Page 49 of Slow Burn

One year later

I put Sedi and Nolo on speakerphone as I polished the glasses for the wedding reception taking place the following day.

We were holding the reception outside in the vineyard – the bride and groom were wine-lovers, and they wanted their guests to be surrounded by grapes as they celebrated their union.

‘What time’s your flight tomorrow?’ I asked Nolo.

‘Don’t remind me. I’ve not even started packing and Mum wants me to go straight to the studio. She’s been banging on to her ballet students about me, and apparently they’re all dying to meet me.’

‘I’m sure they are,’ I said.

‘Well, if she thinks I’ll be up for performing in front of twenty ten-year-olds after an eight-hour flight, she’s sadly mistaken,’ grumbled Nolo.

‘Don’t be like that,’ said Sedi. ‘They’re kids. You were a ten-year-old once.’

‘Imagine how inspiring it will be for them to see what they could achieve if they work as hard as you did at their age,’ I added.

‘I suppose,’ said Nolo.

‘That flight does take it out of you, though,’ I said, fully empathizing now that it was a journey I did regularly myself.

Gabriele and I had just come off of a two-month run of Carlos’s new show, which had been a huge hit on Broadway and had an extended run until early next year.

The two of us were taking a break to help Sofia on the farm, but we’d be back on stage in a few weeks’ time, and although I absolutely loved it out here in Italy, I couldn’t wait to perform Carlos’s gorgeous steps again.

‘How’s everything in Tuscany?’ asked Nolo.

I glanced around me, sometimes still not able to believe that this was my home for at least part of the year.

When I wasn’t here or in New York, I went back to Castlebury as often as I could, and when I did I would make a point of spending lots of time at the studio, taking some lessons, covering for the employees who now worked for us to give them a break.

But it wasn’t expected of me, and Mum was a permanent fixture there now and, as far as I knew, she and Dad weren’t planning on heading off on any more world cruises.

‘It’s wonderful,’ I said. ‘Sorry, I know that sounds gushy, but it is. It’s perfect.’

‘Let’s hope your happiness is catching,’ said Sedi. ‘I think I need a bout of Tuscan sun and a romance with a hot Italian.’

‘You’ll have to find one when you come over,’ I said. ‘I’ll ping over those dates for that big corporate awayday we’re hosting – they want high-end dance performances and I’m going to put you at the top of the bill.’

‘What about you and Gabriele? That’s who they’ll really want to see,’ said Sedi.

‘We’ll be performing, too. One day I might get sick of dancing the Argentine tango with him, but I can’t see it happening any time soon.’

‘I’d never get sick of dancing with someone as beautiful as Gabriele,’ said Sedi wistfully.

I tutted playfully.

‘Sorry, is it inappropriate to have a crush on your sister’s fiancé?’ asked Sedi.

‘Yes!’ I replied, knowing she was joking.

I still hadn’t got used to calling him that: my fiancé. He’d proposed right here at the farm on New Year’s Day and we were planning our own wedding here next summer. But, in the meantime, we had myriad other weddings to help Sofia organize.

‘Dad said Olive Grove Studios is the most googled wedding venue in Italy right now,’ said Nolo. ‘That’s amazing, Li. You’ve all achieved so much in such a short space of time. Sofia must be thrilled.’

‘Oh she is,’ I said. ‘She likes to keep busy, it helps her to not miss Enzo every minute of every day. She said she doesn’t understand why she didn’t turn the outbuilding into a hotel sooner.

She’s absolutely loved getting it ready for guests.

Tomorrow we’re hosting our biggest wedding yet – one hundred and fifty guests, no less. ’

‘With your crazily good organizational skills, it’s going to be a huge success, and you know it,’ said Nolo.

‘On which note, I should go. I’ve got three crates of wine glasses to polish and chatting to you two is slowing me down.’

‘Fine, but call us soon,’ said Nolo, pouting. ‘And think of me at home in Castlebury running ballet for toddlers.’

‘It’s about time you put some serious work in at James Jive,’ grumbled Sedi, who had a newfound love for the mundanity of teaching after an adrenaline-fuelled tour of Australia with Barbed Wire. ‘And teaching is more fun that you think, you’ll see.’

‘I’ll take your word for it,’ said Nolo, seemingly unconvinced.

I said my goodbyes and resumed the glass polishing, humming happily to myself while I mentally ran through everything I still had to do before the guests arrived the following morning.

I was so caught up in the moment that I didn’t hear Gabriele coming up behind me and wasn’t even aware he was there until he wrapped his arms around my waist, kissing my neck softly.

‘How is my exceptionally talented leading lady?’ he whispered in my ear.

I laughed softly, melting into his embrace. ‘Even better now you’re here.’

‘Mama is flying about all over the place,’ said Gabriele, spinning me around to face him. ‘She wants everything to be perfect tomorrow.’

‘And it will be,’ I said. ‘It’s lovely to see her so engaged and positive.’

Gabriele took me in his arms.

‘I never could have imagined being this happy,’ he said. ‘Living with my two favourite women on earth. Making the farm business work for us all.’

He’d found a way to scale back the business while keeping Enzo’s vision ticking over by hiring Gio to take over the management of the wine-making and distribution side of things.

And with the studio fully booked for weddings and parties throughout the summer, supplying the guests with delicious bottles of local red and white was a lucrative side hustle.

Gabriele brushed his lips lightly across mine. ‘Only you can manage to make an apron look sexy,’ he said, untying the strings and hooking it over my head, casting it to one side.

‘And you must be far too hot in that,’ I said, slowly and tantalizingly unbuttoning his shirt.

I pushed it off his shoulders, revealing tanned skin underneath, his muscles even more defined after months of lifting and moving furniture around and digging in the fields. When he wasn’t busy performing, he was really throwing himself into farm life.

‘I love you, Lira James, in case I have not yet convinced you,’ he said, lifting me onto a table.

‘Do not smash any glasses, we’re running short as it is,’ I scolded him.

‘I will be careful, I promise,’ he said, sliding his hands under the hem of my skirt.

As I lay down on the table, looking up at the veranda, the sun filtering through the bougainvillea in misty strips of golden light, my beautiful husband-to-be looking into my eyes, I felt a rush of appreciation for how much my life had changed in just over a year.

How some things – Gabriele especially – had been worth waiting for.