The Italian Matchmaker(13)

‘Darling, Luca,’ his mother enthused, throwing her arms around him although she only reached his chest. ‘You’ve grown. I swear it. You’re taller!’

‘Mother, if I’m still growing in my forties, by the time I’m old I’ll be a giant!’

‘But I swear it!’ She smiled, her teeth white against her olive skin. Luca spotted the pretty girl going into one of the restaurants.

‘Are you hungry?’ he asked his mother, without taking his eyes off the door. ‘How about these restaurants?’

‘They’re good,’ she replied. ‘But I have lunch already prepared up at the palazzo. I can’t wait for you to see it. You won’t believe what your father and I have done to it. You should have seen it when it was a ruin.’ Luca was disappointed, but he could not refuse her. He picked up his bag and followed her to her small yellow Fiat, parked badly on the curb.

‘These streets are too narrow for cars really. They’ve improved the road up to the palazzo, which is a blessing,’ said Romina, turning the ignition key. ‘At least it stops the town becoming over-crowded with tourists. There’s a divine hotel in the square and the little church of San Pasquale, which is enchanting.’

‘Ah, the church where the statue of Jesus weeps blood.’

‘So you already know about Incantellaria?’

‘Only because Fitzroy Davenport told me about it.’

‘How is darling Fitzroy? Still henpecked? I didn’t know he’d been here?’

‘Yes. A long time ago.’

‘It hasn’t changed that much, you know. It’s hidden away, like a jewel, and I like it that way. The locals keep themselves to themselves. Tourists are few. You see, there’s no sandy beach, no glamorous hotels with swimming pools. There isn’t the room. It attracts bird watchers and old people who come for the beauty. The fashionable people go to Portofino and Capri. La dolce vita. To tell you the truth, life is more dolce without that crowd of models and film stars.’

‘Do you know any of the locals?’

‘A few. We are quite detached up there on the hill. As you know I don’t go to Mass and I don’t involve myself in community life, but the locals are perfectly friendly, if a little in awe of us. No one wanted to buy the palazzo, it was just a pile of rubble. The man who owned it no longer lived there. He hadn’t wanted to sell at first, but we made him an offer he couldn’t refuse. I think the townspeople consider us rather eccentric, what with all the coming and going of friends calling in on us from all over the world. We are like a hotel, except we don’t charge. What is the point in having earned all this money if we don’t permit ourselves to enjoy it! Your grandmother would want me to spend my inheritance like this, restoring a beautiful house in her native country, not wasting it on gluttony and booze like that idiotic brother of mine! By the way, your father insisted on building a swimming pool, so you can bring the children next time. I haven’t seen them for months and I miss them terribly. They are my only grandchildren and now I have no communication with their mother it is even harder.’ She gave him a sidelong glance. ‘Don’t let Claire monopolise them. They need their father too.’

They drove up the narrow streets, past sandy coloured houses with tall, ornate windows and large wooden doors that opened on to pretty courtyards and gardens. A couple of bony dogs trotted against the walls in search of scraps while the local people watched the car with curiosity as they motored past. Luca rolled down the window and rested his elbow on the window frame, taking in the old buildings, the women hanging washing on shady balconies, the ugly white satellite dishes nailed into the medieval walls, savouring the warm smell of spring that rose into the air with the heat. His thoughts were drawn again to the woman he had seen on the beach, though she was clearly a wife and mother. There was no way he wanted to further complicate his life by chatting up a married woman, certainly not in an Italian town where the men were sure to be protective of their women and suspicious of foreigners. He put her out of his mind.

‘So, you’ve quit the City,’ said Romina as they left the town behind and started climbing the hill. ‘About time too! Now we will see more of you.’

‘I’ve come to a crossroads in my life. I need to take time to work out which way I want to go.’

‘The world is your oyster, Luca. You have enough money to do anything you want. You don’t even have to work if you don’t want to.’

He sighed. ‘That’s the trouble, there are too many options. It’s better when you have limits, easier to make a choice. The truth is, nothing inspires me.’