“Shall I help you grab your things, and then we can get mine from the farmhouse?”
“I won’t need much. I’ll just meet you down there.”
Sure, that would give her time to call Romeo and alert him she wouldn’t be visiting Florence alone. “I can walk with you.”
Pia cleared her throat. “You go on, Catarina. I need to speak with Ben about something.” She leveled her gaze at me and waited until Tara was at the bottom of the stairs before speaking again. “What is going on?”
“What do you mean?”
“Please, sit.” She motioned to the chair beside her. “Catarina is too polite to rescind her invitation, but I am not. You are speaking to her as though you are angry with her. Why?”
I could tell Pia it was none of her concern, but that certainly wouldn’t serve me well.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
She leaned over and put her hand on my arm. “I’ll admit I don’t know very much about Catarina. However, over the two days we worked in the winery together, every time I mentioned your name, she smiled. Sometimes it quickly turned to sadness. It was then I wondered if something had gone wrong between the two of you.”
“You’re imagining things, Pia.”
She sat back and folded her arms. “I am not imagining anything.” She studied me. “If you hurt my friend, I will not be happy, Ben Knox.”
If anything, it shouldn’t be me she was warning.
“There she is,” said Pia, pointing at Tara, who was walking in our direction, carrying the same small bag Lucia had brought out to her the other night. “She was looking forward to this, Ben. Please don’t spoil it for her.”
“I won’t,” I muttered, going down the steps so she wouldn’t have to come all the way up to the terrazza.
“Ready?”
“If you changed your mind, I’ll understand,” she said. I put my hand on her chin and pulled her lip from where she was biting it.
“Why would you say that?”
She shrugged.
“I do want to go. There was something on my mind, and I’m sorry if I gave you the impression I was angry with you. I’m not.”
She nodded and folded her arms.
“There’s one other thing.” If she was really going to go through with this and stay the night in Florence, I didn’t want her to think she had no choice but to share a room with me.
“What?” she asked.
“I can reserve two rooms at the pensione.”
“Is that what you want to do, Ben?”
Did I? When I looked into her eyes, no. When I thought about the man I’d seen her with, yes.
“I’m sorry I had to leave the way I did last night. It had nothing to do with you.” It was the second time she apologized.
“I know.”
It took me a couple of seconds to notice Tara had stopped walking. “What?”
“You haven’t accepted my apology.”
“I didn’t realize it was required.”