“I know what you mean,” she said. His daughter. She closed her eyes in relief. “I’m just still hurting because of Mom.”
“Me too, sweetheart. It’s only been a short while.” He paused. “Let’s change the subject. How was Rome? Did you see that fountain over there, what’s its name?”
“The Trevi Fountain. The thing is…” She twirled her hair, trying to decide how to tell him. “The thing is, I’ve got a bit of an issue I’m dealing with.”
“What’s wrong, Jules?”
“I rescued a dog. A puppy.”
“What? Why did you rescue a dog in Italy? We have ASPCA right here.”
“I didn’t do it on purpose. It sort of happened. I was on a tram, and I saw this homeless man hurting it, and I took it away from him. I couldn’t watch it being hurt.” She paced around the room.
“This is so like you to do something like this. You can’t rescue everyone in the world, Julia. It’s your grief for Mom making you do this. You are lonely. Go take it to their ASPCA. Get rid of it and have yourself a vacation for the first time in your adult life. That was the whole idea for this trip.”
“I tried. But their shelter is this awful place where they shove many dogs in one cage and don’t feed them. I couldn’t leave Lizzy there.”
“You named it?” Dad raised his voice. “You are not having a vacation. Julia, you are looking for another thing to care for.”
“I’m definitely having a vacation. I’m in Tuscany, drinking lots of good wine. I found a solution for the puppy. I met this kind British architect, and he drove me to his family’s farm where they’ll be happy to keep Lizzy.”
Dad was quiet.
“Are you there?” she whispered, worried about her father being angry now.
“I’m trying to decide if you are loca or if I should just let you do whatever because you are an adult and you can be as stupid as you want. What you are telling me is you picked up a strange man in Italy and now you are staying with him. Am I right?”
“You’re making this sound very reckless.” Julia’s throat tightened. Perhaps he was right. Of course, he was right.
“That’s what it sounds like.”
“I didn’t just pick him up. I was staying in the same apartment building as him. We had pizza together first.”
“Oh, you had pizza together. This changes everything. Look…” Her father paused for a second. “I’m not telling you what to do. I absolutely want you to have your Italian adventure. I just want you to be careful. Don’t put yourself into an unsafe situation. You’ve never been abroad before. You’ve never even traveled before. You don’t know what kind of scum is out there.”
“I wasn’t entirely locked in a tower, Dad. I do work and go out with people. I can tell an asshole from a nice person.” She rolled her eyes. The old overbearing Dad was back. He did care about her. He didn’t give her up.
“Just be careful. Promise me you’ll be careful.”
“I will. I promise.” She smiled.
“Call me tonight and in the morning. Call me every night and every morning, so I know you are alive,” Dad begged.
“I’d be waking you up,” Julia protested.
“I don’t mind.”
“Dad? How is Abuelita? And all my cousins?”
“Everybody is okay. You don’t worry about anybody.”
“Dad?”
“What?”
“I love you.”
“Back at you, sweetheart.”
Julia stood by her window for a while, picking at the geraniums in her window box. If she were reckless, why did it feel so right to be with Daniel? She had no sense of danger when she was with him. No warning signals. Just comfort and peace. Warm feelings spreading through her chest. They’d spent a night together, and he hadn’t so much as tried to kiss her.
She got dressed, picked up Lizzy, and decided to clear her head by going for a walk. Julia walked the perimeter, snapping pictures of the garden and the house. It was a three-story peach-colored mansion, set on top of a hill overlooking a vineyard and a fruit orchard. There was a terrace on one side, a small pool on the other, and a large garden with a fountain in the back. Several sculptures of women holding vases were set near the garden hedge that someone had trimmed to geometric perfection. The air was perfumed with the smell of the white roses planted around the perimeter.
Julia walked down the steps toward the fountain, gliding her fingertips past the spikes of the rosemary bushes set in the terracotta planters.
“What do you think?” a male voice asked behind her.
She turned and saw a handsome, tanned, blond man with a kind but exhausted face. He was holding a little boy, about a year old, with a lollipop in his hand.
“It’s breathtaking,” she said, smiling at the infant. “All of it.”
“My name is Gian. You must be Julia. Welcome.” He walked toward her and gave her a peck on the cheek, his unshaved stubble rough on her face. “This is Lucciano, my son.”
“Nice to meet you both. How is your daughter?”
“Mia is still sick. It’s been very hard. But she will be better now. Thank you. Can I give you a glass of wine?”
“Oh, no, thank you. I’m fine. I don’t mean to be a bother. I was just walking my dog.” Julia looked for Lizzy, who had gotten lost in the bushes.
“Yes, yes, I heard about your dog from my wife. We keep your dog, right?”
Julia’s heart skipped a beat. “Yes, thank you. I’d like that very much. I can’t bring her back home.”
“No problem. I must take care of things here, but you enjoy the house, the garden, the pool.” He gestured all around. “This house is ancient, from Renaissance time. We take good care of it, and make wine, and grow vegetables and olive oil, and we do well. You must try some of my olive oil, si?”
“Yes, of course I will. And your garden is beautiful.”
“Grazie. We try.”
“Are those sculptures from the Renaissance? Really?”
“The house is, but the sculptures I’m afraid are only copies. The real sculptures would be too expensive. I would have to sell a lot more wine than I do. You enjoy, okay?”
“Thank you.”
As Gian left, Julia found a bench in the shade and closed her eyes. A few minutes later, a glass of iced water with lemon and a bowl of fruit appeared beside her as if by magic, and she wondered if meeting Daniel was all in her imagination. It would not be easy to leave tomorrow, although it was a wonderful place for Lizzy to stay.
Perhaps it was time to plan her next steps. She had been too careless. Too spontaneous. She needed to decide where she’d go next. Florence was a start, but when would she finally get to looking for her mother? Her mission had been so clear to her just a week ago, when she was determined to find her mother and figure out her past, to find the artist behind that painting. Yet Italy was proving to be much more complicated than she had realized, with its people and its food and its beautiful mansions set in vineyards. And she was falling in love with it.
Chapter 13
It had been a few hours since Daniel held Julia’s hands, but he still remembered the velvet feeling of her fingertips. He made himself busy after he left her room. He showered and changed, visited with his aunts, and grabbed a few slices of bruschetta from Francesca. Yet he couldn’t get Julia out of his mind.
He didn’t understand what it was about Julia that kept him thinking about her. Couldn’t be her personality—she was rather impulsive. Who comes to Italy and ignores all of its sights just to rescue a dog? But she was kind. And he felt as if he need not hide who he was as much when around her. And then that smile. He had dated three women in the last six months, but none smiled like this. It wasn’t just the dimple. It was the way her dark eyes lit up like the fireflies in his uncle’s vineyard when he and his mates camped outside in the summers of his childhood. And it was the way she leaned her head slightly to the side when she smiled, the sleeve of her dress falling off now and then, exposing her coll
arbone just a tad.
Daniel needed to settle down. He turned the shower water extra cold.
It didn’t help.
He borrowed his cousin’s car and went to visit Mia, despite Mandy’s directions. The little girl was sleeping when he got there, but smiled a bit when Mandy woke her up to see the giant teddy bear he squeezed into her room. The nurses whisked her away for an X-ray, and he paced the hallways, waiting for instructions from Mandy, until she said Mum had decided not to fly in today. So he was sent back to the estate, still lost as to what to do about Julia, but also relieved that he had run out of excuses not to see her again.
She was walking through the vineyard, tasting the grapes, her face cringing from the sourness.
He laughed. “They won’t be ready to eat for a few more months, Texas.”
“You are back. How is Mia?”
“She is better. Much better. She will come home tomorrow.”
“That’s wonderful news. Are you less worried now?”
“Yes, everyone’s much relieved. Mandy went to sleep. She hasn’t slept in days. What have you been up to?”
“I wanted to see the vines.”
His heart fluttered as he watched her walk toward him, her dress flowing in the afternoon wind.
“You missed the Keep Out sign.” He tried to keep his voice mock stern, but failed.
“A Keep Out sign? Don’t know what you are talking about,” she answered with laughter in her eyes, the corners of her lips lifting slightly.
He took a step closer and fixed a stray hair on her forehead. “The sign is for the guests. You are family.”
He watched with gratitude as she blushed and looked away. Maybe she felt as awkward as he did about them now.
“You rolled up your shirtsleeves,” she said.
“It’s hot.”
She stretched out her hand to remove a bird feather off his forearm. Daniel looked down at her, his heart quickening its beats. He took hold of Julia’s fingers with both of his hands and held them a moment. Her hands were warm from the sun, and the warmth radiated into him, floating slowly into his stomach.
“This vineyard is magnificent,” Julia said.
Daniel took a step back and looked away, shielding his eyes from the sun. “They’ve done a decent job here, but it’s not so hard, in Tuscany. You throw a rock in the ground here and a vineyard grows.”
He examined the grapes on a vine near them. They hung in large bunches, colorful bulbs of green and purple. “Very healthy. You’ll enjoy the wine, too. It’s better than the wine we drank last night. Less lavender and more apricots.”
“I’m looking forward to it.” She snapped a few pictures on her phone.
“Where is Lizzy?”
“I left her in the kitchen with your family. She might as well get used to it. This is her new home.”
“So you’ll take Mandy up on her offer?”
“How can I not? I have to leave tomorrow, and there’s no time to look for a place for her. Besides, is there a nicer place than this?” She turned and took another picture.
“You don’t have to leave, you know.”
“I do. Your family has a lot to do, and you have more important things to occupy yourself with than babysitting me.”
“Believe me, I don’t,” he said and meant it, but she looked away and couldn’t see his face. Perhaps it was for the better. He didn’t want her to know how much he’d miss her. But he needed to let her go. He was a lousy boyfriend; he couldn’t possibly ever make her happy.
They walked back up toward the house on the spiraling dusty road and through a small gate up to the terrace.
“I think Lizzy has a new friend,” Daniel commented as they walked into the house.
Lizzy was lying in the kitchen, under the table, a few bacon scraps in a bowl next to her.
“Is she not eating?” Julia asked Francesca, who was cracking eggs into a mound of flour on the table.
“She ate two bowlfuls. Francesca has been spoiling your dog.” Aunt Louisa smiled at Julia, then mixed the eggs into the flour.
“This is my aunt, Louisa,” Daniel introduced.
Louisa lifted her hands into the air, showing Julia they were covered in the mixture of eggs and flour. “I do apologize for not hugging you, but we’re making pasta for dinner.”
“Oh, of course, no problem,” Julia said. “I don’t mean to disturb your work. Can I watch? I would love to learn how you make it. I used to make German noodles with my mother and grandmother.”
Daniel gestured at the two aunts and whispered, “Show her,” folding his hands in a plea when they gave him stern looks.
Louisa wiped her hands on her yellow apron. “Why don’t you wash your hands and we teach you?”
“Really?”
Francesca handed her a pink apron with plums on it. “We need to hurry or the dough gets dry.”
“All right, thank you.” Julia smiled at Daniel and put on the apron.
“You too, no?” Francesca asked Daniel.
“Oh, no, I’m not cooking.”
“Why not?” Julia asked.
“Women’s work.” Daniel raised his brows.
“Oh, please. Daniel makes some of the best pasta around here. His fettuccine is always perfect,” Louisa said.
“Well, what do you know! He’ll just have to teach me. Is that what we’re making? Fettuccine?” Julia asked, touching the soft flour in the large bowl.
“No, it is farfalle tonight, and gnocchi,” Francesca explained.
“Oh, I love gnocchi.”
The older women set to mixing the dough, and then Daniel flattened it. Francesca showed Julia how to cut it into perfect equal-sized shapes with a pasta cutter, and Julia and Daniel were given the task of making farfalle shapes off to the side while the others boiled and mashed potatoes for the gnocchi.
“You see,” Daniel explained to Julia, “the trick is to pinch them just so.” He pinched the shape exactly in the middle and set it down on the board.
“It’s so perfect. Looks just like a butterfly.”
“That’s the idea.”
“Let me try.” She took one yellow rectangle and pinched it in the middle, but the dough tore. “Oh, I’m terrible at this.” She dropped the torn piece into the trash.
“You are just pinching too hard. This dough has to be handled gently. It’s delicate.”
“You haven’t seen delicate until you’ve worked with my Oma’s strudel dough. It was so thin; you could see right through it.” Julia tried to pinch a few more pieces and failed. “How are you as a man able to handle it more gently than me?”
“Don’t be sexist.” He shoved her playfully to the side, and she shoved him back. “Look.” He put his arms around her and placed another rectangle in her hand. Then he took her right thumb and forefinger and gently squeezed them around the center of the pasta. It created a perfect wrinkle. “There you have it.”
“I made farfalle. Look at that.” Julia moved in his arms, and he struggled with the sudden desire to kiss her.
“Maybe one day you can teach me to make your Oma’s strudel?” he whispered, brushing his lips against her ear.
“Hurry, now. We do need to finish in time for dinner tonight.” Louisa raised her brows.
“All right, all right,” Daniel said, setting himself back to task.
They worked quietly and quickly, filling the board with beautiful butterfly shapes.
When they finished, it was time to make gnocchi, and Francesca taught Julia to roll the potato dough into a long spaghetti shape, then cut it into tiny squares and roll them on a special board to create a traditional shape. She and Daniel then worked on the gnocchi for some time, while Francesca finished the pesto sauce and Louisa prepared the eggplant and other vegetable dishes.
“Are you hungry?” Daniel asked.
“Starving,” Julia admitted. She looked tired, but her eyes smiled with happiness. He loved how the corners of her mouth turned just slightly when she smiled at him an
d how the dimple in her right cheek slowly revealed itself when she was happy.
“We better go get cleaned up before dinner. You have flour in your hair.” He smiled and tried to brush the flour from her forehead and top of her head, but only smudged it. “I’m afraid I made it worse.”
“Here. Sit,” Francesca ordered, pointing to a bench in the hallway.
Julia sat down, picking up Lizzy, who came begging for a hug just then. Francesca took a large comb out of her apron pocket and slid it through Julia’s dark long hair, gently tugging through it. Daniel washed his hands but couldn’t take his eyes off Julia, relaxing as her hair was being brushed.
“I make it look beautiful,” Francesca promised.
Daniel leaned against the wall watching the two women, mesmerized. Julia sat still; she seemed afraid to breathe. His body burned with desire to hold her, stroke her hair, and kiss her for hours.
“The last time anyone brushed my hair was my mom, years ago, when I was in high school, before she fell ill, before her fingers became paralyzed with pain and disease,” Julia said.
“Your hair has so much shine. Beautiful,” Francesca said, separating locks and placing them in front.
“I think it’s okay now, Francesca. Thank you,” Julia whispered.
“Oh, no, what’s this?” Francesca said, looking at Julia’s face. She hugged Julia to her chest. “You don’t be sad. Young people shall be happy.”
Daniel sat down next to Julia, petting the dog around the neck. “Francesca can get anyone to cry, so don’t mind her. Although I guess you have a reason.”
“I don’t.”
“You lost your mother,” he whispered.
“It was a long time ago. I’ll get over it.”
“You’ll never get over it. It’s your mother. It’s all right to grieve.” He moved a lock of her hair away from her face. “Should we go get wine and meet the rest of the family?”
****
Daniel watched Julia at dinner, wondering if she felt more at ease now. He was so grateful for Francesca and Louisa’s help. Maybe now Julia won’t run off first thing tomorrow morning. Maybe she won’t feel so much a guest, since she contributed. The truth was he didn’t want Julia to leave. He didn’t know quite yet what it would mean, but more than anything, he wanted her to stay. Whatever it was between them, it couldn’t last and maybe it would only be a few days, but someone should make this amazing woman feel special, and he was fairly sure he’d like to try.
The House by the Cypress Trees Page 10
