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‘Celebration dinner?’
‘Nothing fancy, so no need to start fretting! Sarah is delighted to do the cooking, and I feel with everything that’s happened...with my health and all those nights of worrying... I would like to do something a little special to mark a new chapter.’
Sophie’s mind drifted. Before he’d had to dispatch his housekeeper, Leonard had been all for formal dinners, even if he was entertaining a party of only one friend. He’d enjoyed that. She was pleased that he was returning to his old form.
She was even more pleased to find, an hour later, that the house had taken shape with such efficiency that any disturbances to Leonard’s routine would be minimal.
They’d emerged into bleak cold, with the grey heavy skies wistfully reminding her of what they had left behind, where there had been wall-to-wall blue for a fortnight.
Sarah had been waiting for them, shivering in the open doorway, and the three of them had hurried inside, leaving Alessio’s driver to bring up the rear with their bags.
It was freezing outside, but the house was warm. The central heating had been updated.
And inside...
Sophie gasped.
Next to her, Leonard was in an equal state of shock.
This proved just how much could be accomplished when you threw money at something.
Gone was the dated wallpaper and the tired paint and the worn banisters and the flooring which had been lovely once upon a long time ago.
Alessio was running through what had been done, and how the workmen had sectioned off the enormous project so that the basics in the main living areas had been targeted for completion first. His father wouldn’t notice much more now, as the remainder of the work could be sealed off from various sections of the sprawling old house.
When Sophie slid a sideways glance at Leonard, she noted how impressed he was by what had been accomplished, and his son’s smooth delivery of what he’d promised.
How far they’d come from being those two strangers positioned at opposite ends of the dining table, more engaged in their computers and paperwork than in each other!
When all this was over... This charade for Leonard’s benefit...
Suddenly Sophie felt the sting of knowing that she would be superfluous.
Father and son would have one another.
The thought of the loneliness of the life she had put on hold hit her with the force of a sledgehammer and she spun away, pretending to inspect a polished new banister, but she could feel the prickle of tears behind her eyes.
‘What’s wrong?’
Alessio’s voice was gentle behind her, and Sophie breathed in deeply before slowly turning to look at him.
Leonard was vanishing with Sarah, excited to see the remainder of the house, booming that he hoped his colour choices had been respected.
‘Well?’
Sophie looked up at Alessio. She lost herself for a few seconds in the deep, dark depths of his gaze. This man had stolen her heart, and she knew that she would have to force herself to contemplate a life without him in it.
How would working for Leonard be tenable if she was on constant edgy alert for Alessio showing up? How would she be able to play the part of wise ex-girlfriend still on good terms with the guy who hadn’t worked out for her?
‘Well, I shall be relieved when this is over and done with,’ she said at last.
‘What? The renovations? You’ll barely notice the presence of the builders. They’ve wrapped up most of the areas you and Leonard occupy.’
‘I mean,’ Sophie said briskly, with a glassy polite smile, ‘I’ll be pleased when this charade we’re spinning for Leonard is over. Seeing him here...so happy to be back in his own territory... Well, it puts into perspective the stupid lie we’ve both told. And now... Now I wish it was all over and done with.’ She gave a heartfelt sigh. ‘Then I can get on with my life.’
‘Meaning...?’
Sophie shrugged. ‘Well, I don’t think that my position here will still be tenable once we’ve “broken up”, do you?’
