One Summer in Rome: a deliciously uplifting summer romance!. Samantha Tonge

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СКАЧАТЬ grinned. ‘No. I just … Sarah … never seemed completely relaxed. We felt terrible when we discovered she’d been ill. She’d seemed so happy – apart from not really getting on with Rocco. Oh, the arguments …’

      ‘Didn’t she ever talk to you about her problems? Not even a hint?’

      ‘No. We didn’t have the closeness that I … sort of … already feel with you. It is strange, no? With some people you just click.’

      Do you? Mary hadn’t had much experience of that, apart from Jill.

      Was it her fault? Had she built an emotional moat? Occasionally she’d let a boyfriend cross over – like Jake. But even then, it took a while – if ever – for Mary to completely let down the drawbridge and open up.

      Yet she did feel comfortable with Natale. Accepted. ‘Yes,’ she said, shyly, ‘you are easy to talk to. And I don’t seem to mind when you tease me – like laughing when I wore different-coloured socks.’

      ‘It must be British eccentricity,’ said Natale, airily. ‘Unless you have trouble remembering which is right and which is left.’

      ‘Why would I need to remember that? Honestly, you Italians are so obsessive …’

      ‘Because we are NORMAL,’ she insisted, with a deadpan face.

      ‘NO ONE who likes Justin Bieber is normal,’ Mary replied.

      ‘I only pretend to, for Lucia’s sake,’ said Natale indignantly.

      They both laughed.

      ‘But seriously,’ said Natale, after a sip of sparkling water, ‘it is strange, Rocco and Sarah not getting on. He is a treasure. Been with us, ooh, five years. We helped him celebrate his twenty-fifth birthday, just after he started. A couple of months ago, he turned thirty.’

      Relatively young, thought Mary, yet his face seemed to carry the scars of a lifetime’s responsibilities and disappointments.

      ‘Is he married? Rocco never speaks of his private life.’

      ‘No. He lives with a friend. Angelo. Rent is high in Rome. It makes sense to share. He’s a real asset. Such a strong work ethic. We are always telling him to take a break, but he won’t. Our place is like a second home for him. You wouldn’t think he had his own to go to. Thank goodness.’ She swallowed. ‘Rocco virtually ran the place single-handed after Mamma … after she died, almost one year ago.’ Natale shrugged. ‘I just don’t get why Sarah would find him difficult.’

      Mary pursed her lips. Give her an hour and she could explain. But it was early days and if Rocco was so popular with the Rossi family, then perhaps she ought to keep her concerns to herself. Even if he had blamed her for a coffee order he got wrong. Plus laughed at her Italian in front of customers.

      ‘I heard that you’d lost your mum,’ she said, softly. ‘I’m so sorry.’

      ‘You would have got on with her. Mamma loved astrology. Why do you have such a big interest in crystals?’ she asked and Mary wondered if she was changing the subject on purpose.

      How could she tell her the truth? That she’d never had a steadying influence in her younger days. Foster parents changed. Caseworkers swapped clients. Whereas crystals – they remained steady. They offered hope – and a wisdom she’d received from nowhere else. A lump formed in her throat.

      ‘Years ago, I read about them in a teen magazine,’ she said, tentatively. ‘That article triggered my curiosity. It was about a girl who’d just had her heart broken. Every night she slept with healing crystals under her pillow. Six months later she was engaged to another bloke.’

      ‘So … your crystals help you emotionally.’

      Cautiously, Mary nodded.

      ‘They have made you feel relaxed and at home, in Piazza Navona?’

      Her face broke into a smile. ‘How could I not feel relaxed? My room is so spacious and bright. Lucia makes me laugh. You and I have some lovely chats. And I get to do my baking.’

      ‘Si,’ said Natale. ‘The ginger cream sandwich cookies you made, yesterday, were particularly delizioso.’

      Granted, the first few days had been challenging. Mary was used to living alone and thought she’d prefer the quiet. However, soon she found herself looking forward to breakfast conversation with Natale, about the day ahead, and the evening mochaccino outside had become something of a habit – but not with Dante. Sometimes Alfonso kept her company but normally, in the evening, she’d find him sitting alone inside, in deep contemplation. Or Gabriel might pop across the piazza to see her for a friendly chat. However, Dante had reverted to being coolly polite. Granted one afternoon he’d sat down with her, at the back of the restaurant, to point out mistakes she was making with her Italian. But that would have been for the good of the restaurant. Apart from that he had kept his distance, emotionally as well as physically.

      ‘You okay?’ said Natale, bringing Mary back to the present.

      ‘Sorry. My mind was elsewhere.’

      Natale raised an eyebrow.

      ‘I was thinking about Dante. I … I can’t believe how many pizzas he manages to make each day. It’s amazing.’

      ‘By now you know that my brother never likes to stay still. He is determined to stay busy and that life will continue more or less as it has always done.’

      ‘He still goes out with his police friends.’

      ‘Si. He sees old colleagues at least once every couple of weeks if he can. Losing his sight hasn’t affected his love of good food and wine – or office gossip. And he takes Lucia to the park – and swimming, seeing as her dad …’

      Mary leant forwards.

      ‘He left before I gave birth,’ said Natale, quickly. ‘We were both so young – me seventeen, one year younger than him … To be honest, in his company I … how you say … went off the rails?’

      ‘Really? But you seem so sorted. So solid.’

      ‘I’ve had to grow up. My parents offered me one hundred per cent support, but made it clear I would have to face my responsibilities. His parents did everything they could to encourage my boyfriend to be part of his daughter’s life, but he disappeared shortly before my due date – apparently went to work abroad.’

      ‘Oh, Natale. That must have been – must be so hard.’

      She gazed at her lap for a moment. ‘It is for the best. With him I drank … smoked … smoked all kinds of stuff.’ She looked up. ‘I almost ended up with a police record.’

      Mary’s eyes widened.

      ‘You are shocked?’

      ‘Only because, well, your family, from the outside, it seems so … idyllic. And ordinary. I mean that as a positive.’

      ‘What, the cosy Italian family running a restaurant filled with laughter and singing – and ice cream?’

      Mary СКАЧАТЬ