Free Rosamanti by Noelle Clark

exactly that. The vision of Ted’s sick, pale face dissolved into a brown, smiling countenance brimming with life. Pietro’s black eyes twinkled as they gazed out from his handsome face. She felt like she was sixteen years old again. No way—no way at all—had she expected this to happen. Not so quickly. Maybe even never.
    Her girlish reverie was shattered by the heralding of a new day from a horny rooster down in the hen house, followed by the proclamations of more eggs from the hens. She went into the kitchen and gathered together the animals’ food, feeding the three hungry cats who lovingly entangled themselves around her legs. Once they started eating, their purring was so loud it just about rattled the glass in the windows. She set off with two buckets of vegetable scraps—one for the chickens and one for Geraldina. “Hm, I wonder if I should tell Geraldina I just slept with her boyfriend.” The thought causeda broad smile to spread across her face and happiness to exude from within her, forming an invisible aura around her.
    After giving Geraldina a big handful of alfalfa and some vegetables, she left the goat happily chewing her cud. She looked about her. It promised to be yet another beautiful day, the sun shining in the deep blue sky. As she walked back up the hill toward Rosamanti, she caught sight of the faded pink cottage tucked in the lee of a hill, about halfway between Rosamanti and Villa Jovis. She paused on the path, examining the building. She remembered Pietro saying it used to be someone’s house. Faded green shutters covered the windows, and a brick chimney extended crookedly from the top of the terracotta roof. A green vine looked like it was stuck to the walls, half covering one end, and she could see it had also extended onto part of the gable.
    She felt a sudden compulsion to detour from the track back to Rosamanti and to cut across country toward the little house. Stepping into the long, spiky grass, she made a beeline for it. The sun was rapidly heating up, and beads of sweat formed on her forehead. Some bushes scratched her arms as she passed them by without even seeing them. At last she reached the side of the building. It was in quite a state of disrepair, as though nobody had been there for many years. The stucco walls had cracks running from the ground right up to the roof. The vine she had seen from the track was indeed invading the structure, its claw-like roots entering the cracks, taking hold. The long grass around the building looked as though it hadn’t been trodden on by man nor beast for a long time. The thought crossed her mind that Geraldina could have this grass under control in no time . At the rear, the house wasn’t totally rectangular. What looked to be a kitchen area stepped out from the main building. Farther along, plumbing on the external walls told her there was either a bathroom or utility room of some sort. It was a much larger structure than she had first thought.
    Working her way around to the front, she saw two more shuttered windows on either side of a green door, its paint faded, flaking, and bubbled. Three heavy wooden battens crossed the door horizontally, bolted to the door jams. She remembered Pietro saying it was boarded up now, unused. She scrunched up her nose and tilted her head to one side. Why? Why not clean this place up and rent it out? She turned to look at the isolated hillsides around her. From the front door, there was an uninterrupted view of Villa Jovis, high up on the headland. To the right, the cobalt sea sparkled and shone. Another headland jutted out farther to the south, tall pines standing majestically against the blue sky. There was not a house, not a farm, nothing, in sight. What a view!Her mind immediately began to overflow with all sorts of ideas, rushing in so fast she couldn’t make sense of them all. But one idea certainly took hold. Pietro’s restaurant!
    Her heart skipped a beat, the excitement of the prospect taking hold.