Page 21 of My Lemon Grove Summer
‘He’s right.’ Ralph joins in again. ‘I can’t go home because the papers are baying for my blood. Barry here is sleeping on his daughter’s settee. Sherise and Billy have lost their livelihood. Same for you, Zelda. And Lennie clearly wants a fresh start too. We’re all running from something.’ Except Lennie I think. I can’t imagine anything that Lennie is running from. He just seems to be running towards the adventure of married life. ‘Even Tabitha couldn’t do the work she wanted to do back home, and look at her now. Always typing.’
She looks up at us with her big blue eyes under perfect eyebrows.
‘Yes, I think I’ve found all the inspiration I need here,’ she says with a smile.
‘What’s your novel about?’ Barry asks, going to look at her screen. She shuts it quickly.
‘Pastures new.’ She smiles again.
‘All I’m saying is that Barry’s right.’ Ralph is pacing round the room now like a caged animal. ‘Something’s off. We were promised houses and a relocation fee when we got here, and we’ve ended up being shoved into a farmhouse in the middle of nowhere and forgotten about. I don’t know about anyone else, but I’m not here on holiday. I don’t have the money for that. I need to get working, find something to do . . . Right now, I’d take anything rather than this boredom.’
‘Absolutely!’ says Barry. Billy nods emphatically.
‘We have to get into those houses,’ Lennie says. ‘At least get our relocation fees.’
Everyone murmurs in agreement.
I look around the room. The tension seems to be rising. And suddenly I can’t be patient any more. It’s like my energy levels just burst through a dam. ‘Something has to be done!’ I exclaim. ‘One way or another, we need to know what’s going on and when we can start living here, instead of just this . . . waiting. Let’s go and find Giuseppe.’
As one, we head for the door, Billy’s breakfast abandoned on the table, ignored and looking quite out of place; in many ways, exactly how we’re all feeling.
Chapter Twelve
We march into town, despite the fact that it’s hotter than when we first arrived just over a week ago. The wild flowers are bursting with life all around us. The streets, though, apart from the occasional car, are mostly dead. You can barely see Etna’s top for the amount of cloud and smoke, and the hazy air seems heavier than ever.
‘Tourists, by the looks of it,’ Ralph says as a car whizzes through and out the other side of town.
‘Heading for Etna, no doubt,’ I add. Through the haze I can just make out the towns further up the mountain. There are vineyards up there too, and wine-tasting experiences. At its highest point, the black volcanic rock makes it looks more like a drive across the moon. The wind seems to be picking up, like there’s a storm in the distance.
We walk along the main street, and the little girl comes out of the grocery shop and waves to us.
‘Good morning,’ she says in perfect English.
‘Good morning.’ I can’t help but smile back, despite my anxiety.
‘Where are you going? Can I come with you? Practise my English?’ she beams, but her mother comes out, scowling, and ushers her back into the dark shop.
We turn and carry on walking, up the worn stone steps towards the big imposing church with its peeling white facade and idle rusting bell above the door, and the town hall beside it where Giuseppe has his office. The tall palm trees planted there sway in the gathering wind.
We try the office. But there’s no one there. Nor at his house next door either. We look down the narrow, cobbled streets and the little alleyways.
‘Maybe he’s at the houses now. Our houses,’ says Ralph.
‘Or back at the farmhouse, looking for us,’ suggests Sherise.
‘He could be anywhere,’ says Tabitha.
‘Or maybe he’s taken the money and left. Gone to find a new life of his own.’ Barry articulates what we’re all thinking.
We look at each other.
‘That’s that overactive imagination of yours,’ Sherise says.
‘Still, probably best we find him quickly.’ Even Lennie sounds concerned. ‘Let’s split up.’
Sherise and Billy return to the farmhouse. Lennie goes round to the row of houses with Ralph. Barry searches the streets behind the main square with Tabitha, while I take the ones below it. As I pick my way down the cobbled path to the piazza, past the restaurant, I steal a glance, cross with myself for hoping Luca might be there, and wondering if I’ll get a glimpse of him, but there’s no one around – just as well, I think.
The wind is starting to whistle through the streets and the air is heavy, giving me a headache like a pressure on my brain. I pass people sitting in chairs in their doorways, watching as I go. I nod and smile. They nod back but don’t smile; instead they just look confused by me.
