Page 26 of Under A Sicilian Sky
She tilted her head and eyed him. ‘While you’re feeling apologetic, you can say sorry for taking the piss out of me too for writing the note,’ she insisted defiantly, willing to brook no dissent.
He scrunched his forehead. ‘I wasn’t intentionally taking the piss. Honestly. I actually thought, at first anyway, that you weretryingto be funny.’
She huffed. ‘By apologising in what I thought wasyourlanguage? A language I don’t even speak? I thought I was being nice and all you could do was laugh. I baked those cookies to show I was sorry for shouting at you when you caught me crying.’
‘Aye, I got that. ButEnglishis my first language. I figured you must have been told that.’ He shrugged.
That familiar heat, a tell-tale sign, rose in her cheeks. ‘Well… I wasn’t, obviously. I mean, you even look Italian with your dark hair and olive skin. How was I to know? And maybe you could have made it clear that you were actually Scottish instead of letting me make a fool of myself.’
‘Aye, but you did it so well. The cookies were really good, by the way.’ He smiled and her stomach betrayed her by flipping.
‘Thank you.’ She wasn’t about to start giving in to that sexy smile.
He pursed his lips, evidently trying to hide his mirth again. ‘But the note… man… that had me in stitches.’
Anger bubbled up inside her. ‘How is me being sad, lonely and a sobbing wreck amusing to you?’
He stood from the table and grabbed the note from the countertop. ‘Allow me to translate, eh?’
‘You don’t need to do that. I know what it says.’
He pulled his lips between his teeth for a second and shook his head. ‘Oh, but I don’t think you do. I think you know what youwantedit to say…different thing entirely.’
She felt the colour drain from her face.Shit, what did Kitty send me?
He proceeded to read aloud the note she had written with such care and consideration. ‘Dear builder, I’m sorry for shouting—’
She placed down her glass and folded her arms across her chest. ‘What’s wrong with that? That’s exactly what I meant to say.’
He held up a hand and continued, ‘It was the whore’s moans or dolphin hens making me sad.’
Colour returned to her face, with a vengeance, and she feared spontaneous human combustion. ‘What? That’s not what I… that’s… my friend…’
He smiled again. ‘Whore’s moans? Dolphin hens? I mean… what the hell were youtryingto say?’
Ruby covered her face with her hands. ‘Oh bollocks. I’ll throttle her.’
‘So, you see, I wasn’t intentionally taking the piss. But I am sorry if I offended you.’ His voice had softened and he crouched to meet her gaze.
She sighed. ‘Hormones and endorphins. It was supposed to be hormones and endorphins.’
He grinned. ‘Ah. Well, it was a good try.’ He was clearly trying not to laugh again but failing miserably. ‘I mean… you were close.’ At that point, he burst out laughing and she stormed out of the room. ‘Oh, come on! Have a sense of humour!’ he shouted after her, but she ignored him, so he added, ‘I thought you were really sweet to write it!’
She could hear him chuckling as she ran up the stairs to hide.
Once back in the safety of her room, she grabbed her phone and dialled Kitty’s number. As soon as it connected, she blurted, ‘Did you do that on purpose, Kitty? I’ve never been so bloody embarrassed in all my life! It wasn’t funny. Well, not to me, anyway. Mr bloody Italy thought it was hilarious of course. I can’t face him again after that.’
There was a pause before Kitty replied. ‘Whoa, whoa, hold your horses, missy. What are you on about?’
‘The note! The translation I asked for. It made no bloody sense.’
Kitty laughed. ‘Yeah, I know. How did you come up with it? And what the hell were you talking about? Are you near a brothel or something? A brothel on a farm by the sea? You had me and Gerry in hysterics.’
Her cheeks burned. ‘It wasn’t meant to be funny! When I called, I asked you to send me the translation as an apology because I had shouted at the builder.’
Kitty frowned. ‘Well, why were you talking about whores? And what did dolphins and hens have to do with anything?’
‘I wasn’t talking about whores, Kitty! I asked you to translate that I was sorry but that my hormones and endorphins were all over the place. Good grief, didn’t you hear any of what I asked for?’
