Chapter 42
On Saturday I’m still quiet and subdued. But it’s time to put the finishing touches to our house renovations, to make the place a bit cozier. As Angelika says, this is the fun part, where our creativity comes in.
Theo and I take the kids shopping in Pietrasanta.
We stroll up and down the grid of streets, crisscrossing the main square, popping into shops and picking up pictures, dried grasses and flowers, cushions, tissue-holders, wicker bins and ornaments.
Theo buys a leather visitors’ book, saying it’ll make our guests feel more welcome if we invite them to share their opinions.
And I’m drawn back to the Venetian blown-glass vase streaked with the colors of the rainbow that we saw at the start of summer.
“I think you should buy it,” pronounces Callum.
“You’ve changed your tune,” I tease him.
“I know,” he admits. “But I was wrong: it isn’t tacky at all.”
I reexamine the vase and notice it’s come down in price.
“Don’t worry about it,” I say, “you saved us some money by making us wait.”
While the shop assistant wraps the vase, Callum says that once we’ve put all the finishing touches to the house, he’s going to retake his pictures to capture it at its very best. And Mabel shares with us an idea she has for a social media video in which I’m arranging flowers in the vase while explaining that one of the key values of the castello is a commitment to welcoming guests from all the colors of the rainbow.
“Superb,” says Theo.
“I like that!” I chime.
As we move on to the next shop, I pull out my phone to consult the shopping list I’ve written in my notes. And I see I’ve received an email. I open the app and see it’s from Auntie Julie.
“You guys go ahead,” I call out, “I’ll catch you up.”
“Is everything alright?” asks Theo.
“Yeah,” I reply, confident that if I can handle Julie’s last email, I can handle anything. “I’ll only be a minute.”
I spot some stone steps and lower myself down.
Dear Adam,
I hope you’re OK and getting your head around what I said in my last email. This is just a short one because I realised I forgot something. I didn’t say anything about your dad. And I think you need to know how hard all this was for him.
On the night your mum was planning to leave, she left him a letter, explaining what she was doing and why.
One of the reasons she got so panicked when Gary dumped her was because she knew your dad would have read it and she was convinced he wouldn’t want her back.
He had read it, although I’ve no idea whether he would have taken her back as I only found out about it when I told him she’d had the accident. By then it didn’t matter.
Anyway, I just want you to know your dad had to cope with a lot.
It’s his story to tell, not mine, and Mart and I aren’t as close as we used to be, so I don’t even know how much he’d want you to know.
But I understand you’ve always been angry with him so I want you to know he didn’t give you up lightly.
And I think you should give him another chance.
Or at least a chance to explain himself.
Right, that’s it. I’ll butt out now and leave you to enjoy the rest of your holiday. Please send me more pictures!
With all my love,
Auntie Julie
x
Remorse cuts through me.
So Dad does know Mum cheated on him. And he knows she was leaving. Auntie Julie’s right: that must have been awful for him.
I writhe around on the step. Have I been too hard on him? What if all this time I’ve got him wrong?
I’ve no idea what Julie’s hinting at, but I realize I do need to let him tell his story.
I scroll down my inbox until I come to his email. And I compose my reply.