Four long years of worrying and keeping things going, followed by the sheer relief of the so-called remission—she should have known it was too good to be true.

Colette often wondered if maybe her mother had lied about her miraculous remission just to get her to spread her wings and live a little, but she would never know for sure.

She was so devastated and completely useless that Noelle had to step up to make all the necessary arrangements and deal with the doctors and funeral arrangements.

Ed had been her crutch throughout it all, though, and following Miriam’s death, a budding friendship that had begun in Italy turned into something more.

The trip had transformed Colette in more ways than one.

Inside the suitcase were various bits and bobs from over the years, important mementos from special times in her life: two tickets to The Lion King musical, the first West End show Ed had taken her to, pictures of their summer trip to the Cotswolds a couple of years before.

Then she saw what she was looking for.

Nestled among the various photographs was a picture from that summer in Italy.

She was standing in front of Delfino with Mama Elene and Luca. He had his arm around her shoulders. She looked so happy.

Right then Colette made a decision. She wasn’t going to wait until the day of the launch to fly out to the Amalfi Coast, like Ed wanted.

She’d go on ahead on her own, and spend a bit of time with Kim and hopefully Annie before the night of the party, but more importantly in the place where, once upon a time, she had truly felt happy.

“Where are you now? I wonder,” Colette whispered as she trailed her fingers over Luca’s image on the photograph.

Six years ago, but it felt like it was yesterday. Even now she could almost feel the weight of his strong arm across the back of her neck and the delicious scent of his skin. She wondered if he still religiously visited Delfino every day for his usual espresso.

And whether she should look for him there when she returned...

Chapter 30

Then

“Where are we going?” Colette inquired, as she and Luca drove along the coast in the dusk, the lights of the buildings twinkling below them like a group of fireflies swirling around the mouth of a cave.

He smiled mysteriously. “You’ll see. It’s a surprise.”

She smiled as she leaned back in her seat and looked out the window. The smile broadened when she felt Luca’s hand move over hers.

She was grateful that he hadn’t pushed her the other night, but had been certain that her reticence would be the end of his attentions. In fact, it had seemed to make him even keener.