘Of course not.’
He nodded. ‘Yesterday was a shock. To see you again and then to see you were with a man who can buy a huge diamond like that. And you said you were planning to go to Portofino. Was he not taking you to some fancy hotel for your sixtieth birthday?’
‘How do you know it was for my birthday? I hadn’t told Amy that.’
‘You think I would forget the date? It has been many years, but I can still add them up.’
‘You forgot what you came in for yesterday.’ Stella smiled.
‘I could pretend it was simple forgetfulness but you know that is not the reason.’
His eyes were so searching she had to look away.
A beat of silence.
‘So, do you still need what you originally came in for?’
‘Unfortunately, yes. The fellow who fixed my son’s shower did a lousy job.’
‘Plumbing supplies?’ She was going to have a job finding the right things.
‘They are with the electrical stuff. It will be easiest if I come down to the cantina with you. I will be able to find what I need much better myself than trying to explain it to you.’
‘I had better shut the door for a few minutes.’
Gino turned over the shop sign and locked the door. The two of them were alone. She felt a frisson of excitement… expectation. How ridiculous! They were only going to search for flush valves or rubber seals.
He followed her down the stairs, his body just inches away from hers, his scent of amber and leather a sophisticated upgrade to the body wash of his teenage years.
She stopped in the gap between Domenico’s crates and boxes, ridiculously conscious of the enticingly soft heap of outdoor cushions.
He turned and looked at her, a spark of some long-lost passion in his green eyes.
Her throat was dry. Surely he wasn’t going to suggest what she felt he might.
They had barely exchanged a few sentences but she was certain he was thinking of that unfinished business in the passageway beside Sant’ Agata, the day they’d been so stupidly reckless. Before…
‘That’s where Domenico landed when he fell,’ she said quickly. ‘If he had been just a little further over…’ She gestured to the box of sharp-edged garden equipment.
Gino put his arms around her, pulling her close. ‘Don’t think about that. It must have been horrible. I can feel you trembling.’
She was trembling, but not from that memory. Her heart was thudding, her body heating where it was pressed against his.
He loosened his arms. ‘Now, plumbing supplies! Up there on that high shelf, see the box next to the extension cables. I will need you to hold the ladder.’
‘You can’t climb up! You’re the customer.’
‘Stella, you are not climbing any ladders. You’re wearing heels and a skirt! I’ve only just found you. I don’t intend to lose you so soon.’
She didn’t need much persuasion to let him get the box down; she was far too lightheaded to climb up anything. She didn’t know if anything would or could happen between her and Gino after all this time. But whatever they’d had, there was still something there.