‘No.’ He jammed his hands in his pockets. ‘I’m here to sort out my life.’

Cautiously, she turned this idea over, feeling as if she was on one of the fairground rides on the pier and if she made a wrong move she’d go flying off. ‘And what does that entail?’

He raised thoughtful eyebrows. ‘First, I ask if I can come in.’

She flushed as she realised she’d kept him standing on the grey laminate of the hall that served her apartment and the one next door. ‘Sorry.’ She laughed unsteadily and showed him into the airy lounge overlooking New Steine gardens, which were empty but for a man and a black poodle.

Piero removed his coat. ‘The leaseback deal’s going through. Papà’s talking about visiting cousins in America. Emiliano’s recruiting to fill my role. It’s taken me a few weeks to get to a point where I felt I could come here. It’s OK to put my workshop in mothballs because I still get a quarter of the profits from the wine-making. It’s just the premises we’re selling.’ He sat down on her sofa.

She licked dry lips, drinking in the sight of him along with the news from Montelibertà. ‘I know roughly how leaseback works.’

He gave a sudden, genuine smile, rubbing his jaw which looked to be freshly shaved. ‘Of course. Sorry.’ He waited a beat then added, ‘So, I’ve taken an apartment here in Brighton.’

Shock flashed through her. ‘Where?’ she asked blankly.

‘St James’s Street. Parking’s a bitch.’

‘Round the corner?’ She almost got up and peeped out of the window to see if St James’s Street still ran across the top of New Steine.

‘Yep. If you were happy to leave me behind I’m going to feel really silly.’ He jumped to his feet and began to pace, the sentences racing out of him as though if he didn’t speak fast he’d forget what he meant to say. ‘Lucia kept me in touch so I knew you and Ursula were both OK. But your goodbye text … Well, you sounded as if you weren’t happy with the way things ended. As I’m certainly not, I looked into things and found out I can stay here for six months.’ He paused. ‘There’s a chance of residency after that.’ Another pause. ‘Though I might have to get a job.’ When she continued to gape at him, so shocked that she couldn’t process all he said, he took a tentative step closer. ‘If you think there’s some chance we can be together we can figure it all out. If you can’t live in Montelibertà it can be here or in another part of Italy. If we can be together.’

‘But you didn’t even reply to my text,’ she objected.