Under a Siena Sun (Escape to Tuscany #1) - T.A. Williams Page 0,68

but most were fairly positive or at worst, neutral towards him. All acknowledged that he was one of the all-time tennis greats, and most appeared genuinely sorry for him that his career had been brought to an end by injury.

The Times added an extra dimension to the mystery of why he had chosen to go into hiding by adding an oblique reference to stories of his having had a mental breakdown as a result of his injuries. Although she had checked out his physical record, she hadn’t spoken to Franz the psychiatrist about him but, if this were correct, it might well explain why things had gone sour between him and his wife. Depression can be tough on partners.

After exhausting the newspapers and doing yet another round of the patients, Lucy went to the kitchen area to see her Syrian friend, Ahmed, the night porter. As he spotted her, his face split into a smile and he greeted her in his remarkably fluent English. He was on permanent nightshift here and she often met him on his way out as she was just arriving at work.

‘Hi, Ahmed, how’re you doing?’

‘Fine, thanks, Lucy. Can I get you a coffee? Black with just a drop of cold milk, right?’

‘You know me so well.’

She sat with him and they chatted. He was one of the fortunate ones who had managed to survive the perilous crossing of the Mediterranean from Turkey to Greece and then had made his way – mostly on foot – into Italy, where he had been even luckier to find this job. Many of his fellow asylum-seekers were languishing in detention camps or worse. He was sending almost all the money he earned back to Syria to help support his elderly parents and his three sisters, and Lucy knew how hard life must be – for him and for them. He had trained as a secondary school teacher, but his school had been destroyed in an air strike and he had only just escaped with his life.

His news tonight was that he had met a girl – another refugee from Syria who was working as a cleaner in Siena – and it was clear he liked her a lot. Lucy was delighted for him. If anybody deserved a bit of happiness it was Ahmed, after all he had gone through. As they talked, he asked Lucy if she had a husband and when she shook her head, he expressed surprise.

‘Why aren’t you married? Any man would be proud to have you as his wife.’

She smiled at him. ‘That’s very sweet, Ahmed, but I’ve been busy.’

‘Too busy for love?’

She shook her head ruefully. ‘I’ve tried that, but it didn’t work out.’

‘Don’t you worry, Lucy, you will find somebody.’

She wondered if he was right. Of her dreams for the future, all she had so far was the house and the rambling rose by her door, while the other elements in the package remained frustratingly absent.

When she surfaced just after lunchtime the next day after sleeping off her night shift, she found a letter lying on her doormat. She opened it and was delighted to find the formal invitation to Nicole’s wedding in September. Nicole and her fiancé François had decided to tie the knot and she was really happy for them. The wedding would take place in Nicole’s home village in Provence and the invitation was to Lucy and Companion. For a moment she wondered what it would be like if she turned up on the arm of a world-famous tennis star, but immediately discarded this as wild fantasy. However, on checking her phone, she found a message waiting for her from David and her heart gave another involuntary leap.

Hi Lucy. Hope you slept well after night duty. If you feel like a swim, you’re very welcome here this afternoon. Give me a call if you’re interested. D

She called him straightaway.

‘Hi, David, thanks for the invite but first, how did it go on Friday? Was it awful?’

‘It was okay. There was a lot of pushing and shoving, but most of them were pleasant enough. I even recognised some of them. A few of them were a pain in the ass, but it wasn’t so bad. How was night duty?’

‘Pretty quiet, thanks. No emergencies, I’m pleased to say.’

‘That’s good. Unless you’re going back off to bed again, do you feel like a swim this afternoon?’

‘I’d love a swim. It’s certainly hot enough.’ She glanced out of the window. The sky was unbroken blue