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On good days, you could see very far. The sunset up here was simply breath taking. So was the climb upwards through the vineyards. Around this time of the year the grapes were nearly ripe.
Amedea's panting behind me sounded more angry than strained, which amused me a little more.
I hadn't intended to torture her, but it added another flavor to the evening that I kind of enjoyed.
At least when she was busy struggling up the mountain, she couldn't make any sassy comments or otherwise make my life miserable.
I was the first to arrive and had to wait another fifteen minutes until Amedea stood on the terrace. Her expression was even more sinister than before, and I could tell she was a little upset.
A little.
She was probably cursing me for making this stupid suggestion in the first place and that no other way up existed.
At first, it had taken some getting used to for me, too, but the more time I had spent up here, the easier it had become.
While I gave her time to calm down, I looked inside the hut. Nothing had changed since the last time. The furnishings were sparse. My sleeping bag was there, a small bathroom, a tiny kitchen, and a mezzanine under the roof.
There was also a special wine cellar equipped with bottles from previous years and a whole range of glasses. Accordingly, the priorities were all taken care of.
Equipped with a bottle and two glasses, I went back outside, set them both down on the old wooden table, and then contented myself by letting my gaze wander over the surroundings.
Adriano, in charge of the vineyards, lived at the foot of them in a small house I had bought with the piece of land. There was also all the equipment needed to make wine from the grapes. I paid him well for his work, and in return, he was loyal, asked no questions, and stayed away from my hut, especially now that I was visiting it with Amedea.
At some point, I felt her step up next to me. She rested her arms on the railing and stared into the valley. On one of the closer mountains, the top of a chapel could be seen; further back, individual villages nestled into the green slopes.
"I must admit that I understand more and more why you are not in Naples."
I didn't reply. Naples was a beautiful city, but the real reason for my disappearance from there had always been my wife.
"However, I prefer the view of the sea."
"There are also cultivation areas on the coast," I replied.
"If I ever think about pursuing a different career…"
Honestly, I couldn't imagine Amedea doing any physical work. But she was well suited being in front of a computer. She knew her way around. She felt comfortable there. Out here… that was only something for you if you wanted to punish yourself.
"Do you miss being active in the mafia?" she asked.
Honestly, I had never thought about it; after all, I was still involved through Emilio and my siblings, although not as extensively as before.
I liked that I couldn't care if someone didn't keep to agreements or didn't pay. I no longer had to deal with would-be know-it-alls; at the end of the day, I didn't have to worry about someone standing over my bed at night ready to cut my throat.
Well, maybe that wasn't entirely true. I wouldn’t know whether I was really avoiding this quite real danger or whether luck was simply on my side because no one had found out where I lived.
I replaced the action with finding the criminals and the hunts I organized in the forest. I fulfilled my need to do something good with the three rescued predators.
In principle, I could claim to be very satisfied at the moment. If you looked at it from the outside and limited yourself to the facts.
"I miss the past most of all," I replied. I missed the past. What it had been like back then. Which people had been part of my life.
The circumstances had changed and they had driven me out here and made me change my entire life.
"Understandable," she murmured. "I'm sorry I hit that sore spot so unerringly when I didn't let you know Fiero and I were going to town. I was just… pissed off. Because you're not easy to live with. Even if we don't see each other often, you do an excellent job of keeping me at a distance."
I looked at Amedea from the side. Interested. Those had been the words behind her simple apology. Nevertheless, they would not have changed my reaction and the ignorance I had displayed.
"Then I guess I have to apologize as well. I could have worded the whole thing a little differently. Less imperiously." She had no idea what kind of mental chaos she had thrown me into with her sudden disappearance.
