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They were sitting ducks, Nico thought as he went back into the Messina house.
‘Bruno, can I borrow your car and go and get Aurora? The fire is moving fast…’
But Aurora’s work-shy brother had just taken it, Bruno said. ‘And anyway, Aurora will not thank you if you interfere with her plans for tonight. I’ve told you she is in the safest place. They’re not going to let the chief firefighter’s house burn.’
Dio!Nico wanted to shout.Do you really think the fire will give them a choice?
‘If it gets much closer,’ Bruno continued, ‘Aurora knows to come home and we will head to the beach.’
He wanted to shake Bruno and ask,Is it not better that we all die together?But then, he did not want to worry her mother.
‘Grab a cushion from Aurora’s room,’ Bruno said, ‘You know where it is.’
Oh, he knew.
The scent of Aurora lingered in the air. He looked down and saw her gold cross on the floorboards. He picked it up and held it in his palm for a moment.
He caught sight of the book on her chest of drawers and he was intrigued, because he knew that poetry was not her thing. Even before he opened it Nico almost knew what he would see.
The little packet of pills, half of them gone, had been left for him to see, Nico was sure.
He replaced the book in her top drawer.
Message received, Aurora. Loud and clear.
And tonight it was killing him.
The sofa was soft.
Nico was not.
He heard the taxi drop some people off in the street, followed by some chatter—but not Aurora’s throaty voice.
The taxi service stopped at midnight.
It was ten past midnight now.
He thumped the cushion and put it over his head to block out the sound of Bruno’s snores.
Signora Messina must have had enough, because she shouted for her husband to be quiet and for a short while silence reigned. Except for the drone of the firebombers, filling up in the ocean and then heading back to the hills.
Then, deep in the night, he heard the baker’s truck rattle past and stop. He knew that truck was the last chance to get home, for he had taken it many times—except in his case Nico would often leave Silibri in it, heading to the next village.
Anything to get away.
He ached from his calves to his groin to hear Aurora’s footsteps. From the small of his back to his chest, need gripped him tightly and fear for her choked him.
And then the door opened quietly, and Nico breathed a sigh of relief when he heard the pad of bare feet and guessed that she was carrying her shoes.
Aurora tiptoed past him.
She couldn’t really see him on the sofa—it was more she could feel that he was there.
She was so sick of Nico and his effect on her that it was all she could do not to spit in his direction.
Instead, she crept into the bathroom and stared at her streaked mascara and wild hair for a moment before she brushed her teeth.
She couldn’t even kiss anyone else.
