“What will you do with them?”
“Eventually, paint over them.”
“Would you sell them?”
Tara’s eyes widened. “Of course I wouldn’t. What an odd question.”
“If they’re good enough, I would think there’d be a market for them.”
“Not a legal one.” She shook her head as though I was thick as a plank. Her words should reassure me, but that she was painting them at all, bothered me.
24
Tara
“You are not your usual happy self, at least since you’ve been staying at the farmhouse, Catarina.”
I looked over at the table where Knox sat. He had the same scowl on his face he’d had since our strange conversation earlier. He was studying his laptop, periodically looking over in my direction, but when he did, he didn’t smile.
“Ah, I see,” said Pia, following my line of sight. “It is never easy, is it?”
“What do you mean?”
“Uomini difficili.”
I laughed. “I’m sure they say the same about women.”
Pia walked over to where the bottles of wine were stored and pulled one out. There was no one in the tasting room presently, but within thirty minutes, another tour bus was scheduled to arrive.
“I promised you a story about my friend Mylos.”
“That’s right,” I said, taking a sip of the wine she poured. “Oh my God, that is so good,” I groaned.
“I know.” She smiled and motioned toward Knox with her head. “You two are so sympatico.”
“Are we? There are times I wonder.”
“Let me tell you about Mylos. To be honest with you, he is not my friend. Well, he is, but he is so much more.”
“He must be someone very special.”
“Sì, he is the man I will love until the day I die.” She frowned. “I look out at the vineyards of Valentini, the place that isn’t just my life, it’s my heart, but Mylos…he is not here.”
“Where is he?”
“That is a very long story. One that I will tell you now.” She waved her hand at one of the stools at the tasting bar, and I sat down.
“We met when we were both sixteen years old. His family came from England to visit, and the first time I saw him, I swear to you, I fell in love.” She smiled and leaned forward. “He was so handsome, like Ben, not as molto muscoloso as Ben, but still, un uomo forte. You understand what I mean, sì?”
“I do.”
“His family had to leave suddenly that summer while I was away on a sales trip with my father. When I returned, I was heartbroken to find him gone. So much so that two years later, I did a crazy thing.” She shook her head and laughed.
“What did you do?”
“I went to London to see him.”
“That was crazy?”