Max:Not yet. She can barely speak to me about normal things—not sure I can speak to her about that.
Vincenzo:I think if you two are going to have any kind of relationship, even if it’s just a working one, you have to clear the air.
Max:You’re right.
Vincenzo:And you should tell her your side of the story. The full story.
Vincenzo:Maybe she will understand what happened better then?
I put the phone down on my lap. Maybe itwastime that Ash and I spoke about what had happened all those years ago—we never had. Maybe I needed to finally tell her the full story of what had happened, from my perspective anyway. Maybe then she wouldn’t hate me so much for running away. Maybe . . .
I sipped my coffee and stared out the window. The sun had come up, the early morning rays illuminating the boulders beautifully. I would definitely sign this place on. I could see a lot of potential production companies wanting to shoot something here. Not to mention some of my other international clients wanting to holiday here too. Not only did I run a film-location agency, either showcasing some of my own properties that I had bought over the years, or listing other people’s properties, like this, but I also organized travel for a very niche clientele. Most of them were celebrity clients in the entertainment industry or wealthy studio executives that I’d gotten to know through my location work. It wasn’t advertised on my website, but I acted as a travel agent for them, finding them the best locations for memorable holidays, booking and handling everything. At the moment, I had a famous pop star wanting to escape some recent scandal that he’d gotten himself into, and this seemed like the perfect escape for him, definitely no paparazzi here. I dropped him a quick email and attached some of the casual photos I’d taken of the place. I finished my coffee and walked onto the balcony, and the first sight that greeted me,was her.
She was working in the distance. She worked with a hyperfocus that was almost intimidating to observe. Not that I knew much about cinematography, but I knew enough to appreciate how precise and thorough she was being. She was a pro. When I’d last seen her, she’d been going off to study accounting at university. She’d been good at math, but I’d always thought she would hate being an accountant. In fact, I’d even tried to talk her out of it once, so I was really happy to see her working in a field like this now. I’d been dying to ask her the story of how she’d gone from accountancy to this, but we weren’t exactly on conversational terms yet.
Watching her, so absorbed and passionate about something, so caught up in her own world, gave me that flipping sensation in my chest again. I rubbed it as the flipping became a tightening. God, seeing her and being near her was actually giving me physical discomfort. It was making my heart stop one moment, and then beat fast the next. She was doing so many things to my heart that I felt as if I was on a roller coaster, but I wasn’t prepared for what she did to my heart next, because suddenly she screamed in agony.
Without thinking, I raced down the stairs and rushed to her side. When I reached her, she was sitting on a boulder, one leg up on her opposite knee, wincing.
“What happened?” I asked.
She grimaced and pointed down at her foot where a long acacia thorn protruded from the sole of her shoe.
“Those things can be nasty,” I said, bending down for a better look.
“It’s all the way through my shoe.” She continued to wince in pain.
“Let’s get you inside so we can take a look at that and get it out.”
She stood up on one leg and then started trying to hop.
“You’re not seriously considering hopping all the way to the villa, over those rocks, and that uneven surface.”
“If not hopping, how do you propose I get back to the villa?”
I turned my back to her and patted it, realizing for the first time, that I wasn’t wearing a shirt. “Climb on.”
“On your shirtless back? And why are you shirtless?”
“Sorry, I just woke up. I always sleep shirtless.” I almost added, “don’t you remember?” but didn’t.
“No, thank you. I can hop.” She started hopping. “If you’ll remember I did gymnastics at school and my balance is excell—Oh myGOD!” She started falling forwards and I grabbed her by the back of the shirt and yanked her towards me.
“You were saying something about your balance? I didn’t quite get it.” I smiled at her, which, judging by the scowl she flashed me, had not been the best thing to do.
“I just need a stick, like a walking stick, and I’ll be fine.” She held on to one of the rocks and started looking around. I scanned the ground too, but couldn’t see one. “I’ll just use the rocks then.” She started trying to hop from one rock to the other, grabbing hold of them as she went, but stopped when the gap to the next rock was far too wide.
“Please can I help you?” I felt desperate watching her struggle like this.
“I’m fine,” she insisted.
“At least pass me your bag and camera.” I held my hand out and she looked at it as if this was a massive decision to be made.
“Okay.” She sounded so reluctant, as if I were forcing her to do something against her will. It did not feel good. She started hopping again, but with nothing to support her she only managed a few meters before she had to stop again, balancing precariously on one leg.
“Ash, we should really get that thing out of your foot—it could get seriously infected—and at this rate it’s going to take ages to get to the villa,” I said as blood started oozing out of the bottom of her sole, dripping onto the earth below.
“Birds stick dead animals on acacia thorns too,” she said suddenly, and then turned and looked at me, a bolt of panic in her eyes, as if imagining the kinds of life-threatening infections she could get from the thorn. “Fine. But I’m not climbing on your shirtless back!”
