Under a Siena Sun (Escape to Tuscany #1) - T.A. Williams Page 0,34
to her that maybe she was drinking too much coffee and he introduced her to ginseng. Remarkably, this was available among the list of options in the all-singing and all-dancing coffee machine in the staff canteen and she soon developed a taste for it. It looked just like a little espresso but tasted strangely, but not unpleasantly, sweeter. She took Franz’s advice and reduced her intake of caffeine and slept better as a result of this, but also as a result of her talks with him.
She found herself starting to tell him about her experiences in Mabenta and the fraught final days in particular, and he encouraged her to open up to him. His laid-back supportive manner encouraged her to confess just how terrified she had been as the advancing forces had been drawing ever closer. She also spoke to him about the horrors she had seen first-hand, talking about things she hadn’t revealed to anybody, not even her parents, and after each session with him – even as brief as a few minutes – she emerged feeling liberated and restored. She was intelligent enough to realise that these chats were acting as a very valid form of therapy and were exactly what she needed in order to gain some kind of closure. There was no doubt about it: he was very good at his job, even when he was theoretically off duty. She felt a deep debt of gratitude towards him and, with it, considerable affection.
As she started sleeping better the memories of the Congo gradually faded away and she settled down in her new home. Speaking with Geneviève and Nicole, she was pleased to hear that they didn’t appear to be suffering too many long-term stress issues either. In fact, Nicole was already planning her wedding for a Saturday in September and she told Lucy to save the date.
Most evenings after work Lucy called in to see Daniela or just went for a walk by herself in the fields behind her house. The rain had been swallowed up by the parched earth in a matter of days and it was now once again tinder dry. There was no sign of Boris the Labrador, and she rather missed him. They had always had a dog at home and she knew it would have been nice to have a dog of her own. The fact was, however, that she worked full-time five days a week – with a week of night duty once a month – and it wouldn’t have been fair on the dog to leave him alone so much. Even without a dog, she enjoyed her walks in the hills and slept soundly afterwards.
All in all, her new life was working out fine, barring her concerns that a career looking after the rich and privileged was maybe not what she wanted in the long term. Still, she told herself, after her experiences in the Congo, she felt she had earned a bit of repose with so much less stress.
* * *
One July night she was invited to a party. It was Franz’s thirty-ninth birthday and he was having people round to his apartment in Siena. Lucy accepted readily, delighted to be able to see more of the psychiatrist who had been helping her so much. The more she got to know him, the more she liked him, so as it was a very warm evening, she chose a smart summer dress she had bought in the market in Siena and even put her hair up. When she checked herself out in the mirror prior to going out, she reckoned she looked pretty good.
It was just as well she had no amorous intentions as her efforts would have been wasted on Franz.
She was met at the door of his top-floor flat by an equally handsome man who introduced himself as Franz’s partner, Antonio, and the scales fell from her eyes. She gave him a big smile and pushed her way into the crowded flat to look for the birthday boy. She found him by the drinks table talking to, of all people, Charles. Her heart sank at the sight of her ex. She gave Franz a bottle of wine and he gave her a warm hug and pressed a glass of cold Prosecco into her hand. She thanked him and kissed warmly him on the cheeks.
‘Happy birthday, Franz. I love your apartment.’ She caught his eye. ‘And thanks for being such a good friend.’