“That sounds wonderful. I have until the three o’clock tour. Let’s meet at the pool in five minutes. I just need to change into my bathing suit.”
There was a dreamy intimacy to his kiss, and she didn’t want it to end.
Eventually, they parted and emerged discreetly from behind the big tractor to walk away in opposite directions.
Strolling along the shady, forested lane toward her guest suite, Lillian touched her fingertips to her lips and felt her cheeks flush at the memory of Anton’s kiss. She couldn’t believe her life. She had never felt so happy and alive yet so conflicted at the same time. She didn’t want to hurt Freddie, but she wanted desperately to leap into an unknown future and remain in Tuscany forever, with Anton. It seemed so sudden. It frightened her. What if this was just a mad, impulsive infatuation or temporary insanity brought on by nothing more than an intense sexual attraction?
She reached the apartment, flew up the stone steps, and inserted the key into the lock. Sunlight spilled across the terra-cotta tiled floor as she pushed the door open. She smiled and wondered where she’d put her bikini after her last swim. Was it hanging in the shower, or had she placed it in the drawer in her bedroom?
She stopped dead on the threshold, however, when she looked up and saw Freddie sitting at the kitchen table, eating a sandwich.
She stood there, blank, stunned, and shaken. “Freddie . . . you’re back.”
He gulped down a mouthful. “Hey!” He wiped his face with a napkin and stood. “I didn’t expect you until later. I wanted to surprise you. Happy to see me?” he asked as he approached her.
Lillian stumbled forward slightly as he pulled her into his arms and hugged her. “Of course.”
Freddie held her away from him, at arm’s length, dipping briefly at the knees. He laughed uneasily. “You don’t look happy. You look like a deer caught in the headlights.”
Hastily, Lillian pasted on a smile. “I’m sorry. I’m just in shock, that’s all. And maybe a little sunstroke. You didn’t call. I would have picked you up at the train station. But this is wonderful. I’m so happy to see you.”
He took a few steps back and held out both hands. “Look at you ! You’re so tanned! Have they got you working in the fields now?” There was humor in his voice.
“Well, yes, actually . . .” She was about to explain about the careful pruning she’d been doing lately and tell him how she’d been learning about soil content, hydration, and fermentation, but Freddie turned away and reached for his backpack on the floor.
“Guess what’s in here.” He picked it up and held it aloft.
Lillian wondered if it was a gift for her from Paris, but he answered his own question before she could guess.
“My manuscript.” His eyes glimmered with pride. “I finished it, Lil.”
His words hit her like a gust of wind, knocking her a step backward. “Seriously?”
“Yes,” he replied. “I typed ‘The End’ yesterday. Then I made a copy, and I mailed it to the agent this morning, just before I got on the train.”
His excitement bubbled up around him as he waited for her response, but she was dumbstruck.
“Lil . . . did you hear what I just said?”
She shook her head as if to clear it. “I did. I think the sun has melted my brain.” She strode forward and set her hands on his shoulders. “That’s amazing. I’m so proud of you.”
“Proud of us ,” he replied. “We did this together. You and me both, because I never could have finished it without all your help. Coming here was the best thing ever. I know I wasn’t keen at first, but I’m glad you pushed me, because it turned out to be the spark that lit a fire under me to actually get it done. So thank you.”
She had never seen Freddie look so proud, which caused an ocean of guilt to wash over her, because she was about to flatten that happiness with a confession that she had been unfaithful to him. Worse . . . that she was in love with another man. Deeply, profoundly in love.
“You’re welcome,” she murmured, hesitantly.
Freddie unzipped the backpack and withdrew a thick wad of paper held together by elastic bands and plunked it on the table. “There it is. All four hundred and thirty-six pages. There’s probably room to cut some stuff, but I’ll let an editor take care of that.” He gazed at her imploringly. “Will you read it, Lil?”
Baffled, she could do nothing but stare blankly at him. Now he was asking her to read it? They had been married for five years, and not once had he ever permitted her to read a single word, not even when she begged.