‘Graziella’s a pain,’ he complained, tracing the shape of Zia’s hand with a fingertip. ‘She’s like a creaking gate, going on and on about how “we” should take the Binotto deal. Papà and I almost had an argument about her today. I suggested he just retire and take Graziella out of my hair. I apologised straight away but we ended up cross with each other, which made Graziella smirk.’

Zia’s conscience stirred. ‘If there was another avenue to explore about the vineyard, would you want to hear about it?’

He closed his eyes and groaned. ‘I’m sick of the whole thing, to be honest. We must have explored everything by now. My family seems to think of nothing else and talk of nothing else.’

He sounded so irritated that Zia took that as a ‘no’. It wasn’t her business, after all.

It was a while until they felt like eating the picnic. After, to escape the multitude of moths flittering around the terrace lights, they retired into Zia’s apartment, safe from creepy crawlies behind fly screens. Piero made love to her with such tenderness that she had no idea why she’d ever thought letting him get close to her might be a mistake. That night they slept fitfully, each waking often to check their phones for news of Lucia.

When there were no messages by morning, Piero went off to spend Friday in his workshop and Zia began on Bella Vista’s garden, trying to pick shady areas in which to weed and chugging cold water to combat the summer heat … and checking for messages.

Just after ten o’clock the awaited text came from Durante. I ring Piero now. She returned OK then threw down her trowel and dashed to Il Rifugio through the heat haze, not heeding the bleached grass that scratched her bare ankles.

She found Piero sitting in the dappled shade outside his workshop, phone to his ear, his gaze welcoming her as she approached but his expression grave. He moved up so she could join him on the bench and listen to his end of the conversation but as Durante was doing most of the talking it wasn’t enlightening. Finally, he ended the call, frowning. ‘Damn. The ulcer caused a perforation before they could get to it, which caused peritonitis. She came through the surgery safely but it’s a critical condition. She’ll have a rough time for a week or two while they get on top of the infection.’