Chapter Twenty-Seven
When Libby woke up on New Year’s Day, she felt slightly hung over from all the champagne that she and Angus had consumed the night before. It had been her favourite New Year’s Eve yet, just the three of them: low-key but perfect. She padded into the sitting room, saying ‘Morning’ as Angus lifted his head from the pillow – he had decided to sleep on the sofa after one too many drinks.
She looked at her phone and noticed several notifications from her FaceTime app. ‘Three missed calls from Luca,’ she said.
‘What can he want?’ Angus grunted sleepily.
‘I’ll call him back,’ Libby said as she pulled on her dressing gown and went back into her bedroom, shutting the door to leave Angus undisturbed. ‘Ciao, Luca,’ she said as he came into view. She recognised his backdrop instantly. He was on the balcony of his and Nicola’s flat in Positano. She felt an instant pang of longing for Italy at the sight.
‘Hi Libby, how are you? Happy New Year. And Happy New Year to my little Izzy – is she awake?’
‘She is, I’m just about to give her some breakfast. I’ll take you through in a sec. Is everything OK?’
‘Yes, yes it’s OK. I just wanted to talk to you…’ He was looking tired; there were shadows under his eyes.
‘What’s up?’ she asked.
‘I’ve ended things with Jules. I realise you don’t want to hear anything about our relationship, but I know you were worried about Jules seeing Izzy, so I thought I would tell you that it is no longer going to be an issue.’
‘Right. Thanks for letting me know,’ Libby said. Inside her heart was racing at the news, but she was determined not to let Luca see that it had had the slightest impact on her whatsoever.
‘As you know I’ve been in Positano for Christmas and New Year. I’ve decided to stay here. I can’t be away any longer. I just miss my life here so much. I miss my family, my home…’ Libby wasn’t surprised at this; she had been expecting it for quite some time now. ‘I told her last night that I wasn’t coming back, and when she offered to come and join me I said no. Things just weren’t really working.’
‘What about Izzy?’ she asked, less interested in hearing about their break-up and more concerned about how his change of circumstances would affect their daughter.
‘That’s the one thing I can’t bear the thought of: being in a different country from my own child. But I need to be true to myself. I will come and see her often, if that is OK with you… and I’d like to bring her to Italy sometimes too, if you agree?’
Libby’s heart wrenched at the thought of being in a separate country from her daughter, even for a short period of time, but she forced herself to think of it from Luca’s perspective. She realised it was only fair if she let him have her with him every now and again. It was important that she knew Italy as well as she knew England; she was half Italian, after all. ‘I’m sure we can work something out,’ Libby said bravely.
‘Thank you. I know this is less than ideal for us in terms of co-parenting, but I suppose it was never going to be easy having parents from different countries.’
‘Unless those parents were still together,’ Libby said.
‘I know. I’m sorry Libby… I wish it could have worked out.’
She was suddenly annoyed with herself for having said that. She didn’t want him to get the impression that she was sitting here pining for him, when in fact the total opposite was true. Instead she changed the subject, moving on to talk about her and Angus’s plan to set up a bed and breakfast together. Luca seemed surprised but he was supportive. If anyone knew how much she had loved being at La Casetta, and just how much she had struggled with law, it was Luca. A few minutes later she took the phone next door so that Luca could see his daughter. She held the phone while he chatted away to her in Italian.
After ending the call she went through to the sitting room and dropped the bombshell. ‘Guess what! Luca has dumped Jules,’ she said. ‘Can you believe it?’
‘No way! When?’ Angus was clearly shocked.
‘Yesterday. He’s decided to move back to Positano for good. Apparently when he told Jules she offered to fly over and be with him there, but he said no. He had grown tired of the relationship, surprise surprise, and so that’s that! Luca goes back to his old ways and Jules is left alone…’
‘Well that certainly is a turn-up for the books.’
‘I know. I wonder if Jules will get in touch with you now that she is on her own again. She had better not try and get hold of me. I hope she got the message the last time she showed up out of the blue.’
‘I need to talk to her anyway,’ Angus said. ‘I need to tell her that I want a divorce.’ They had discussed this last night, and Libby agreed that it was the right thing to do, to give him the clean slate he so clearly needed and deserved. Libby didn’t know quite how she would feel about the two of them seeing each other. She realised it wouldn’t be easy, though she wasn’t sure why it bothered her so much.
Sure enough, later on that week Jules telephoned Angus telling him that she needed to talk. He agreed to meet up with her, just the two of them, the following month. He wasn’t going to drop everything and see her immediately. She could wait until he was ready.
When the day came that Angus and Jules were scheduled to meet, Libby woke at the crack of dawn with a knot of dread in the bottom of her stomach. She was worried that seeing Jules might have a strange effect on him; that he might suddenly change his mind about their business plans. She had no doubt that now she was single and alone, Jules would try her very best to wheedle her way back into Angus’s life. What if he suddenly realised that he still loved her, that he wasn’t over her? What if it really was Jules he was meant to be with all along? What would she do then? The thought of him getting back together with Jules was so unbearable she felt her eyes fill with tears. She knew she could never forgive her, so where would that leave her in terms of her friendship with Angus?
She phoned him that morning.
‘What time are you meeting?’
‘At one thirty,’ Angus said. ‘What have you got planned for today?’ Having left Digby and Edwards the previous week, she was still getting used to her unemployed status. It felt strange being able to choose what to do with her days once again.
