The Skye Collection, page 47
‘It’s all you can do. Have you heard anything from Valerie in New York? Surely she has sorted it all out by now?’
Ruby sighed deeply. ‘Sadly not. But she says they’re working on it.’
‘I just can’t believe people think so badly of you. Why can’t they see through the lies?’ Her mum sounded on the verge of tears.
‘That’s social media for you. You make one small mistake, or in my case someone makes it on your behalf, and it’s out there forever. Nothing on the internet can be completely erased. And I suspect that even if they do clear my name, I may be seen differently by people who choose to still think the worst of me.’
‘I just wish we could do something. Or you could come home.’ Her mum’s voice wavered.
Ruby’s eyes stung and she fought to sound calmer than she felt. ‘Me too, Mum.’ She took a deep breath. ‘But the house I’m staying in is beautiful. So, it could be worse. I’m surrounded by blue skies and trees… Oh, and I’ve made a new friend.’
‘Oh? Who’s that then?’
‘My neighbour. Well, when I say neighbour, he lives around half a mile along the road. But he’s really nice. His name is Clark. We’ve chatted a lot and he took me out for lunch into Cefalù. It’s nice to have someone to talk to.’
There was a pregnant pause. ‘Does he know who you are? I just worry, that’s all. I don’t want people taking advantage of you.’
Ruby forced a laugh. ‘He hasn’t a clue. I feel a bit mean, to be honest. He thinks I’m in witness protection, so he knows I can’t really talk about certain things. He’s more of a music buff than a movie fan so he doesn’t keep up with red carpet things. It’s been good to have a small sense of normality, even if it won’t last forever.’
Her mother sighed. ‘That’s nice. You need friends just now. But be careful, sweetheart. I do worry so very much.’
Ruby smiled and imagined her mum’s face crumpled with concern. ‘I know you do. But there’s nothing to worry about, honestly. Anyway, tell me what weddings you’ve got coming up. Anyone I know?’
Later on, Ruby decided it must be her turn to make dinner. Mitch was still out so she would need to make something that could be warmed up in case he didn’t return until late. She riffled through the cupboards and the fridge, looking for ingredients. Finding everything she needed to make a vegetarian lasagna, she set about preparing the meal.
It was just after seven in the evening when Mitch arrived home and she met him at the door. ‘Hey, I’ve cooked and it’s ready if you’re hungry.’
He inhaled and smiled. ‘Mmm, it smells great. Thanks for doing that,’ he said breezily as he kicked off his boots. ‘I’ll grab a bottle of wine from the cellar.’
She widened her eyes. ‘You have a wine cellar?’
He frowned and held out his hands. ‘What good Italian host doesn’t? Come on, I’ll show you.’ He headed along the corridor and opened a door that she hadn’t noticed before, probably because it blended into the panelling. He flicked a switch, and a set of steps came into view, descending into a stone basement. Cool air floated upwards and made goosebumps rise on her arms. Mitch walked down, and she followed until she was in a room surrounded by rack upon rack of dusty bottles.
She gazed around in wonder. ‘Blimey, you weren’t kidding. This is like something from one of my movie sets.’
He gave a small laugh. ‘Aye, it’s taken a while to build up the stock and it’s nowhere near full. But I do like my wine.’
She ran her fingertips along a bottle, leaving a clean trail through the dust in her wake. ‘So I see. There must be hundreds of pounds worth down here.’
He cringed. ‘More like tens of thousands of euros.’
‘Wow! Shouldn’t you save it for special occasions then? Surely dinner on a Tuesday with me isn’t that special?’
He grinned. ‘Are you fishing for compliments? And by the way, it’s Wednesday.’
She tilted her head and eyed him with annoyance. ‘Really?’
He held out his hands. ‘For sure. Yesterday was definitely Tuesday.’
She whacked him playfully. ‘You know what I mean.’
He rubbed his arm, feigning injury. ‘Hey! And in answer to your non-compliment-fishing-question, I think a good wine is a nice accompaniment to any meal. Doesn’t matter what day it is. If someone has gone to the effort of cooking, why not drink something with it that’s worth drinking?’
‘Okay, I’ll let you off. So… which one are we having?’
‘Hmm… I think a nice, crisp Gavi. It’s Italian, of course. From the northwest of the country. I think you’ll like it. It’s fresh and fruity.’
She giggled. ‘Ooh, just like me.’
He chuckled and shook his head as he lifted a bottle from the rack and blew off the dust. ‘I bet you didn’t know that Gavi was one of the first Italian wines to become popular throughout the world, did you?’
Ruby cringed. ‘Erm… I had never even heard of it before tonight.’
‘Well, you’re in for a treat. Come on.’
So, he was a handsome property mogul, a wealthy one at that, and he knew rather a lot about wine. Ruby felt rather embarrassed that she could probably fit her sommelier skills onto a grain of rice. She was more of a, ‘Ooh, that’s a pretty label’ type – something she certainly wouldn’t be imparting to her host.
Signor Miceli Adair was certainly full of surprises.
They ate the lasagna and made small talk for a while. The Gavi was delightful, and for the first time ever when drinking wine, she could taste the different flavours Mitch mentioned: lime, nectarine, apple. After being made aware of the origins of the wine, she savoured it, enjoying every crisp, delicate mouthful.
Eventually she said, ‘Look, I’m sorry if I touched a nerve earlier when I was asking about the pool.’
Mitch swallowed hard. ‘It’s fine.’
‘I know I can be nosey. I come from a long line of nosey bints, as my dad calls them.’ She laughed as she remembered her dad’s turn of phrase and imagined his playful grin as he said it. ‘He used to say me, my mum and my Granny Dot were like the Pontefract Gazette when we got together. We knew all the weddings and all the ones that fell through as well as their reasons for doing so.’ She smiled fondly. ‘“You’re a right set of nosey bints”, he’d say, laughing his head off at us. My granny used to tell him, “There’s nothing wrong with keeping abreast of the local happenings, Roger. You never know when it might come in handy.” Bless her. I could imagine her being a blogger or something if she was still alive. Or a gossip columnist. She’d give Veronica Lucas a run for her money, that’s for sure.’
Mitch sat and listened, his chin resting on his hand and his elbow on the table. ‘You speak so fondly of your family.’
She nodded and gave a small smile. ‘I miss them. Being famous is mostly great, but it means separation from the people I love, and a lack of privacy. It can be hard.’ A lump began to form in her throat. ‘The worst thing for me was my granny’s funeral. It was overrun with fans and that broke my heart, seeing as it was supposed to be about saying goodbye to one of the most important people in my family’s life. But the movie I was in at the time had just been released and everyone knew who I was. Especially in my hometown, Pontefract. The funeral directors had suggested that I didn’t attend due to the number of fans who had already descended. They feared people disrupting the sombre proceedings, which is fair enough, I suppose. But she was my granny. I couldn’t not say goodbye.’
He shook his head, a look of solemnity on his face. ‘I’m so sorry to hear that. It must have been awful. Losing someone you adored and then not getting to say goodbye privately.’
Ruby inhaled. ‘It’s fine. I can’t really moan about fame. I chose the life… well, it kind of chose me, but I didn’t refuse it. I was terrified my family would think I was selfish for attending, but they didn’t at all.’ She paused as she thought about the older woman who had helped to mould her as a child. ‘Granny once told me, “By the time I pop my clogs, you’ll be a famous dancer. And I’ll be looking down from up there with your Grandad Ed, smiling and telling all the other dead folk, “That’s my granddaughter and I’m so proud of her.”’ She laughed at her granny’s choice of words. ‘Turns out she was almost right. I’m famous, just not how she expected, I guess.’
Out of nowhere, Mitch blurted, ‘I can’t reinstate the pool because it’s where my sister, Alessia, died.’
Ruby gasped and she felt the blood drain from her wine-warmed cheeks. She placed her hand over her heart. ‘God, I’m so sorry,’ she whispered.
He pulled his lips between his teeth. ‘She was two years younger than me. Precocious wee thing.’ He smiled fondly, but his eyes were filled with sorrow. ‘The kind of girl that everyone just adored, me included. I was very protective and that’s why it hurts so much. Why I blame myself, I suppose.’ He inhaled a long shaking breath. ‘I was sixteen and we were out here for the summer. Mum was making lunch and Dad was out in Cefalù buying milk. Lessi had asked me to play catch by the pool, but I was in a mood about…’ He shook his head, ‘Something stupid that I can’t even remember, so I was in my room. Anyway, she tripped and fell, hit her head. My mum found her floating face down in the water. She’d already gone.’ He swallowed hard and exhaled roughly.
Ruby covered her mouth. ‘Oh, Mitch, I’m so, so sorry. That’s… It’s awful.’ Her throat constricted and her lip trembled. ‘But it wasn’t your fault. You were just a kid. And you didn’t cause it,’ she insisted.
He nodded and swiped at moisture that had welled in his eyes. ‘Aye, I know that now. But for such a long time I hated myself.’ He paused and glanced around the room. ‘Mum and Dad wanted to get rid of this place but… When I’m here, I can picture her running around. Giggling and dancing, you know? Even now. I can hear her voice, see her in the library, curled up in that old leather chair with her nose in a book. How could I let that go?’ He sniffed. ‘My folks hung onto it for as long as they could, but they eventually put the place up for sale a few years ago and I bought it. They weren’t happy at first, but when we talked it through, they understood.’ He shrugged as if it had been the most natural thing to do. ‘I don’t come here loads but when I do…’
Ruby reached across the table and placed her hand on his arm. ‘I don’t think I would want to let it go either.’
He cleared his throat and straightened his spine. ‘So… now you know why I was so reluctant to talk about the pool.’ He rubbed his hands over his face and huffed the air from his lungs once again. ‘Jeez, I’m sorry to pile that on you. I’ve never told anyone about it. Not even my wife. There are so few people who know; just my folks and closest friends back home who knew her, so I don’t really know why I mentioned it. I suppose I just heard you talking about your family and… it all just came out. It’s not something I talk about. I don’t tell people,’ he repeated with a look of surprise. ‘I’m so sorry. You must think I’m a muckle cry baby.’
She smiled. ‘Well… I don’t actually know what a muckle is, but I don’t think you’re a cry baby at all. Far from it, in fact. I feel… honoured that you shared something so personal. But I hope you didn’t feel pressured into doing so.’
Mitch smiled that wide, heart-stoppingly handsome way he had and simply said with a shrug, ‘Muckle just means huge.’
16
Three weeks into Ruby’s stay and it was mid-March already. Mitch, just as he had promised, had stopped interfering in her budding friendship with Clark and things felt a little more relaxed. She was seeing a fun side to the serious property developer and being there with him was feeling less like a forced isolation.
Although she was enjoying her time at Villa Vista Mare, thanks in part to the rapidly improving weather and her little canine companion, Ruby was increasingly concerned at the lack of progress being made by Valerie. Phone calls with her agent had been turned around on Ruby, and she had been accused of being too impatient and told that she didn’t understand the intricacies of finding the culprit whilst simultaneously trying to remove the sticking mud from her reputation. She felt thoroughly chastised and she mentioned this in conversation over a cup of tea with Mitch when he took a break from renovations.
He had listened with that clear expression of concern she had come to know. ‘Look, I know someone who is… who could… Never mind.’ He shook his head and continued to drink his tea.
Ruby tilted her head. ‘What? What were you going to say?’
Mitch cringed. ‘I know I tend to interfere, and we’ve been getting on so much better since I stopped all that so…’ He shrugged.
Ruby placed her cup down and fixed him with a stern stare. ‘Come on, Adair, out with it.’
He sat up straight and held up his hand. ‘Okay, but there’s no pressure. I have a good friend back on Skye who’s a bit of a whizz with the old technology stuff. I could ask him to look into things for you, you know with Valerie not getting very far.’
She smiled. ‘That’s really kind of you. I appreciate it, really, I do. I just… I have to tread so carefully. I already made a mess of things once and I don’t want to do that again. Valerie has my best interests at heart. And she’s been in the business so long… I think I’ll give her a little longer. I mean, I really have no clue about any of this stuff. I have to believe her experts do.’
Mitch nodded. ‘Aye, no worries. But the offer’s there, you know…’
She was incredibly grateful to him. ‘Thank you.’
Ruby had visited Clark a couple more times with Nero, who continued to growl at her friend, and on the occasions when Nero was left at the villa, the pair had snuck into Cefalù for lunch and a dance again at one of the ristorantes in the square. They sat at the same secluded table each time, meaning Ruby could enjoy the ambience and relax. When she was with him, it almost felt like life was normal. Her deception preyed on her mind, however, and sometimes she drifted off into a melancholic trance, only to be tugged from it by the handsome American as he regaled her with funny stories from his record shop.
The last time she and Clark had gone for lunch, he had spun her around the makeshift dance floor like a professional and she was so swept up in the moment that when he pulled her close as the music ended, she didn’t stop him when he lowered his face to hers and kissed her. She hadn’t been kissed by anyone but Tyler for so long that the feeling of his lips against hers was alien. It wasn’t unpleasant, but there was no spark of passion, no lust. Nothing. The fact made her sad. But she brushed the sadness aside, sure that perhaps she just wasn’t ready yet.
He’d gazed into her eyes and rubbed his nose down the length of hers. ‘I’ve wanted to do that since the first day we met.’
Unsure what to say, she’d mumbled, ‘It was… it was lovely.’ Inwardly, she’d berated herself for sounding so incredibly lame, but Clark had seemed delighted with her response.
Before they climbed onto the bike, she’d placed a hand on his arm. ‘Clark, I don’t want to rush things. Is that okay with you? I mean… I know it sounds so cliché, but I’m recovering from a break-up and I don’t want to jump into another relationship without giving myself time to heal. I don’t want to hurt you.’
He cupped her face in his palm and smiled. ‘We go at your pace. You’re worth the wait.’
His reply gave her some relief, but she couldn’t help feeling guilty at her lack of desire for him. She hoped that it would build. After all, he was such a lovely man and it was rare to find someone who liked her for her, rather than her star status. Eventually, however, she would have to come clean and tell him the truth. She could only hope he wasn’t angry when she did. But the time wasn’t right. Not yet.
Ruby awoke early on a bright Thursday morning in the fourth week of March, showered and dressed in a long dress with a cosy wrap. Jacopo had promised to walk her down to Clark’s again, but this time they were going to stay at his villa and sit in the garden for breakfast, then possibly lunch, so Nero was going to tag along.
Clark was dressed in board shorts and a loud shirt, with flip-flops on his feet. He looked like a character from a surfing movie but somehow it suited him.
When Jacopo left without taking the dog, Clark glanced down at Nero with a look of disappointment. ‘Oh, you brought your little bodyguard,’ he said with a small, forced laugh.
Ruby picked up Nero and waved a paw at Clark. ‘I pwomis to behave, Mister Cwark,’ she said in a silly voice that seemed to appease her friend.
He handed her a tall glass of freshly squeezed orange juice, complete with umbrella. ‘You’re looking mighty fine today, Rebecca.’
‘Why thank you, Clark, you look rather handsome too. I like the surfer dude outfit,’ she replied with a smile.
He did a three-sixty turn on the spot, his arms out wide. ‘I had a feeling you’d like it.’
She sat at the outdoor dining table on the covered terrace and Clark went inside, returning moments later with a tray filled with pastries, fruit, juice and a bowl of scrambled eggs.
Nero sniffed the air and licked his lips and Ruby whispered, ‘I’ll sneak you something, shh!’ before returning her attention to her host. ‘Wow, you’ve gone to such a lot of effort, Clark. This looks amazing.’
‘Thank you. And you’re definitely worth the effort. Come on, eat.’
She selected a crumbly pastry and a handful of fresh grapes, placing them on her plate, and took a large mouthful of the juice. They chatted for a while about general things until Ruby eventually asked, ‘So, you’ve never been married?’
‘Sadly, no. I was in a long-term relationship but… she… erm… broke up with me. Apparently, I wasn’t serious enough about us. I think the record store came between us.’ He shrugged. ‘I was heartbroken for a while but… well, you have to get on with living, don’t you?’
‘Absolutely.’
