Chapter Eight #2
Now, as he and Massimo passed through the open door to the familiar hot and beery atmosphere, Leo saw that Bar Rita’s clientele were now mainly thirty-somethings.
The dim space was narrow at the front, where the bar ran along one wall, then widened, crowded with tables.
Though uncommon in Italy, right at the back stood a pool table, two cues rolled against the cushion.
It had been part of the attraction of Bar Rita, when they were young.
It didn’t look as if it had received any maintenance since then.
Before they could even buy a beer, Massimo peered around a group of laughing men and called, ‘Ciao, Jade,’ and waved.
And there she was, in a yellow patterned sundress with three slender straps on each bare shoulder. Massimo kissed her cheeks. Leo had just secured a table so missed the cheek-kissing because Jade was already introducing her two female companions.
‘Erin and Rosalie – Massimo and Leo.’ Then to the women, ‘The Sartoris are the family friends I told you about. Gran and their mum, Sheenagh, who’s also Scottish, were besties, and Sheenagh and Ferdinando bought Villa Panorama from Gran.’
While Massimo fetched drinks and ordered aperitivi for the table, Leo watched Jade’s sisters edge into the booth.
Rosalie was almost as tall as Jade, with an open, friendly face, her fair hair tucked behind her ears.
Her clothes looked as if they came from markets or vintage shops, and her tattoos were delicate and pretty.
Erin was tiny, with shining hair. If she’d worn her label on the outside of her denim minidress, he didn’t think it would bear the name of a chain store.
Her long fingernails were turquoise, with patterns on the smallest. Living with Isabella had taught him that they’d probably cost sixty pounds at a salon.
Both sisters seemed friendly. Erin waited for Massimo to return with a tray of drinks and then asked about Villa Panorama. It had conversation opener all over it – general, non-contentious and not about herself.
Leo listened as Massimo talked about the hotel.
When his gaze slid to Jade, he saw she was wearing a similar smile-and-listen expression, her hair curling over her bare shoulders.
It brought back memories he didn’t know what to do with, so he looked away and noticed that though Rosalie and Erin seemed to be paying attention to Massimo, each shot regular glances at Jade.
Leo tried to read their eyes. Was that wariness he saw there?
Perhaps deciding that it was time to change the subject from what, to him, was shop talk, Massimo said suddenly, ‘The police are chasing Leo.’
Across the chipped table, Jade arched her eyebrows. ‘Really?’
‘Not really,’ Leo answered. ‘Cars were stolen from the Black Falcon and Isabella’s father kindly suggested me as an employee who might bear a grudge.’
Jade rippled into laughter – something he hadn’t heard much since he’d been home. ‘Employee?’ she repeated. After a couple of gulps of cold Poretti beer, she laughed again.
Leo gave a sad headshake, then explained for the benefit of Erin and Rosalie.
‘I was a partner.’ Then he grinned at Jade, enjoying the small interaction.
‘I do bear a grudge, but I was a thousand miles away when the incident happened . . . though the police officer did say she had a good mind to interview me to get an expenses-paid trip to Como.’
‘Ah, young and female,’ Jade said.
‘Made no difference. I didn’t mastermind the theft of cars from the Black Falcon’s car park,’ he answered good-naturedly.
‘Glad to hear it.’ Jade ran her fingertips up and down her beer bottle. The nails were short and unpainted, probably because she worked in a kitchen, but Leo found his eyes following the movement of her hand.
A stubbly man, his balding head sweating in the close atmosphere of the bar, arrived with a tray of aperitivi. Pancetta, mortadella and green-grained gorgonzola, cup-sized dishes of penne pasta, a basket of bread, and tomatoes with basil, all set out appetisingly on individual boards.
Erin’s eyes widened at the mini feast. ‘I thought an aperitivo was a drink before dinner.’ She indicated her glass of sparkling orange Aperol spritz.
The server was trying to find room on the table for the last board and Leo moved his glass. ‘It can be. Or light food to brighten your appetite for dinner.’
‘It can replace dinner altogether if you keep at it.’ Jade took a chunk of bread. ‘Or replace happy hour or bottomless brunch, or whatever you fancy.’
‘It’s a nice way to wind down after the day,’ Massimo added. ‘I’ll probably snack again with my wife, Sofi, later, when she comes home from her friend’s house.’
Leo stifled a grin at Massimo exhibiting his I’m-definitely-not-available card, as if Jade’s sisters had been making moves on him.
Maybe it was second nature to him when in the company of single ladies.
Certainly, after everyone had tucked into the contents of the small blue bowls, another drink had been drunk and napkins lay crumpled on the table, Massimo clapped Leo on the shoulder, hugged Jade, and told Erin and Rosalie it had been nice to meet them. ‘Sofi’s home now. Ciao, ciao.’
Leo watched him weave through the busy bar before vanishing into the street. He hadn’t really bargained for being cast off this early in the evening. Glancing around, he saw the pool table still empty. He cocked a brow at it and then at Jade.
She made a face. ‘I haven’t played for a wee while.’
Erin laughed, tossing back her super-glossy hair. ‘I love the west Scotland accent you’ve learnt from Gran.’
‘Come on,’ Leo urged, because Jade had met Erin’s comment with a tiny pucker between her brows. ‘I’ll go easy on you.’
Over her Poretti, Jade regarded him narrowly. ‘I’ll bet you’ve been playing in England.’
‘Constantly, just so I could beat you,’ he said solemnly, though he hadn’t had a game for a couple of years. There hadn’t been much time for frivolous activities. But now he was unwinding and could enjoy a simple pleasure.
‘Go on, Jade,’ said Rosalie. ‘We’ll get more drinks.’
Jade shrugged, then led the way to the faded, scratched table. ‘Not exactly well maintained,’ Leo grumbled as he posted two one-euro coins into the slot so that the coloured balls spun and clattered out of the chute. He racked them. ‘You break.’
Jade crooked an eyebrow as she spun her cue tip on the chalk on the end of the table. ‘We toss.’
He might have known that she wouldn’t want to be gifted any advantage.
Taking a fifty-cent coin from his shorts pocket, he flipped and won.
He settled over the cue, gave it a couple of practice slides across the bridge of his fingers, and then broke with a short, stabbing stroke.
The balls clattered and ricocheted in a whirl of colour. Not one dropped into a pocket.
Jade studied the table for several seconds, then stooped and smoothly potted an orange spot ball in the end pocket. With so many balls in play, she had two more easy shots before the red spot rolled into the mouth of a pocket and lingered.
Erin and Rosalie brought the drinks over. Rosalie had joined Leo and Jade in drinking beer, while Erin continued with the tourists’ favourite of Aperol spritz. ‘We’ve come to see Jade win.’ Rosalie settled on a wooden stool.
‘Unless I clean up from here.’ Leo eyed a blue stripe ball for the centre pocket. But he missed and play switched between them twice more. Each time, Jade managed to pot a ball and then leave one over a pocket.
Leo frowned. ‘You’ve only left me half the pockets to play with.’
Jade assumed a deceptively innocent expression. ‘Oh? Sorry.’
He snorted, fluffed a long shot and sighed. ‘Go on, clear the table.’
She needed no further invitation, stooping to kapow each ball into a pocket, then leaving herself on for the black.
She indicated an end pocket and the black trundled obediently in, while the white stayed up with Leo’s last three striped balls, as if wondering where all the spot balls had gone.
Rosalie and Erin applauded, with a loud, ‘Yay!’ and ‘Go, Jade!’
‘You put me off, wearing that low-cut dress.’ Leo shook his head mournfully. Truthfully, she put him off with her intriguing eyes, as much as anything, so bright and compelling.
Jade clutched her front and glanced down before realising that he was teasing, as her neckline was perfectly respectable. ‘Idiot,’ she said amicably.
Leo turned to Rosalie and Erin. ‘Either of you want to play the winner?’
‘Not now I’ve seen Jade play,’ Rosalie answered pragmatically.
‘Not my game,’ added Erin, so Leo and Jade played again, prowling around the table to examine shots or chalking their cues thoughtfully while they watched the other at work.
This time, Leo won. Erin and Rosalie had been chatting, but seeing that there would be a deciding game they finished their drinks and rose. Erin said, ‘We’ll stroll down to the lake.’
Jade paused as if wondering whether she ought to escort them. But when they appeared happy to saunter off without her, she turned back to the newly racked balls. She broke and potted a green stripe, the corners of her mouth lifting.
‘Sheesh.’ Leo glared at the table, where all the striped balls now seemed to lie neatly between the spots and the pockets. He got a couple of balls down, but then the white spun back and maliciously potted the black.
‘Foul. Two-one to me.’ Jade laid down her cue with satisfaction.
‘Loser buys the drinks.’ Leo heaved a mock-tragic sigh. Playing pool with Jade had felt almost like old times . . . though they wouldn’t be strolling through the velvet air to his bed at the end of the evening.
Jade didn’t object. As there were no longer any free tables, she perched on a bar stool, straightening the yellow fabric of her dress and smoothing back her wild hair.
Leo noticed several male gazes following her movements.
Not surprising. Apart from her striking looks, there was that statuesque body . . .