‘Ciao!’ I replied, conscious of my wet hair, the dark, wet patches showing exactly the shape of my underwear beneath my dress.

‘Edie, these are my friends Liuni and Fredi,’ Joe said.

The men each gave a small bow as he introduced them.

‘Valentina told us you were here,’ said the tall one. He spoke good English. ‘We had to come and see our old pal, Joey DeLuca, again! We’ve missed him!’

‘I’m pleased to meet you,’ I said. ‘Would you like a sandwich?’

The men declined, but Liuni had brought some beer in his backpack. He offered a bottle to me, but I shook my head. The men took a bottle each and went outside to drink, talking Italian to one another, laughing, catching up on decades of news.

I sliced a tomato and some cheese, put my lunch on a plate and went the other way, through the house and out of the front door. I wandered a little way into the garden and found an old metal bench where I could sit and eat in the dappled sunlight. I could hear the men’s laughter, distantly: Joe and his friends.

Me, I was alone, but I was all right. I thought about Daniel and it seemed to me that he was somewhere close. I sat there, quietly, thinking of my son and it was peaceful. It was good.

15

The swim must have tired me because I fell asleep on the bench and when I woke, I was stiff, my hands prickled with pins and needles. The temperature had cooled and the airplane vapour trails that criss-crossed the sky were tinged gold.

I picked up my plate and went back into the villa. Half a dozen empty beer bottles were lined up alongside the wall at the back of the kitchen. I could no longer hear voices but followed the sound of chopping into the garden and found Joe hacking away at the oversized creepers with a long handled axe. I said, ‘Hi.’

He put the head of the axe on the floor and leaned on the end of the handle.

‘I found the axe in the log shed,’ he said. ‘It’s not great, but it’ll do for now. The guys are going to lend me some power tools.’

‘That’s great,’ I said.

‘Yeah.’ Joe wiped the sweat from his forehead. ‘I’m going for another swim.’

He headed off towards the decking without inviting me to join him, which was fine, I hadn’t wanted to go anyway. I went in the other direction and fetched my suitcase from the car. I dragged it across the gardens and into the hallway, up the stairs.