The Summer Villa: a feel good summer novel about friendship, love and family from the international bestselling author

by Melissa Hill

  ‘Nothing,’ she continued to lie. She wanted to stop, but telling the truth was proving more difficult than she’d imagined.

  He sighed. ‘You’re not being truthful, though, are you?’ he said, and Kim’s heart jumped into her chest. ‘I know you said you’d have some time to spend with us before everything kicked off, but maybe that was too optimistic.’

  ‘No, honestly, it’s fine.’ She refreshed her email again, waiting on more news from Hank, but nothing.

  Her mind automatically travelled back to that day she found the journal behind the dresser, and she racked her brains to think who the real owner could possibly be and why they’d chosen now to come out of the woodwork.

  Well, she could hazard a guess as to why: it was the perfect opportunity to sabotage the launch and publicly humiliate her in the process – which suggested it had to be personal. The timing was too coincidental for it not to be.

  So who was this person? A past guest of the villa would surely have long forgotten about it, or if not, would have recognised or identified Kim’s usage of various quotes and ideas before now.

  It couldn’t have been the villa’s previous owner either, because when Antonio had made them an offer to buy it, the family seemed more than happy to have somebody actually pay them to take the ramshackle estate off their hands.

  Unless it was a disgruntled relative? Who knew how these family things could go?

  But there was little point in Kim trying to figure this out herself, she knew. She had to wait until she heard more from Hank and hope against hope that he could make this go away.

  ‘I want to get down,’ Lily complained, and Gabriel temporarily released his arm from Kim to lower their daughter to the ground.

  As always, the moment Lily’s feet touched earth she was on the move. Like most three-year-olds she was fearless.

  Now, she raced towards the three statues that stood sentinel in the town square. Two of them had no arms and Kim thought Lily might be frightened by that, but nope. She walked right up to the base of the stand on which they stood and stared up, first at one and then the other. She turned to the third. It had the body of a man with small wings and no head.

  ‘Daddy, why are some parts missing?’ she asked as she began to move around the stands. ‘Can we find them?’

  Kim had to smile. She’d been such a curious child, too. She’d walk around Central Park with her nanny looking for things to play with.

  Though, unlike Lily, Kim’s father was never there for her to ask why things were the way they were. Gloria would never set foot in the park either. She was far too sophisticated and important for something so mundane as walking among trees along with the great unwashed.

  What Kim was doing now with her husband and child, her family had never done together. So instead of worrying about work, she should really try to live in the moment and cherish this.

  Lily grabbed Gabriel’s hand and began to run around the ancient piazza, peeking behind the statues one by one. ‘Come find them, come find them.’

  ‘Why don’t we?’ Kim teased Gabriel.

  He looked at her, faintly shocked that she’d agreed to play hide ’n’ seek.

  The afternoon flew by and it was fun; more fun than Kim had had in months.

  She understood why Gabriel enjoyed being with Lily so much. Playing with her made Kim’s heart feel lighter. She stood back now and watched him chase Lily around the amphitheatre, up and down the steps and along row after row, puffing as he went. Her blonde pigtails bounced on top of her head as she squealed with glee and waved her doll around frantically as she tried to escape him.

  It was wonderful to see and Kim realised with a pang that she was missing out – had missed out on so much of Lily’s childhood so far.

  That needed to change.

  Her phone buzzed in her pocket. She’d switched off the ringer and hidden it in the bottom of her bag in the hope of trying to forget her worries and concentrating on her family for once.

  She knew there’d be emails from the office and possibly calls too, but they could wait.

  But this call wasn’t from the office. It was from Antonio.

  ‘I’ve been trying to call you all day. Where are you?’

  Her brow wrinkled at the urgency in his voice. ‘I’m inPompeii with Gabriel and Lily. Why?’

  ‘I know that’s important, but there’s something going on you need to know about. I’m sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but we’ve hit a major snag. More than a snag, actually. This could actually put the launch in jeopardy.’

  Oh God, what now?

  Kim’s heart began to race. Or was it that Antonio had caught wind of the plagiarism claim and the bad publicity it could generate? Still, it wasn’t like him to back down from anything without a fight.

  ‘What kind of trouble?’ she asked, holding her breath. ‘What kind of problem?’

  ‘The licences for Villa Dolce Vita. They’ve been revoked.’

  Kim’s eyes widened, not expecting this at all.

  ‘What do you mean they’ve been revoked? It took us over a year to get those permissions. Which licences?’

  ‘All of them, actually. Change of business amendments. Accommodation and health and safety permits. Everything.’

  Her knees buckled, but she did her best to stay on her feet. ‘Say that again?’

  ‘All of them, Kim. Everything. The authorities are giving some bullshit excuse but I don’t understand any of it. Those permissions were granted. Everything was signed off. How could they be revoked now? It doesn’t make sense, yes? So I made some calls but still I got the runaround.’

  It had taken months upon months, maybe even a year of bureaucratic red tape – never easy in Italy at the best of times – to get everything in order so that the villa could reopen and trade as a licenced hotel and wellness retreat.

  Kim had been losing sleep, even hair, over getting those across the line before they could even think about green-lighting the renovations. She and Antonio had attended meeting after meeting and sweet-talked official after official to try and get things signed off. And now he was saying they’d just been revoked, wiped clean?

  It was a disaster.

  ‘I don’t know what’s going on, Antonio. We did everything we were asked. Every form signed, fees paid, calls taken, and meetings had. We did it all. You were there, too, and I know we left no stone unturned.’ She shook her head in disbelief. ‘It sounds like someone’s out to sabotage us.’

  ‘Yes. Something definitely isn’t right.’

  ‘What do we do, Antonio? We need those permissions to launch, let alone trade. If they’re gone, everything we’ve been working towards has been wasted. Our entire investment … Hundreds of thousands, blown.’

  ‘I’ll go meet with some of my contacts in Sorrento and see if I can find out what’s going on,’ he reassured her.

  ‘And I’ll give Hank a call and let him know what’s happening. Maybe he can help somehow.’ Although her lawyer was already fighting another fire. What the hell was going on?

  ‘Very well. I’ll call as soon as I’ve confirmed a meeting with the authorities. Try not to worry, Kim, we’ll figure this out.’

  ‘But the launch is this week.’ She couldn’t see how something like this could possibly be sorted in time. ‘Let me know when you’ve arranged the meeting. I want to be there, too. I want to look in the eyes of the people who already approved everything and have them tell me why our permits are suddenly no good.’

  ‘Let’s hope it does not come to that. I will call you back – soon, I hope. Ciao.’

  Kim hung up as outright anger began to course through her veins. Why was all this happening? Who was doing it? And why? She clenched her phone in her hands as she tried to keep calm.

  ‘What’s wrong?’ Gabriel demanded when he saw the expression on her face. ‘And please don’t say “nothing” this time. I can see it in your face.’

  Kim shook her head, fighting back tears. ‘Can we just go?’ she snap
ped. The response was unintentional but her emotions were raw, and at that moment the last place she wanted to be was somewhere a population who’d had everything had come to a tragic end.

  The parallels were way too close.

  ‘OK, sure. Lily’s hungry and she’s probably tired, too.’

  ‘I’m sorry,’ she conceded then. ‘Trouble with the centre. Big trouble. I really have to go deal with it.’

  ‘What’s happened?’

  ‘All the licences have been revoked. I don’t get it,’ she said angrily. ‘I just don’t understand how this could happen.’

  ‘But I thought they were all signed and sealed? They took you forever to get.’

  ‘I know!’

  Lily’s head snapped in her direction and she looked fearfully at Kim. ‘Why is Mommy shouting?’

  ‘All right. Calm down, we’ll talk later,’ Gabriel urged, giving Kim a cautionary glance, and once again she felt bad.

  She shouldn’t be taking it out on either of them, but really this wasn’t the time or the place to discuss it.

  Gabriel drove and Kim was silent the entire ride back to Sorrento. Her mind was full of questions. Ones for which she had no answers and no clue at all how to get them.

  Back at the hotel, Gabriel went to get Lily something to eat and Kim returned to their room.

  The moment she entered she was on the phone, making calls to the office, Hank, and every government agency and contact she had in Italy.

  ‘I don’t like this, Hank,’ she said to her lawyer as she paced the room. ‘I don’t believe in coincidences, and all of this happening at the same time seems a little too convenient.’

  ‘You think someone’s trying to sabotage Villa Dolce Vita?’

  ‘Maybe.’

  ‘You may be right. I’ve had my guys looking into those plagiarism claims and while they seem absolutely convoluted, there’s certainly enough to bring negative attention and publicity if they decide to go public. Which you truly don’t want – not now.’

  Someone really was out to ruin this – ruin Kim, even.

  But who, and perhaps more importantly, why?

  Chapter 42

  Then

  Annie was going dancing.

  She had only one more week left in Italy and she was tired of sitting around moping over some guy’s rejection.

  Yes, she’d fallen for Edward Hargreaves and was a bit taken aback by how much, but she had to remember she was here on holiday. What did she expect, that he would whisk her back to England to live happy ever after?

  But that wasn’t what she wanted. Felicity’s intention was for Annie to live life on her own terms, not be dependent on some guy to decide her future.

  And she was going to do just that. She already had a rough plan of how she would go about setting up her own place. First up, she would do a refresher styling course; years of catering to middle-aged women and the blue rinse brigade’s washes and sets had put her out of the game trend-wise, and she needed to improve her offering.

  Then she would get some work experience at one of the chain salons, well and truly learning the ropes within a busy popular operation, before taking the plunge and opening her own place.

  Taking Kim’s advice, she’d also look into doing an additional course in how to set up a small business, getting all the official stuff right from the start and maybe even apply to the Irish Enterprise Board for a grant.

  In any case, Annie was determined to do this and do it properly from the start if she truly wanted to make a go of it.

  This Italian trip had been a brilliant excuse to let loose and have fun, a fantastic diversion from the humdrum, and she’d even managed to make some good friends on the way, ones who weren’t just about partying and getting trashed.

  She smiled. After her stinking hangover that first day, Kim had pretty much given up on wild nights out, and whatever mindfulness stuff she’d got going on since really suited her.

  She was so calm and always full of good advice – for Colette especially. Annie had got the sense right from the get-go that Kim was running from something other than just boredom, and she figured that whatever it might be, this trip had helped her, too.

  The three of them were runaways, really – and as Kim pointed out, it was fate that had led them to Villa Dolce Vita as their means of escape.

  Now, Annie looked at her reflection in the mirror with some satisfaction. There was no denying it, she looked hot.

  Her skin was now deeply tanned from so much time in the sun, and she’d lost pretty much all of her burgeoning spare tyre (either from walking up and down those bloody hills, or the lighter Mediterranean diet).

  She wore her hair loose, her natural dark curls tumbling sexily around her face. She’d stopped straightening it these days just to give it a break, though she did go heavy on the make-up tonight – full-on glam – and was wearing her best dancing dress. The same figure-hugging number she’d worn the very first night here – one that made the absolute most of her curves and gave her oodles of sensuality.

  Actually, with her sun-kissed skin, sexy dress, cascading curls, and smouldering crimson lips, she could easily blend in as one of the locals, she thought with a grin as she slipped into a pair of metallic strappy sandals.

  But unlike her first time at Music on the Rocks, now Annie had the good sense to pop a pair of flip-flops into her handbag for the long walk back up from town later.

  Or maybe she’d just treat herself to a taxi, depending on how the night went.

  However, the club was definitely in her plan tonight, and Annie was going to dance the night away, enjoy herself, and put her latest rejection out of her mind once and for all.

  She grabbed her handbag and tottered happily downstairs, smiling as she recalled that old maxim about how to get over one man by getting under another.

  Well, maybe she’d do that, too.

  Annie hurried outside into the courtyard, and was still smiling when she noticed someone standing under the lemon trees in the golden evening sunlight – a hunky vision even in silhouette – gazing out to the water.

  And when he turned in her direction, she saw his eyes widen automatically at the sight of her, his nostrils flare, and his hooded gaze unashamedly travel hungrily up and down her body.

  This is interesting …

  The air was electric and the pull completely irresistible as Annie moved across the courtyard.

  ‘Well, hello there, handsome.’

  It seemed fate was smiling on her once again.

  Chapter 43

  Then

  The warm Mediterranean wind blew gently as Colette waited for Luca’s arrival at their latest meeting spot.

  It was her last night in Italy – she was flying out of Naples tomorrow evening – and he had promised to show her how he felt and to make his intentions known before she went.

  In the meantime, he had left another of his romantic notes at the villa, setting out a place and time to meet this evening.

  Colette was feeling confident. She was pretty certain he was going to confirm that this meant much more to him than just a summer fling. She meant more.

  This evening she was dressed in a flowing red summer dress, and the skirt danced around her legs and caressed her calves. It was a halter-style that tied at the neck, and the sash tickled her back as she waited, like a soothing hand comforting her. She checked her watch to see that it was almost eight o’clock. Just in time.

  L’Incanto was a beautiful and suitably romantic meeting spot in the centre of Positano at Spiaggia Grande, situated right on the beach; though, being honest, Colette would have preferred to spend her last night with Luca at the place where they’d first met. Then she’d also have the opportunity to say a proper goodbye to Mama Elene. Now she walked expectantly inside the restaurant to where a hostess was waiting, and smiled at the young woman who greeted her.

  ‘Table for two for Gambini,’ Colette declared confidently. ‘Luca Gambini.’

  The woman checked her re
servations book. ‘I’m sorry. I don’t see any reservation for Gambini here. Are you sure you have the right name?’ she questioned.

  Colette was confused. The note had definitely said a reservation in his name in L’Incanto, hadn’t it?

  ‘Excuse me,’ she said, stepping back outside for a moment and pulling Luca’s note out of her bag.

  He’d left it at the villa the day before, when she was down at Fornillo beach with Kim. She read it again. Yes, this was definitely the right place and time, but it seemed there was no reservation. Could there perhaps be another L’Incanto elsewhere, she wondered?

  Unless he’d meant to just meet, not necessarily eat here, Colette mused then, feeling a bit stupid for assuming.

  And doubly stupid for dressing up. Clearly this was another of Luca’s surprises.

  She waited outside the restaurant for another twenty minutes, and when there was still no sign, Colette cursed herself afresh for not taking Annie’s advice and asking for Luca’s phone number.

  While his aversion to more modern methods of communication seemed quaint and romantic when things were going well, it was an unbelievable source of frustration at times like this when there was a problem.

  Colette waited and waited, but still nothing. He didn’t show. Deflated and more than a little annoyed now, she wandered down to the beach and, taking her shoes off, dipped her toes in the water.

  Luca had promised he’d show her his intentions before the trip was over.

  What if this is how he’s showing you?

  She tried to shake the unpleasant thought out of her brain. He wouldn’t be so cruel. He wouldn’t get her hopes up by asking her to come to some random place just to let her down. He wasn’t that kind of man.

  But did she know what kind of man he was, really?

  Disheartened and soon becoming more than a little concerned in case anything could have happened to him – an accident, even – Colette continued to wait.

  A half hour turned into an hour, and she was still waiting. The restaurant hostess even asked if there was anyone she could call, or if she wanted a glass of water, having noticed her loitering beachside in the late-evening sunshine.