‘Same,’ I replied.
‘Sorry I got held up on the way over.’
‘No problem. Do you want to sit down?’ I asked, ushering him onto the sofa. I sat next to him, my knee falling against his. ‘You said you had an appointment?’
‘Hmmmn. I had to have a blood test.’
I looked surprised. ‘Everything OK?’
‘Hopefully,’ he said, breezily. ‘There’s some stuff going on with my mum, that’s all. Everything feels a bit … difficult at the moment.’
I put my wine down on the coffee table.
‘Sorry to hear that,’ I said.
‘You think your parents are invincible, don’t you? But then stuff happens out of the blue and it’s like the rug has been pulled out from under you.’
I nodded. My parents were young still, only in their fifties. I wasn’t there yet, with the worrying, but I supposed there would come a time when I would be. And I felt bad for Aidan that he was already having to deal with it.
‘It might not be as terrible as you think,’ I said. ‘You’re not googling stuff, are you?’
He shook his head vigorously. ‘Course not.’
I raised an eyebrow at him.
‘OK, maybe just a bit,’ he admitted with a wry smile.
I reached for his hand, threading my fingers through his.
He sighed. ‘Sorry. All this is a bit of a mood-kill, isn’t it?’
I shook my head. ‘It’s fine,’ I said. ‘I hope you feel youcan … you know, talk to me? Even though we haven’t known each other very long.’
Aidan sat back on the sofa, resting his head against it, looking relaxed and comfortable. It was like he belonged here, in my little flat. He liked it, I could tell, and I liked him being here. It was perfect.
‘I’m glad I met you,’ he said, turning to me. ‘Don’t ask me how, because I’m not usually the most intuitive person, but I already know there’s something special about you.’
Chapter Fifteen
While the van pulled up outside our hotel, I fished around in my pocket for a twenty-euro note to give to Gino. I knew that tour guides were really badly paid and that it was the tips that bumped up their salary and made it halfway decent. I was pretty sure that Rosamund wouldn’t see it like this – I’d heard her berating Nick for being overly generous in the restaurant the other night.Don’t over-tip, Nick. They’re only doing their job. I’d spoken up for once, had told her that the waiting staff were probably only on minimum wage, which in a city like Florence wouldn’t get them very far. Rosamund had bristled, not having any of it. She’d even insinuated we’d all had to struggle. I’d like to know exactly when in her life she had struggled financially but thought I’d be pushing it to ask because clearly she wouldn’t have an actual answer.
I handed Gino my tip, and I saw Aidan do the same. Gino had spent the whole day with us and had given us loads of info we couldn’t have found in our Rough Guides. He deserved a token of our thanks if you asked me. Perhaps I should give the others the benefit of the doubt: after all, Aidan and I were both in the travel industry; I supposed we knew how things worked. But, then again, wasn’t it obvious?
‘Thank you for being such wonderful guests on our tour,’ gushed Gino. I could see he was chomping to get the van back so that he could keep to his precious schedule. He checked his watch.
‘We’ll let you go, Gino,’ I said. ‘And thanks again.’
We waved him off and then Aidan turned to Rosamund and Peter.
‘And very pleasant spending the afternoon with you all,’ he said. ‘I’m sure I’ll see you around the hotel.’
‘Oooh, hope so,’ smouldered Sophia.
‘Don’t forget to friend me on Facebook, will you?’ asked Rosamund, thinking she was down with the kids but not realising that kids wouldn’t be seen dead on Facebook these days. ‘Rosamund Leveson-Gower. I shouldn’t be too difficult to find.’
Aidan smiled kindly. ‘Got it.’
He glanced quickly at me and then set off down Via Tornabuoni. When I caught myself and looked away, Rosamund and the others were already halfway inside the lobby. I ran to catch them up.