Page 39 of Sunrise over Strawberry Hill Farm

They watched the game for a while. Nico had already noted that Inter Milan were playing Barcelona and had braced himself for the inevitable. Just before half-time, it came.

The camera zoomed in on his father in the stands, waving and smiling to the crowds, ever the showman. Nico thought that he looked older, a little more worn around the edges. But the charm shone through as always.

Nico felt the same way he always did on seeing his famous father. A mixture of pride for his footballing skills and a dull ache deep inside for the pain that one man could cause.

He turned away from the screen to find the other men nodding and smiling at him.

‘Do you play?’ asked Ethan, nodding at the footballers on the screen.

Nico shook his head. ‘Not to any decent standard,’ he replied. So far, the conversation between the four men had been light and friendly. But still he was wary of revealing too much about himself. Since Maria had sold his story to the papers all those years ago, he still trusted barely anyone with his innermost thoughts.

‘So, no chance of a kick-around whilst you’re here?’ carried on Ethan.

‘I always preferred a fierce card game, to be honest,’ confessed Nico.

Ryan looked delighted. ‘Oh, yeah, I’d forgotten,’ he said. ‘All those gorgeous squares in the middle of Rome where there was always a couple of guys playing cards.’

Nico nodded. ‘Most likely to be briscola,’ he said. ‘Or poker.’

‘Do you know, I haven’t had a decent game of poker for ages,’ said Ethan. ‘We’ll set one up whilst you’re here.’

‘Sounds good,’ said Nico.

When Joe and Ethan went to the bar to order another round of drinks, Ryan looked across the table at Nico.

‘Do you see much of your dad?’ he asked.

Nico shook his head. ‘He’s pretty busy most of the time.’ He knew that Ryan had spent a few years in Rome and decided to face up to the inevitable. ‘You know about him? His reputation?’

‘Doesn’t everyone?’ replied Ryan, with a sympathetic smile. ‘Gotta say, the son of Paolo Rossi sounds a tough call, whatever everyone thinks.’

Nico nodded, somewhat surprised that Ryan seemed to understand. ‘I’m actually the grandson of an Italian farmer at heart,’ said Nico. ‘You see me as the son of a famous footballer, but that’s not the whole story.’

‘Glad to hear it,’ replied Ryan. ‘And, for the record, that’s not how any of us see you.’

* * *

As they walked back from the pub that evening, Nico thought about friends and how much he’d missed out on having some. And how lucky Flora was to have so many.

She had said that he had all the sophistication, with his nice clothes and the Ferrari. But the truth was that she had everything that he had ever wanted: family, friends and a home. And that was more precious than any supercar or a famous surname.

23

‘So we’ve had the provisional say-so from the council that we can have a temporary campsite this summer,’ Flora told her friends as they all stood at the bottom of the hill looking up.

On each of the large decks, a bell tent stood. She was quite amazed at the transformation of the wild, empty field, but actually the tents looked very inviting, despite the lack of any decoration and furniture.

‘That’s great,’ said Harriet. ‘Everything’s really pushing ahead now.’

‘I knew you’d be okay,’ said Katy. ‘So what’s left?’

‘Each tent needs to be dressed,’ explained Flora.

‘Make one look like a show tent,’ suggested Katy. ‘I mean, the best possible one with all the trimmings. That way, we can photograph it and add it to the website. People like to see what they’re sleeping in.’

Flora nodded. ‘Okay. I need to look at the second-hand furniture market to see what’s suitable, as well as new bedding, and we’ve got a whole load of fairy lights on order.’

‘Excellent,’ said Libby. ‘When in doubt, cover everything in fairy lights is my motto.’