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

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СКАЧАТЬ and not worked it out? Oro meant gold. A great name for a golden retriever. It hadn’t clicked why he’d chosen that breed. Nor why he’d been wearing dark glasses.

      ‘I’m here. In the armchair,’ she said and leant forward to touch his arm, heart squeezing as if someone had mistaken it for a lemon that had made the lemonade. Poor Dante. What could have happened? Why had no one said? ‘Um, let me pass you a drink.’

      ‘I’m blind, Mary. Not incapable,’ he said, in a tight voice, and pulled away. ‘Accept that and we’ll get along fine. Papà employed you as a waitress. Not a nursemaid.’

Chapter Four

      Pastries. Lush Italian plum jam. Little Lucia, humming and kicking her legs against the dining table. Several days on and Mary reckoned she could get used to starting every day like this one.

      ‘More coffee?’ asked Natale, who sported a skirt and yellow and orange striped blouse – a vibrant contrast to Mary’s beige trousers and white T-shirt. Freckles scattered across her nose, like the musical score for her tinkling laugh.

      ‘No thanks. I’ll be saucer-eyed, otherwise. I’m used to drinking instant coffee, back in England.’

      Natale pulled a face. ‘We tried that once, years ago on a family holiday to London. Papà said it was the liquid equivalent of baby food and that no self-respecting adult should drink it.’

      Mary grinned. She studied the pretty bead bracelet around the Italian woman’s slim wrist.

      ‘That’s lovely,’ she said and pointed.

      ‘I make my own jewellery.’ Natale’s heart-shaped face blushed. ‘But it’s only a hobby.’

      ‘It looks very professional.’

      Lucia studied them both and the necklace and then babbled for several moments to her mum in Italian, crumbs of pastry tumbling out of her mouth.

      Natale shook her finger at the little girl and then looked at Mary sheepishly. ‘Sorry, but it would seem that Lucia accidentally ended up in your bedroom yesterday. She says something about a crystal collection that, she thinks, would be great for making necklaces and bracelets.’

      Mary stared at her plate for a second. What should she say? Not everyone understood believing in something that hadn’t been proved.

      ‘It’s okay,’ said Natale, ‘no need to explain.’

      Mary thought back to the warm glow she’d felt when Natale had linked arms with her – something she’d done several times, over the last few days. Perhaps she’d dare to open up. Just a little. She pulled out the yellow citrine crystal from her shorts’ back pocket. ‘This is especially supportive of taking a new direction in life. It helps you achieve goals.’ She handed it to Natale and held her breath. Only Jill knew about Mary’s collection and her view was if Mary thought they worked then that was all that mattered. She’d reluctantly discussed her crystals with John Jones on the plane, but it wasn’t usually something she talked about.

      ‘What gorgeous saffron shades. That would make a lovely pendant.’

      ‘I’ve looked online and found out about a crystal shop in Rome,’ said Mary shyly. ‘If it’s as good as my one at home, they sell all sizes and shapes of stone, some suitable for jewellery-making.’

      Natale raised an eyebrow. ‘I’d love to come with you – unless …’

      Mary beamed. ‘That would be great.’

      Clearly bored with all the English talk, Lucia babbled to Natale again and the little girl’s head cocked to one side.

      ‘She wants to know if you have ever met the queen,’ said Natale and winked. ‘She’s hoping you’ve got a photo to show her friends. She’s seeing them at holiday club.’

      Mary had understood a little and ruffled those black curls. She slipped the crystal back into her pocket. ‘No. The queen is a very busy woman, but …’ Mary got up and grabbed her handbag from the breakfast bar. She rummaged in her purse before sitting down again and passing Lucia a bright gold one-pound coin. She turned it over and pointed out the British monarch.

      ‘I don’t need my English money, any more …’ Nervously, she switched to Italian. ‘You take this to club, instead.’

      The biggest smile crossed Lucia’s face before she gave Mary a tight hug. Without an ounce of resentment, Mary decided anyone would adopt this little girl, with her confident gaze and affectionate manner – whereas Mary had stood less chance with her quiet ways and lack of eye contact.

      ‘Grazie mille,’ said Natale, after her daughter had left to clean her teeth before heading off. ‘But watch out – I love my little treasure to bits, but with those wide innocent eyes, she has a way of getting what she wants. Like this holiday club! She’s begged to go because of all the craft and sports activities. So now school has finished, I said she could attend for three days each week. I can’t afford much more.’

      ‘If only handing out a gold coin would embellish the road to friendship with everyone,’ said Mary, thinking out loud. She bit into another pastry. Piquant plum flavours danced across her tongue, against the smooth backdrop of buttery pastry. What a change from her plain English cornflakes and milk.

      ‘You mean Dante?’ asked Natale, gently. ‘This road you talk of – trouble already?’

      ‘Sorry. Just ignore me.’ Inwardly Mary cringed at having been heard. ‘I’ve only been here a few days and expect too much.’

      Natale raised an eyebrow. Mary had seen her do that to Lucia. It acted as an effective tactic to extract information.

      ‘I think I upset him, when I arrived on Sunday. I offered to pass him his drink and –’

      ‘Ah …’ Natale leant back in her chair. ‘I’m so sorry, mia cara, Maria, I should have warned you about his blindness. But Dante … he is so independent. And …’ She cleared her throat.

      ‘What?’

      ‘I feel you should know … Dante wasn’t that keen for you to be hired. He begrudgingly looked at all the applications we had but wasn’t happy when the rest of us chose yours.’

      ‘Oh. Do you know why?’ What could have put him off?

      ‘I don’t think he feels we need an English waitress again. He was even more fervent after listening to the Skype interview.’

      Mary blushed. ‘Was his dislike personal?’

      ‘Dante reckons that the current staff’s command of English is good enough and that it would be better to hire another waitress who had fluent Italian.’ She sighed. ‘Dante knows best. That used to one of his tongue-in-cheek phrases before he lost his sight.’

      ‘Monday, he wasn’t in, and I wondered if he was avoiding me. When he got back he went scowling to his room.’

      ‘No. Dante is not like that. You are here now. He will make the best of it. And if he ever does have a problem, he will say it to your face. He simply went to visit СКАЧАТЬ