Dreaming of Tuscany

by T A Williams

  He was tactful enough to look surprised. ‘You’re looking good, Bee.’

  Beside her Mimi agreed. ‘Isn’t she?’ She glanced at Bee. ‘The scars are disappearing by the day.’

  ‘Mimi’s right, Bee. And your hair’s growing really fast. If you end up in Hollywood, you’ll take the place by storm.’ Ignoring her blushes, he continued. ‘Any word about the job yet?’

  She shook her head. ‘It’s only a matter of days now before we leave. It would be nice to know where I’m going.’

  Chapter 19

  That afternoon, as distant clouds began to bubble up all around and the humidity reached unbearable levels, Bee decided to go for a swim. Mimi was locked away in her room doing yoga and skyping, quite possibly with Joey, so Bee went by herself. As she left the house, she made a spur of the moment decision to go via the little church. She had enjoyed the sense of peace she had felt in there last time and she knew she wanted to go back before their time in the valley ended.

  She bumped into Romeo down at the river. He was lying in one of the last remaining pools in the dried-up river bed, with just his nose above the water, looking more like a seal than a dog. He was only too pleased to join her as she climbed the hill. In spite of the approaching clouds, the sun still beat down unmercifully and by the time they got up to the little church, she could feel sweat running down her back. She pushed the door open and followed Romeo inside.

  The sun was shining in through the stained-glass window at the far end of the church at such an angle that it spread a multi-coloured stain across the altar and onto the floor. She sat down in the front row, her feet coloured blue and purple by the sunlight, and the dog thudded down at her feet, stretching out luxuriously on the cool floor tiles, grunting happily to himself. She wasn’t a religious person, but it felt very peaceful in here and a sense of serenity gradually enveloped her. She closed her eyes and let her mind whirl.

  Returning to London and her old job would be so very different. And if, by any chance, she were to get the TV job, it would be even more of a change. A move across to the other side of the world would be a massive undertaking.

  She stretched out a foot and rubbed the dog’s tummy, eliciting a sigh of satisfaction from him. She glanced down and, once again, she distinctly got the feeling he winked at her.

  ‘I’m going to miss you, dog.’

  And not just him. Of course, there was Luke. She knew she had fallen for this kind, handsome and troubled man, but they were irrevocably divided by her career and his attachment to Montegrifone. The strength of her jealousy this morning when she had wrongly imagined he had hooked up with Daniela was the proof of just how deeply he had got under her skin. Leaving him, even though nothing had happened between them, would be tougher by far than her separation from Jamie.

  She was still turning this all over in her head when she heard the sound of a powerful engine approaching. This roused her and the dog and they went out to see who it was. As she closed the church door behind her, she looked round and saw Luke driving a massive silver tractor and trailer, accompanied by the usual cloud of dust. Romeo, recognising his master, went running out to greet him, tail-wagging. Bee followed suit, although she kept any tail-wagging to a minimum. Luke switched off the engine and opened the side door of the cab, jumping easily to the ground. As he scratched the dog’s ears, he looked across at Bee.

  ‘I spotted you and Romeo a few minutes ago when you were climbing the hillside and I remembered I’d promised you a ride in my Lamborghini.’ He gave her a broad grin and she found herself smiling back at him. ‘Mine’s maybe not quite as fast as Joey’s, but it’s a lot more practical.’

  She went across to him and kissed him on the cheeks. It was really good to see him.

  ‘Ciao, Luke. Thank you for the thought.’

  ‘A promise is a promise. Where are you off to now?’

  ‘I was just thinking about taking Romeo for a swim in the pool. It’s really hot today and I might well join him. I don’t know how you can bear being inside that glass bubble on top of the tractor.’

  He grinned again. ‘Aircon. Here, I’ll give you a lift down the hill and you can see for yourself.’

  He turned towards the tractor and gave a whistle. The dog immediately leapt to his feet and followed him to the trailer. Luke undid the back of it and Romeo jumped up, standing there, tongue out, wagging his tail excitedly. Luke returned to the tractor and beckoned to Bee.

  ‘Here, I’ll help you up.’ He held out his hand towards her.

  Bee came over, took his hand willingly and let him guide her up and into the cab. To her surprise, it was remarkably cool inside. He showed her how to perch on a sort of shelf alongside him while he climbed up after her and slid into the driver’s seat, pulling the door closed behind him.

  ‘You going to be comfortable enough up there?’

  ‘I can always hang onto you if it gets bumpy.’ Secretly, she found herself rather hoping it would get bumpy.

  He started the engine and she immediately noticed two things. First, it was far less noisy in there than she had expected and second, the air conditioning really did work well. She felt a cool breeze sweep over her, bringing welcome relief from the heat. With a practised action, he swung the huge vehicle and its trailer round in a wide circle and set off back down the track again. The cab swayed a bit, but Bee hung on to the edge of the seat, rather than his broad shoulders, although she was sorely tempted. She had resisted temptation so far. It would be a pity to spoil her record in the last few days.

  In a matter of minutes, they were back down onto the road and shortly after that he turned off onto another dusty track that Bee recognised as leading to the pool. She glanced back over her shoulder and saw the happy Labrador, firmly planted on his four feet, nose sniffing the air and his tail wagging, no doubt fully aware where they were headed. Finally, as they reached the edge of the trees, Luke slowed and stopped, reaching forward to switch off the engine. In the sudden silence he turned towards her.

  ‘This is as far as I can take the tractor, but you know where you are, don’t you?’ Bee nodded. ‘I’d love to come and join you in the pool, but they’re waiting for me back at the farm.’

  Bee felt a little stab of disappointment. Seeing him without his shirt on for one last time would have been good, but maybe it was for the best. There was a limit to just how much willpower a girl could muster, after all.

  ‘Well, thank you for the ride. I’m very impressed with your Lamborghini. That’s something I can tick off my bucket list.’

  She followed him out of the cab and jumped the last few feet to the ground. He caught her in his arms and steadied her. Her self-control faced another challenge as she bounced up against his chest. Seemingly unaware of her internal turmoil, he stepped back, released his hold and went over to the trailer to let the dog jump out. She found herself laughing as Romeo did exactly what she had done and launched himself bodily into his master’s arms. Luke caught him easily and lowered him to the ground before returning to the tractor. As he swung himself back up into the cab, he gave her a lazy wave of the hand.

  ‘Enjoy your swim, Bee.’

  ‘Thanks, Luke.’

  Yes, she really was going to miss him.

  * * *

  When she got back to the villa, she was in for two surprises. The first came from Mimi, who was sitting out in the garden, engrossed in her reading. As the dog ran over to nuzzle her, she looked up and saw Bee.

  ‘Have you read this, Bee?’

  There was no doubt about it. What Mimi was holding in her hands was Jamie’s screenplay, A Big Mistake.

  ‘I don’t think so. I don’t recognise the title. He said it was a new one, so probably not. Why do you ask? Is it okay?’

  Mimi’s face split into a grin. ‘It’s more than okay. I love it. I really do. But I think you should read it.’

  ‘Jamie’ll be really pleased to hear that. Pass it on to me when you finish it. I’ll take a look at it.’ It occurred to her that
Jamie was going to freak out when he heard that Mimi Robertson, no less, liked his work.

  ‘I’ve already read it once. I’m almost through reading it a second time.’ Mimi was still grinning. ‘I’ll give it to you this evening. Somehow, I think you’ll find it interesting. Very interesting indeed.’

  The second surprise was the arrival of the email from Call-me-Leonard at HOWTV. Bee clicked on it and read it eagerly. Two things immediately became clear. They were offering her the job of Associate Commissioning Editor and this was at a salary that was even more than Gayle had said. Bee was flabbergasted and found herself doing a mad little dance around her room, squeaking to herself in delight. Finally, she settled back down again and read it through to the end. The last paragraph was of considerable interest.

  After a lot of deliberation – thanks, again, for your patience, Beatrice – we have decided to establish a European hub. If you accept this offer, in the first instance we would like you to come here to our head office in LA as soon as possible for four weeks so as to familiarize yourself fully with our aims and ethos, after which we would anticipate your being based back in Europe. We are currently in negotiations about a number of possible locations. The shortlist currently includes Zurich, Brussels and London, although this list is not exhaustive. A decision will be taken very soon and we will, of course, inform you as soon as it is decided.

  Bee picked up her laptop and dashed back down the stairs. As she reached the kitchen, she found Ines and Umberto by the sink. She rushed over to the bemused pair and hugged them warmly, kissing them on the cheeks. She carried on towards the back door, stopping briefly on the doorstep to call back over her shoulder.

  ‘Umberto, if you can find a bottle of fizz, now would be the perfect moment to open it.’

  She ran down the steps and out to where Mimi and Romeo were curled up side by side on the rattan sofa. She opened the laptop and brandished it under Mimi’s nose.

  ‘It’s arrived, Mimi! They’ve offered me the job.’

  Mimi took the laptop from her and read it through carefully before looking up, a beaming smile on her face.

  ‘That’s fabulous, Bee. Really well done. I bet you’re pleased.’

  ‘Over the moon.’

  At that moment Umberto came out with an ice bucket and a bottle of champagne. He had only brought two glasses, but Bee hurried back into the kitchen and brought out two more, along with a bewildered Ines. As she poured the champagne for the four of them, Bee outlined what she had just been told and she saw genuine pleasure on the faces of the old couple. Even Romeo came over and stood up on his hind legs to add his congratulations. Behind him, Mimi had a practical suggestion.

  ‘When you go back to them, get them to email you the contract. If you like, I can get my legal team to give it the once over.’

  Bee was still grinning stupidly. ‘That would be great. Thanks so much, Mimi. Are you going to be in LA next month? Hopefully we can meet up.’

  ‘I can do better than that, Bee. You can come and stay with me.’

  Bee’s eyes opened wide. ‘I couldn’t possibly.’

  Mimi patted her on the arm. ‘Bee, I live in a house with twelve bedrooms. At the moment, there’s only me, Mary Jane the housekeeper, Howard my butler, driver and security guard, and a guy who comes in to skim the pool and cut the grass. I’ve enjoyed your company here. I’ll enjoy it there. That’s if you want to.’

  ‘Of course I want to. That’s amazing. Thank you so very, very much.’ Bee could hardly get her head around the realisation that this wasn’t just any old friend offering her a bed for a few nights, but an invitation to sample the kind of lifestyle ninety-nine point nine per cent of the world’s population could only imagine and envy. It still felt incredible that she and Mimi had become such good friends.

  That evening, after a bit too much champagne and rosé, Bee found herself back in her room lying in bed with Jamie’s manuscript. She took a bottle of mineral water out of the fridge and settled down to read his screenplay.

  It was well past midnight by the time she finished it and there had been an expression of disbelief on her face since the second page. It was remarkably well written, but that wasn’t it. It was the story of a thirty-something man, Johnnie, whose obsession with his career had made him neglect and finally split up with his stunningly beautiful – Bee rather liked the sound of that – girlfriend. Her name was Dee and she was a famous fashion model. It was only after the break-up that he came to realise just what he had done and what he was missing, so he set about trying to get her back and followed her to a host of exotic locations, including a vineyard in Italy.

  The story concluded with an emotionally charged scene on a beach on a Greek island that almost had Bee in tears. By this time Johnnie had become quite desperate and when he saw Dee with a handsome male model named Gérard, he feared the worst. He climbed to the top of a cliff, high above the Aegean, maybe even ready to fling himself over the edge. Luckily for him, however, this was a romantic comedy and the Dee character climbed up after him and resolved everything with a passionate kiss and a happy ending.

  Bee finally set the manuscript down and lay back against the pillow, totally astounded. In all the years she had known Jamie, she had genuinely never believed he had a single romantic bone in his body. And this film, if it ever got made, would be absolutely dripping with romance. Apart from anything else, this confirmed without a doubt that Jamie’s visit to Montegrifone had not just been to bring over his screenplay for Mimi. He really had been trying to get Bee back.

  What, she wondered to herself as her eyes grew heavy and she drifted off to sleep, was she supposed to do about him now?

  Chapter 20

  At the end of their stay, to thank everybody at Montegrifone before leaving and to celebrate their return to health, Mimi and Bee decided to throw a party for all the people they had met here and to thank them for keeping their presence a secret all this time. Mimi prepared the invitations while Bee went to the farm shop and bought all the food and drink they would need. They made all the preparations themselves, barring Ines and Umberto from their kitchen on the day and insisting that they come along with everybody else as honoured guests. The elderly couple protested, but Bee and Mimi were adamant. They wanted to do this themselves, to say a big thank you all round.

  Bee went down to Riccardo’s house in person a few days earlier to deliver his invitation. She had heard nothing more from either Luke or him about a possible meeting between father and son and decided to leave well alone. This was a long-running tragedy, and, in fairness, it would have been expecting a lot of an outsider to come in and fix it just like that. Still, she and Mimi had discussed it and both of them felt that Riccardo should be invited to the party. Whether he chose to attend or not was up to him.

  When she got to the Podere Nuovo, the front door was closed so she went round to the back. The kitchen door was open and there was a strong smell of wine in the air. She found Riccardo in there with a massive glass container almost the size of a dustbin on the table, with rows of bottles around it. The container itself was a huge ball of green glass set in a straw cover, for all the world like a huge version of an old-fashioned Chianti wine bottle. She stopped at the doorway and called inside.

  ‘Riccardo, it’s me, Bee. Can I come in? Can I help?’

  ‘Come in my dear and yes, you most certainly can.’ Riccardo gave her a smile and beckoned her in. ‘The boys have just delivered a fresh damigiana and I’m bottling it up.’

  ‘It’s absolutely massive, Riccardo. How much does it hold?’

  ‘The label on the neck says fifty-three litres.’

  ‘Wow. How long’s that going to last you?’

  ‘The way I used to drink twenty years ago, probably no more than a month. Nowadays, more like half a year.’

  Bee did a rapid bit of mental arithmetic and worked out that Riccardo must have gone through a seriously alcoholic phase at the height of his depression. Thankfully his consumption had returned to a
much more acceptable level nowadays.

  ‘So, how can I help?’

  ‘I’m running out of room on the table. I wonder if you’d feel like stacking the bottles I’ve already filled down there in the larder, please.’

  She glanced across the room and saw that he had cleared the bottom shelves of the narrow cupboard in the corner. She went across to the table and picked up one of the full two-litre bottles, capped with its metal cage apparatus, and took it over to the larder. It was remarkably heavy and cumbersome. She started on the bottom shelf, which was made of a single piece of lovely old wood. It looked as though it had been there for centuries and, from the thickness of it, it was clear it would be well able to take the weight of a dozen or more of these hefty bottles. She started stacking it with bottles as Riccardo carried on siphoning the red wine from the massive flask through a clear plastic pipe.

  It was a very simple process. As each bottle on the table was filled, he would block the end of the tube with his thumb to stop the air getting in while he transferred it to the next bottle. He had been doing this for some time now and his thumb and most of his right hand were unexpectedly stained blue, rather than dark red. Working together, Bee and he were able to drain the damigiana into about twenty-five of the big bottles. By this time the bottom shelf and the one above it were jam-packed and Bee’s back ached from all the bending. When the big flask was finally empty, they were left with a quarter of a bottle. Riccardo allowed the wine left in the tube to drain back into that bottle and then hobbled over to the dresser and picked up two glasses. He filled them both and pushed one across to Bee.

  ‘Bee, thank you yet again for your help. With my bad hip, I was dreading all the bending and getting up again. Here, sit down and let me drink to your health.’

  Bee sat down willingly on an old wooden chair and he took a seat across the table from her. Raising his glass, he reached forward and clinked it against hers.

  ‘Cheers, Bee and thanks again.’