Her head lolled and the engine noise warbled in her ears as she began to drift. She slept the rest of the way home, only waking to the sound of Ursula’s phone as she double parked outside Zia’s building. She scrambled for her bag and jacket, interrupting the conversation Ursula was having with Stephan only to bestow a kiss on her cheek and whisper her thanks. After yawning her way up to her apartment, she made her first job to call Lucia, thinking she might be waiting anxiously to learn how things had gone.

Once again, it was Durante who answered. ‘Lucia is sleeping. She is quite sick, I think. Maybe I get the doctor tomorrow, no matter what she say.’

He sounded so unhappy that Zia felt a wriggle of unease. She’d expected Lucia to have been fighting back by now. ‘She began this on Thursday so that’s three days. I think maybe you’re right and it’s time to get help.’ After checking everything else was OK Zia rang off. Durante didn’t seem to like speaking English on the phone and she felt too drained to make the effort to speak Italian. She’d recount her meeting with Harry and tell them about her Gerardo decision when she got home and Lucia, hopefully, was better.

No, not home. Italy. Funny how much it felt like home even though she was in her own apartment in Brighton.

She threw herself on her bed and called Piero to share what she’d learned and his warm, welcoming, sexy, American-Italian accent instantly made her feel closer to Italy.

Chapter Seventeen

A few months ago, Zia would have spent a Sunday in Brighton with Brendon, Ursula and Stephan wandering the passage-like streets of The Lanes, sauntering up to North Laine for breakfast at Komedia, listening to buskers in Churchill Square or crunching along the pebbly beach.

In contrast, Zia saw this particular Sunday as just a day to pass until she could get the job interview over on Monday.

She phoned Durante and was disappointed to hear Lucia seemed to be getting worse. ‘I worry lots,’ he announced succinctly. Luckily, Durante’s twisted ankle was getting better or Zia might have cancelled the interview and gone straight back. Instead, she contented herself with going online to book her flight for Tuesday … then discovered there was no flight to Perugia till Wednesday. Flying into Rome would have worked beautifully if she hadn’t left her car at Perugia airport.