Page 39 of The Surrender

“Nick. Are you sure there’s nothing you can build on?”

“Oh my God.” I drop my head back. “Dad!”

“I’m just double-checking.”

“And I’m leaving,” I snap, marching away.

“He’s a safe bet, Amelia!”

“Stop worrying about my love life and fix your own.” I slam the door behind me and yell at the heavens.

Chapter 10

Nonna’s is everything the endless five-star reviews promised it would be. Not that I underestimated it. What I did underestimate was Leo Lombardy. Sue was right, he’s extremely casual, on all fronts. I’ve never been so relaxed when meeting a potential client for the first time.

“It’s good, huh?” Leo says as he twiddles his fork in a pile of pasta.

“Unreal.”

“Here, have some wine.” He pours for me as he carries on eating, because it’s really that delicious, you can’t put your fork down. “So, Sue was telling me she’s very excited about you.”

I pause chewing, surprised, but try to play it down. “That’s a massive compliment coming from Sue. She’s a great adviser. Just great all round, really.”

“Agree.”

I pause for thought, definitely seeing a little twinkle in his eye. “How do you know each other?” I ask, appearing casual but raging with curiosity. Am I overthinking? But then Leo smiles down into his pasta and my suspicions feel quite possible. Jesus, are they ...?

“On the golf course,” he muses quietly and easily. Too easily.I don’t mix friendships with business. It can be messy.And mixing business with someone she’s sleeping with? Well, that’s against company policy. So she’s passed Leo on to me? Oh fuck. Sue’s married. And she told me Leo is recently divorced. Is Sue the reason why?

“On the golf course,” I repeat, with a lack of anything else coming to me.She’s sleeping with him!

Leo looks up at me, and I know, I just know, that he’s sensed I’ve put two and two together. Fuck, I need to drop this, act dumb. I smile. “So tell me about your future plans.”

Leo laughs. “I’m sixty-two, Amelia,” he says, his light Italian accent smooth but grainy too. “Still young, yes? Plenty of time to think past today.”

“What you just said, Leo, is literally every adviser’s worst nightmare.”

Leo grins cheekily, taking more pasta. “I feel like I’m about to get a lecture.”

“You are. People think about the future too late. They don’t make provisions for their retirement soon enough. I’m very aware that you don’t count, since you’re richer than God, but still. It’s easier to lose money than it is to make it.”

He chuckles. “Less rich now my ex-wife has ... how you say? Fleeced me?”

“Yes.” I laugh. “That.” I swirl my fork in my last bit of pasta and pop it in my mouth, gazing at the remaining sauce longingly. If I were at Mum and Dad’s, I would grab some bread and mop up.

“But still richer than God,” Leo quips. “So what’s in your future?” He finishes and wipes his mouth too, and I’m absolutely beside myself with joy when he dips into the breadbasket and plucks out a piece of granary bread, pushing it around his bowl. I follow suit.

“As of this moment, my future is work.”

“No man?”

I blink, taken aback. “No man.” And he’s not attempted to call me or text me. I have no right to be hurt by that. And yet here I am. Hurt. “I’m career focused right now,” I say, finishing my bread and washing it down with some wine.

“Well, I suppose we should exchange emails.” Leo pulls an iPhone out of the inside pocket of his linen jacket. “What’s yours?”

I reel it off and save Leo’s when it lands, and I smile. “Sue mentioned you like high risk.” I snap my mouth shut when Leo’s eyebrows lift sharply. Shit. I cannot believe I said that. “I mean when it comes to investments.”

Leo polishes off half his glass of wine. “Indeed, I do, but Sue toldmethat you’re the perfect blend of risky and safe.”