Second Chances in Chianti (Escape to Tuscany Book 2) by T.A. Williams (online e reader .TXT) 📕

This was greeted by general agreement and the group broke up. Alice found herself yawning after her lunchtime wine, and she told David she was going upstairs for a snooze. To her surprise, he decided to go for a walk, so she climbed back up the stairs to the room alone. Outside, the sky was getting ever darker and the atmosphere was growing increasingly clammy, so she slipped out of her T-shirt and shorts, and stretched out on the bed, covered only by a sheet. She fell asleep straightaway, but was woken barely half an hour later by a knock at her door. Yawning, she climbed out of bed and stepped into her shorts. Slipping on her T-shirt, she went over to the door and opened it to see Richie standing there.

‘Sorry, Al, were you sleeping?’

‘Like a baby. What’s the problem?’ She brushed the hair out of her eyes and blinked a few times.

‘Not really a problem… I just need to talk to you. I saw David out on the terrace with Layla, so I knew you’d be on your own. Can I come in?’

Alice hesitated. Although she had been getting along fine with him since arriving here, letting him into her room – particularly when she had just tumbled out of bed – was another matter. Still, she felt sure she had nothing to fear from him – even if he now had a few more muscles – so she stepped back and beckoned him in.

‘But if David comes along and objects to you being in my bedroom, it’s down to you to do the explaining. Understood?’

‘Sure.’ He went across to the bed and perched on the side of it. She thought about joining him there but then decided against it. Instead, she took a seat on the old wooden chest against the wall and rested her back against the cool plaster. ‘So, have you decided what you’re going to do about Pals Forever?’

‘Not really. I’m going to wait and see what the others say this evening.’

‘So what’s so important you had to wake me up in the middle of a lovely dream?’

‘Yeah, I’m sorry about that.’ He hesitated. ‘It’s about you and me, Al.’

Suddenly she was wide awake. ‘There is no you and me anymore, Richie. We both know that.’

‘But I’m not that guy anymore. I’ve changed.’ He sounded quite plaintive. ‘You can see that, can’t you?’

‘You’re looking and sounding a lot better. Yes, of course I’ve noticed that – I even told you so. But, apart from anything else, I’m with David and you’re with Carrie now.’

He gave a dismissive shrug. ‘I’m not really with her. Like I told you, there’s nothing serious there.’

‘In that case you just dragged the poor girl halfway across the world for what? So you wouldn’t feel left out? That’s no way to treat anybody, Richie.’

‘Yeah, I know, but she’s having a great time, mixing with all her heroes – especially you, Al.’

‘Her hero wasn’t me: it was Polly the flirt and those days have gone. Richie, five years have passed. You’re not the only one to have changed. So have I.’

‘In the way you feel about me? I haven’t changed the way I feel about you. Won’t you give me a second chance?’

Alice hesitated. She could see he had convinced himself that he meant what he said. She studied him in the gathering gloom of the cloudy afternoon. He was still a good-looking guy and now, with his apparent return to being the nice, open man with whom she had first fallen in love – or had thought she had – could she develop feelings for him again? The answer, she told herself firmly, was no. She was with David and, unless the next couple of weeks’ holiday with him resulted in a break-up, that wasn’t going to change.

However, before she could say anything, there was a blinding flash, accompanied almost instantaneously by an ear-shattering thunderclap, and both of them shrank back. Her window was open and the shockwave set the toothglasses in the bathroom rattling. Two seconds later, torrential rain came cascading down, as suddenly as if a dam had collapsed. The noise of the falling water almost drowned out her voice as she did the only thing she could do – prevaricate until she could clear her head.

‘Now’s not the moment to talk about this stuff, Richie, but like I told you, time has moved on and so have I. Okay?’

For a moment it looked as though he was about to object, but the deafening crashes of the thunderstorm directly overhead convinced him that it was pointless. He allowed her to usher him out of her room and into the corridor. At the door she repeated her message to him.

‘We both know that time has passed. Find yourself a nice girl and get on with your life.’

He left without another word.

It poured with rain all afternoon and Alice spent it in her room, dozing, reading and chatting to her friend Teresa at the Uffizi. David must have taken refuge from the rain somewhere else, as there was no sign of him. As she had hoped, Teresa arranged entry to the world-famous gallery the following afternoon, and Alice texted the good news to Antonia. David had opted not to join them, saying he would be quite happy just relaxing at the villa, and Alice wasn’t surprised. Getting him to visit art galleries had always been an uphill struggle.

As she lay there, listening to the rain, she let her mind roam. Here she was, in the enviable position of having been offered a job that most people would kill for and, at the same time, she also had a second interview for a different job which was ideally suited to her training and interests. Which had more appeal? The answer, when it came to her, almost took her by surprise. In spite of everything she had been telling herself and others over the