AllFreeNovel
Share Us
‘The sheets smell of summer.’
Antonietta nodded as she tucked it in. ‘They smell of the Silibri sun. All the linen here is line-dried.’
‘What about when it rains?’
‘The stocks are plentiful—you have to make hay when the sun shines,’ Antonietta said. ‘Nico, the owner—’
‘I know Nico.’
Rafe’s interruption said a lot. Nico was prominent, and Rafe had not said I knowofNico, or I haveheardof him. And then he elaborated more. ‘It was he who suggested that I come to Silibri to recover.’
That admission made her a little more open to revealing something of herself. ‘Aurora, his wife, is my best friend.’
‘You are chalk and cheese.’
‘Yes...’ Antonietta smiled. ‘I am drab in comparison.’
‘Drab?’
‘Sorry,’ she said, assuming he didn’t know that word. ‘I meant...’
‘I know what you meant—and, no, you are not.’
Rafe met a lot of people, and had an innate skill that enabled him to sum them up quickly and succinctly.
Yesterday’s maid: slovenly.
The concierge, Pino, who had this morning suggested a running route: wise.
His assessments were rapid, and seldom wrong, and as he looked over to the maid he recalled asking her name that first morning. That morning he had not been able to sumherup in one word.
Admittedly, he had been concussed, and not at his best, but today he was much better. So he looked at those sad eyes, and, no, he still could not isolate that word.
Their conversation paused, and yet it did not end, for instead of heading out of the balcony and down the private steps to the grounds below he watched as, having made the bed, she headed to an occasional table, where she picked up her notepad and ticked off her list.
‘So you are training as a therapist?’
‘Yes,’ she nodded. ‘Although I’m not allowed to be let loose unsupervised on the guests yet. Well, I can give manicures, but that is all.’
‘Iloathemanicures.’
There were two types of men who had manicures, Antonietta had learnt. Those who chose to and those who had been born to. He had been born to, she was quite, quite sure.
She resisted the urge to walk over and examine his hands, but instead looked down at them... Yes, they were exquisite, long-fingered, with very neat, beautifully manicured nails.
‘I find sitting there boring.’
‘Then why bother?’ Antonietta asked, and then pulled back the conversation. ‘I’m sorry—that was personal.’
‘Not at all,’ Rafe said. ‘I ask myself the same thing.’
‘You could always listen to a podcast while your nails are being done,’ Antonietta suggested.
‘Ah, but then I wouldn’t get to speak with you.’
It was a silly little joke but she smiled.
The girl with the saddest eyes smiled, and when she did she looked glorious, Rafe thought. Her black eyes sparkled and her full red lips revealed very white teeth. She had a beautiful mouth, Rafe thought, and watched it as she responded to his light jest.
