The Vine (31 page)

“No, Lizzy, I won’t just go. I’ve turned up here and you don’t even seem that surprised. You certainly don’t seem happy about it, and you’re rambling on about a load of nonsense regarding Lucas. He’s alive, Lizzy! Do you understand that, or are you suffering from some sort of post-traumatic stress disorder? I knew you’d be shocked, but I thought once that wore off you’d be ecstatic, not angry.” I am hearing what she is saying, but I’m not digesting it, not really.

“Katy, please, I’m begging you, just go. I can’t do this right now,” I say dejectedly.

“Lizzy, I don’t want to leave you like this.”

“Katy, I need you to go before anyone comes. The owner will be here soon, and customers. Why can’t you understand I can’t do this right now?”

She must hear the anger in my voice starting to return, as she slowly starts to retreat backwards to the door. My emotions are all over the place, and I’m so conflicted. I’m asking her to leave, and now that she is, I just want to grab her and beg her not to leave me.

“I’ll go, but this is not over, Lizzy—not by a long shot. I don’t know where you are getting all this information from, but it’s just not true. I’ll meet you at your hotel later, and we’ll talk when you’ve calmed down a bit; actually, maybe when we’ve both calmed down a bit.” And with that, I see something I have never seen before—I see my best friend turn her back and walk out on me. I bite my lip, because for one, I’m trying to stop myself crying, and for two, I’m trying to stop myself from calling for her to come back.

I walk over to the door and lock it behind her, and get back to setting up the café. It is normally an easy job, but today it’s hard, because yet again, my head is all over the place. I feel like I’m having an out-of-body experience as I move about the café. Isabella comes in about an hour later, and we go about our day; she is as chirpy as ever, whereas I’m most certainly not. I really am trying to be, handing out fake smiles and light conversation here and there, but I’m clumsy and irritable.

After I have smashed my fourth piece of china and curse, Isabella pulls me to the side. “Ella, are you okay?” she asks, clearly concerned.

Bless her heart; any other boss would have been screaming their head off at me for my behaviour this morning, but being her typical mother-hen self, Isabella is worried for me.

I’ll have to give her an explanation, but obviously I can’t tell her the truth. “Actually, Isabella, I have got a really bad headache; it feels like the start of a migraine,” I say, rubbing my temples convincingly. “Then go home, Ella, and get some rest, and I won’t expect you in tomorrow either.”

I nod and thank her, and then she asks, “Will you be okay getting back, or would you like me to call Luca?”

“No!” I say a little too quickly. “The fresh air will do me good, as I’ve got a slight bit of nausea already. So honestly, I’ll be fine.” The last thing I need when I’m trying to get my head around everything going on is Luca fussing around me.

Quickly, I get my things. I apologise to Isabella, who promptly tells me there is no need, and I get out as fast as I can, heading straight back to the hotel. As I arrive, I see Katy sitting on the ground outside the hotel with her legs crossed. I lightly smile to myself, because from other people’s point of view, she looks like an extremely stunning beggar, but to me, she looks about five years old again. I think apart from all the Luke drama going on, the reason I’ve been so stressed this morning is because I didn’t leave things well with Katy today. I don’t know what’s gotten into me. Even seeing those pictures, I know in my heart of hearts Katy would never do what I thought she did. I can’t say the words out loud; they’re still too painful. As I approach her, I know what I need to do, so I stand in front of her and hold my hand out. Katy looks up and sees me, and I see some of the sadness in her eyes disappear as she takes my hand and I pull her up. When she is standing, Katy looks at me as if she doesn’t know what to do, so I do what she’s always done for me for the past twenty-odd years—I pull her into a hug and I’m there for her.

“Fuck me, Lizzy,” I hear her say. “I can’t
not
have you in my life.”

“Don’t,” I say, not even wanting to think about it. “Come on, you.” I link my arm through hers, and I pull her along quickly with me into the hotel. I hope we don’t see Luca. I could do without any more explanations today; although, I don’t think he’s around at the moment, or else he would have had Katy removed from the outside of the hotel. I smile at the thought of that little tussle.

Just as we get to the lift, I have a thought and pull Katy with me to reception. “Giovanni, is that laptop still in the conference room I left playing the slideshow?” I ask.

“No, I removed it as a meeting was due in there and no one has come back to claim it yet.”

“Do you mind if I borrow it? If the owner comes back, you can just call me in my room and I’ll bring it straight down.” Although in my mind, I’m pretty sure no one is going to come back for it.

“That’s fine,” he says, and then hands it over.

“What’s that for?” Katy enquires, clearly confused as we enter the lift.

“I’m going to show you exactly how I know all the things you asked me earlier,” I state.

“Cool, because I thought you were going to do your usual little stunt and try to brush it all under the carpet.”

“I think we can both agree there is far too much shit this time to merely be able to sweep it under a carpet.” I laugh, although I really don’t feel like laughing; I feel like screaming actually, but my instinct when I’m in Katy’s company is to laugh.

“True enough,” she agrees as we head to my room. “Wow, this is nice,” Katy enthuses as we enter. I smile as I go and sit cross-legged on the bed; Katy sits beside me in exactly the same position. I fire up the laptop, but there is nothing else on it besides the pictures—
weird
. I find the start and run the slideshow so Katy can see everything I saw this morning. I watch her facial expressions the whole time; her eyes bulge now and again, but still she says nothing until she has seen every picture, and then she starts the slideshow again. I don’t look either time, as it’s just too painful.

Eventually, I hear Katy say through her teeth, “Bloody Saskia.”

“What?” I ask, trying to get my head straight. “Saskia, as in Luke’s old girlfriend?”

“Yes, the one and only. I met her in the hospital and hated her on sight. I knew she still had a thing for Lucas, but she seemed so together. I never for one instant thought she was off her bleeding rocker and would go to all this trouble, and I can guarantee you neither did Lucas.”

“So he’s what—gotten engaged to her unaware of what she’s like? I can’t believe that; Luke’s too astute,” I say.

“Oh, for crying out loud, Lizzy—I love you, but sometimes you really do my head in. Lucas isn’t engaged to her. Don’t you see? She’s set this all up; she has set up all these pictures. Lucas wasn’t even awake when she took the ones in the hospital; although, give her dues, she’s made them look so real. I can see visually why you believed them. But, Lizzy, really? I thought you knew Lucas better. There’s never been and never will be anyone but you.”

I nod. “I want to believe that, Katy; I really do, but after what I did to him—leaving him when he needed me most—he will never forgive me for that, and I will never forgive myself.”

“Lizzy, he’s already forgiven you, or should I say, in his eyes there’s never been anything to forgive. He understands why you did what you did, and even more so now since he’s had to live without you in his life, because he absolutely knows he can’t live without you either.”

I’m silently trying to process all this information when I see Katy smile. I look down to the laptop to see the cause of her knowing grin, and I see the picture of her and Luke. I instantly look back up to her face, confusion and hurt written in my eyes as I wait for an explanation. When she speaks, I can hear the emotion in her voice, “This picture is of a moment neither Lucas nor I will ever want to forget.” She looks at me and must see the look of misunderstanding in my eyes emerging, as she quickly goes on, “Not because of what you thought, Lucas is not mine to take. You
have to understand, Lizzy—no one could take him, even if they wanted to. I’ve spent a lot of time with him of late, and you have to trust me when I say—you’re all he sees; he’s yours.”

Katy takes a deep breath and sighs. I know she despairs of me sometimes, but I do trust her; she’s always had my back, and has never let me down—ever. I see her smile broaden as she says, “This is the moment we knew we had found you.”

At this, I don’t hold back my tears anymore; I just let them flow. I lean over to Katy and hug her tightly to me.

“I’m so sorry. I am such a bitch to have thought such horrible things, but the shock that Luke was alive…I wasn’t thinking straight, and the pictures all looked so convincing.”

“Don’t be sorry, and Lizzy, let’s face it—you couldn’t be a bitch if you tried. It must have all been an awful shock, and that’s exactly what Saskia wanted—for you to find out about Lucas in this way and to think all these terrible things.”

I see a look of surprise pass over Katy’s face. “What is it?” I ask tentatively, worried about what I will hear next.

“That bitch! She’s done it to Lucas too.”

“Done what?” I ask, confused.

“Lucas got an email with pictures of you with different guys at work, socialising—”

I cut her off, “Oh, my God! Luke thinks I’ve moved on without him?”

“He did, but don’t worry; I talked him around. Although, that was
after
he’d smashed the hotel room up.”

“He did what?” I shout incredulously.

“Yep, apparently he’s got it bad for you, Miss Maynard; oh, and by the way, who the hell is the hot Italian you’ve been hanging out with?”

“That would be Luca,” I state as a matter-of-fact, still in disbelief that Luke thought I would ever move on with another man, and secondly, that he trashed his room. Luke can be hot-tempered, but he’s not violent; that’s just not him. He must have been in complete despair; that’s the only explanation.

Katy’s voice cuts into my thoughts, saying, “Well, just a heads up—Lucas hates him.”

“Oh, was he in the pictures too?”

“Yes,” Katy says slowly, “but also, Lucas and I went to Jetson’s gig last night.” My eyes widen in surprise. “I know it’s crazy, but that was where Lucas found you. He saw you and the cute Italian, and then with all the emails…he just kind of freaked. I can’t say I blame him really; that Luca guy is F-I-N-E.”

“Oh, poor Luke. I need to see him, Katy. I need to explain.”

“Look, I know you’re desperate to see him, and he’ll be equally as desperate to see you, but I don’t want to be here when you have your reunion. So how about I go back now and tell him all about the new developments, and then I’ll send him over when he’s tidied himself up a bit? He looked like shit earlier.”

“Not possible, Katy,” I say, thinking of my beautiful man not looking anything other than perfect. “I want to see him now.”

“Lizzy, come on—be reasonable. Let me explain all what’s gone on here to him; he was kind of fucked up earlier.”

“He’s mad at me, isn’t he?” I ask dejectedly, more as a statement than a question.

“No, Lizzy, he’s crazy mad
for
you, not
at
you.”

I think for a minute, trying to compose myself, whilst internally reasoning. “Okay,” I agree reluctantly. After hearing all of the emotions Luke’s been going through, I really don’t want him coming here, just in case Luca is around. “I don’t think it’s a good idea to meet him here,” I say as I write down the name of a manor hotel called The Vine Palazzo. I’d seen it on the outskirts of Verona, and I remember it because of the irony of its name. I hand it to Katy and she nods in agreement. “Tell Lucas I’ll meet him here in the bar at 6pm.”

“Okay, cool, I’ll let him know,” Katy says as she jumps up from the bed. “Well, as much as I want to sit here and tell you all what’s been going on, and more importantly, hear what’s been going on with you, right now I ‘m shattered. So I’ll be off to tell misery the
good news, and then I’m going to sleep for a week.” She looks seriously at me and puts her arms around me, “It is soooo good to have you back in our lives kid. I’ve missed you so much; don’t ever do anything like this ever again, okay?”

I nod, “I promise.”

“So when Lucas finally lets you out of the bedroom, how about we get together for one of our girly chat and gossip sessions over a bottle of something?” Katy asks cheekily.

I laugh, although I try to at least
look
affronted at her crudeness, and with that, my best friend kisses my cheek, flicks her gorgeous hair and exits my room. I flop on the bed, exhausted, but with far too much running through my head to go to sleep.
What a day
, I think,
and in a few hours, I’m going to see Luke
. I’m excited, of course, but I’m also terrified. I didn’t think I would ever see him again. I thought he was gone. I never would have left his bedside for a minute if I thought he would make it. God, I so hope he understands that.

As I nervously run through various scenarios of our reunion, some have good outcomes, but mostly, the outcome is definitely not what I’m hoping it will be. I decide for my own sanity to stick to past memories with Luke where we touch and hold each other, and eventually I fall into a deep slumber—if only my dreams had been as kind.

I jump awake after a couple of hours, after a particularly bad dream. I sit up and rub my eyes before walking over to the mirror. I peer at myself and can’t believe how tired I look.
Great! Not only do I have a knot of nerves in my tummy, I’ve now got puffy eyes with dark rings around them.

I head to the shower; I should be skipping, knowing I will be seeing Luke soon, but with the negative thoughts running through my head, it’s like I’m doing the death march as I saunter over. As I wash and condition my hair, my body starts to come alive, and I end up giving myself a full-body exfoliation, and a clean shave of my legs and underarms.

Whatever is going to happen today, I can’t prevent it, so I may as well look my best
, I think as I moisturise my face and body. I pick out some beautiful, never-before-worn underwear, and I’m really starting to realise how I’ve been slowly letting myself go. I dry and finish my hair just like Stefano taught me, along with the products he’s given me.