Chapter 9
At half past seven on Monday morning Amy made her way up the road from the hotel to the house and arrived just as a van drove in through the open gates and parked on the gravel. A sign on the side of it indicated that it belonged to Angelo Rossi, allegedly the best plumber in Sant’Antonio. She was so pleased to see him, she almost kissed him instead of shaking his hand. He was probably aware of the effect his arrival could have on desperate clients so he didn’t look surprised at her enthusiastic welcome as he climbed out of the van.
‘Good morning, Signora. I’m Angelo Rossi. I believe you have some work for me.’
‘Signor Rossi, you can’t image how pleased I am to see you. Do come in.’ She unlocked the door and ushered him into the house.
When he was safely inside, she closed the door behind him. Remembering Rosa’s advice, she even considered locking the door to keep him in there but decided to draw the line at that.
‘So, what exactly would you like me to do, Signora?’ The plumber was probably about the same height as her, strongly built with spectacularly tattooed forearms and a straggly ponytail – his hair not nearly as lush as Danny the potter’s. His T-shirt had been washed so often she could only just make out the last letters of his name and part of a phone number on it but he had a friendly face. He looked around. ‘Quite a bit of modernisation and refurbishment, I imagine.’
‘Yes, definitely. I’ll need a central heating system and I also need you to take a look at the kitchen, the toilet, the washbasin, and see if you could create a new bathroom upstairs. I don’t think anything’s been touched in here for decades.’
Signor Rossi smiled. ‘My compliments, Signora. You speak impeccable Italian. I was rather concerned when I heard you were English. In fact, I’ve been wondering if I was going to need my new phone app that allegedly translates what I say into English.’ He grimaced good-naturedly. ‘I tried it last week with some English tourists who asked me the way and I have a feeling they may still be going round and round in circles.’
Amy grinned back, led him through to the kitchen, and offered him a cup of tea, apologising for not having a coffee machine. While she waited for the kettle to boil she explained to Signor Rossi about her mother being from the north of Italy and how they had always talked Italian together. He nodded sagely.
‘I thought I could detect a northern accent. If I didn’t know, I would have taken you for an Italian from Lombardy or Piedmont. You certainly don’t sound English.’
‘Thanks. All I need is a bit more practice, but it seems to be coming back pretty well.’
She indicated that he should sit down at the table and dug out the biscuits she had bought. As she did so, the plumber gave her his initial impression.
‘From a very brief preliminary glance at your kitchen, I get the feeling that we might be talking about a fairly major job here.’
Amy nodded, concentrating on locating two clean cups. ‘I’m sure you’re right.’
‘Maybe I could take a look around while you’re so kindly preparing the tea?’
Amy nodded again and he took off on a tour of the property. Five minutes later the tea was ready and she could still hear his footsteps on the floor upstairs. She went to the bottom of the stairs and called up to him.
‘Your tea’s ready, Signor Rossi.’
She heard his footsteps as he clumped down the stairs. When he came back into the kitchen, he sat down and picked up the cup. Raising it to his lips, he took a sip and looked across at her.
‘Is this the way you English always drink tea, with milk?’
‘Yes, is it all right? I’m sorry, I forgot that here in Italy you tend to drink tea without milk.’
He gave her a grin. ‘To be totally honest, Signora, this is the first cup of tea I’ve tasted for twenty years.’ He took another sip. ‘And it’s… drinkable.’
She chuckled at his lukewarm response. ‘Please don’t feel you have to drink it if you don’t like it. I promise I’ll get a proper coffee machine before you start work here. It’s just that I don’t trust the electrics.’ She pushed a packet of biscuits across the table towards him.
He took one and studied it carefully. ‘English?’
She shook her head. ‘Italian. I bought them in the supermarket down the road.’
Reassured, he took a bite and then gave his report on the house. ‘Yes, there’s a lot to be done, but nothing insurmountable. I have another small job I must do this week. I can’t put that off any longer, I’m afraid. But, seeing your fairly urgent need, I could start next Monday.’
He took another sip of tea and looked hopefully at the biscuit packet. Amy nudged it closer to him and thanked him profusely. From what Rosa had said, she hadn’t been expecting him to be able to start anything like so soon.
‘That would be wonderful, Signor Rossi, but are you sure you can fit me in at such short notice? Like you say, there’s a lot of work to be done, you know.’ The last thing she wanted was for him to make a start and then disappear off to some other job and leave her high and quite literally dry as a result.
‘It’s the least I can do. Martino was a good man and a good friend. Any friend of his is a friend of mine. And friends need to help friends.’
Amy was impressed. Martin Slater’s popularity really had been extensive. ‘That’s lovely to hear. Thank you so much.’
‘In fact, I have a proposal for you, Signora. I have a good friend who’s a builder. His name’s Lorenzo Pozzovivo.’ Amy immediately recognised the name Rosa had mentioned. ‘He and I often work together and he also knew Martino very well. The three of us used to go fishing together. If I tell him what needs to be done here, he might be able to organise things so that he could join me for a week or two. He could fit a new kitchen for you and create a bathroom upstairs. Two if you like. I’m afraid we’re looking at a fairly major replacement of your whole plumbing system.’ He took another biscuit and nibbled it pensively. ‘And I couldn’t help noticing that your electrical system is not only ancient, it looks positively dangerous.’
‘I rather got that impression myself. I don’t suppose you…’
‘My cousin, Emilio, is an electrician; in fact he’s a very good electrician. If you like, I could ask him to come along and take a look?’
‘That would be wonderful, Signor Rossi. Hopefully it won’t be too expensive.’
Absently, he helped himself to another biscuit and chewed it while clearly doing some mental arithmetic. His eyes closed as he calculated. It took a remarkably short time before he opened them once more and glanced in surprise at his empty fingers. Amy offered more sustenance.
‘Another biscuit?’
He shook his head regretfully and patted his stomach. ‘Thank you, Signora, but I’d better not. Now, I’ll do a formal calculation for you later this week, but don’t worry, we’ll make sure you get a good price.’
Amy nodded in agreement. She didn’t really have much choice and she knew the work had to be done. This would give her more time to decide on her future and whether to sell the house or hang onto it.
‘Thank you. Tell me, how long do you think it will all take? I’ve got a few weeks’ back holiday entitlement to use up and it might be a good idea if I’m around to make decisions. I’m at the Corona Grossa at the moment and I can stay on there until you tell me it’s okay to move in here.’
‘I would hope to get most of the work done before the end of the month, but you should be able to move in before then if you like. There may be a few days when you’ll be without power or water, but, as you say, there’s always the hotel.’ He had a sudden thought. ‘If you like, I have a little electric stove with two hotplates I can lend you. At least you can have some hot food until your new kitchen’s done. I’ll bring it with me next week. Now, I must go. It’s been very good to meet you. Thank you for the English tea. I must tell my wife about it.’
Amy noticed that most of the tea in his mug was still there and decided to run the risk of fusing the whole house and take a chance and invest in a coffee machine before the work started.