Page 37 of Under A Sicilian Sky
He held out his hands. ‘For sure. Yesterday was definitely Tuesday.’
She whacked him playfully. ‘You know what I mean.’
He rubbed his arm, feigning injury. ‘Hey! And in answer to yournon-compliment-fishing-question, I think a good wine is a nice accompaniment to any meal. Doesn’t matter what day it is. If someone has gone to the effort of cooking, why not drink something with it that’s worth drinking?’
‘Okay, I’ll let you off. So… which one are we having?’
‘Hmm… I think a nice, crisp Gavi. It’s Italian, of course. From the northwest of the country. I think you’ll like it. It’s fresh and fruity.’
She giggled. ‘Ooh, just like me.’
He chuckled and shook his head as he lifted a bottle from the rack and blew off the dust. ‘I bet you didn’t know that Gavi was one of the first Italian wines to become popular throughout the world, did you?’
Ruby cringed. ‘Erm… I had never even heard of it before tonight.’
‘Well, you’re in for a treat. Come on.’
So, he was a handsome property mogul, a wealthy one at that, and he knew rather a lot about wine. Ruby felt rather embarrassed that she could probably fit her sommelier skills onto a grain of rice. She was more of a, ‘Ooh, that’s a pretty label’ type – something she certainly wouldn’t be imparting to her host.
Signor Miceli Adair was certainly full of surprises.
* * *
They ate the lasagna and made small talk for a while. The Gavi was delightful, and for the first time ever when drinking wine, she could taste the different flavours Mitch mentioned: lime, nectarine, apple. After being made aware of the origins of the wine, she savoured it, enjoying every crisp, delicate mouthful.
Eventually she said, ‘Look, I’m sorry if I touched a nerve earlier when I was asking about the pool.’
Mitch swallowed hard. ‘It’s fine.’
‘I know I can be nosey. I come from a long line ofnosey bints, as my dad calls them.’ She laughed as she remembered her dad’s turn of phrase and imagined his playful grin as he said it. ‘He used to say me, my mum and my Granny Dot were like thePontefract Gazettewhen we got together. We knew all the weddings and all the ones that fell through as well as their reasons for doing so.’ She smiled fondly. ‘“You’re a right set of nosey bints”, he’d say, laughing his head off at us. My granny used to tell him, “There’s nothing wrong with keeping abreast of the local happenings, Roger. You never know when it might come in handy.” Bless her. I could imagine her being a blogger or something if she was still alive. Or a gossip columnist. She’d give Veronica Lucas a run for her money, that’s for sure.’
Mitch sat and listened, his chin resting on his hand and his elbow on the table. ‘You speak so fondly of your family.’
She nodded and gave a small smile. ‘I miss them. Being famous is mostly great, but it means separation from the people I love, and a lack of privacy. It can be hard.’ A lump began to form in her throat. ‘The worst thing for me was my granny’s funeral. It was overrun with fans and that broke my heart, seeing as it was supposed to be about saying goodbye to one of the most important people in my family’s life. But the movie I was in at the time had just been released and everyone knew who I was. Especially in my hometown, Pontefract. The funeral directors had suggested that I didn’t attend due to the number of fans who had already descended. They feared people disrupting the sombre proceedings, which is fair enough, I suppose. But she was my granny. I couldn’t not say goodbye.’
He shook his head, a look of solemnity on his face. ‘I’m so sorry to hear that. It must have been awful. Losing someone you adored and then not getting to say goodbye privately.’
Ruby inhaled. ‘It’s fine. I can’t really moan about fame. I chose the life… well, it kind of chose me, but I didn’t refuse it. I was terrified my family would think I was selfish for attending, but they didn’t at all.’ She paused as she thought about the older woman who had helped to mould her as a child. ‘Granny once told me, “By the time I pop my clogs, you’ll be a famous dancer. And I’ll be looking down from up there with your Grandad Ed, smiling and telling all the other dead folk, “That’s my granddaughter and I’m so proud of her.”’ She laughed at her granny’s choice of words. ‘Turns out she was almost right. I’m famous, just not how she expected, I guess.’
Out of nowhere, Mitch blurted, ‘I can’t reinstate the pool because it’s where my sister, Alessia, died.’
Ruby gasped and she felt the blood drain from her wine-warmed cheeks. She placed her hand over her heart. ‘God, I’m so sorry,’ she whispered.
He pulled his lips between his teeth. ‘She was two years younger than me. Precocious wee thing.’ He smiled fondly, but his eyes were filled with sorrow. ‘The kind of girl that everyone just adored, me included. I was very protective and that’s why it hurts so much. Why I blame myself, I suppose.’ He inhaled a long shaking breath. ‘I was sixteen and we were out here for the summer. Mum was making lunch and Dad was out in Cefalù buying milk. Lessi had asked me to play catch by the pool, but I was in a mood about…’ He shook his head, ‘Something stupid that I can’t even remember, so I was in my room. Anyway, she tripped and fell, hit her head. My mum found her floating face down in the water. She’d already gone.’ He swallowed hard and exhaled roughly.
Ruby covered her mouth. ‘Oh, Mitch, I’m so, so sorry. That’s… It’s awful.’ Her throat constricted and her lip trembled. ‘But it wasn’t your fault. You were just a kid. And you didn’t cause it,’ she insisted.
He nodded and swiped at moisture that had welled in his eyes. ‘Aye, I know that now. But for such a long time I hated myself.’ He paused and glanced around the room. ‘Mum and Dad wanted to get rid of this place but… When I’m here, I can picture her running around. Giggling and dancing, you know? Even now. I can hear her voice, see her in the library, curled up in that old leather chair with her nose in a book. How could I let that go?’ He sniffed. ‘My folks hung onto it for as long as they could, but they eventually put the place up for sale a few years ago and I bought it. They weren’t happy at first, but when we talked it through, they understood.’ He shrugged as if it had been the most natural thing to do. ‘I don’t come here loads but when I do…’
Ruby reached across the table and placed her hand on his arm. ‘I don’t think I would want to let it go either.’
He cleared his throat and straightened his spine. ‘So… now you know why I was so reluctant to talk about the pool.’ He rubbed his hands over his face and huffed the air from his lungs once again. ‘Jeez, I’m sorry to pile that on you. I’ve never told anyone about it. Not even my wife. There are so few people who know; just my folks and closest friends back home who knew her, so I don’t really know why I mentioned it. I suppose I just heard you talking about your family and… it all just came out. It’s not something I talk about. I don’t tell people,’ he repeated with a look of surprise. ‘I’m so sorry. You must think I’m a muckle cry baby.’
She smiled. ‘Well… I don’t actually know what amuckleis, but I don’t think you’re a cry baby at all. Far from it, in fact. I feel…honouredthat you shared something so personal. But I hope you didn’t feel pressured into doing so.’
Mitch smiled that wide, heart-stoppingly handsome way he had and simply said with a shrug, ‘Muckle just means huge.’
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