‘No worries. At least you’re all right. Get yourself dressed and we’ll be downstairs waiting.’
He was true to his word. He arrived, still damp from the shower, water dripping off his hair, and Emma definitely felt she could detect a growl of animal attraction from their guide.
‘Sorry again, boss. I promise I’ll do better tomorrow.’ He glanced across at Marina. ‘Will we be back here in time for me to buy a few things?’ He produced a shamefaced smile. ‘I never was much good at packing. I think I might need more than one pair of boxers.’
‘Yes, of course. The shops are open until seven or seven thirty so you should have ample time to buy all the underwear you want.’
Emma wondered if she would have time to do a bit of shoe shopping for herself as well. Shrugging that thought to one side, she switched into serious Hollywood executive mode and took the lead. ‘Right, then, now that we’re all here, let’s get started.’ She was conscious that they had a lot of Italy to cover and only just under two weeks in which to do everything. She glanced over at Marina. ‘Where to?’
‘Today we’re going up into the Valli di Lanzo. They’re a series of narrow valleys leading roughly northwards towards the high Alps. The one I’ve chosen ends up against the mountain range beyond which is the Val d’Isère in France. I’m sure you’ll find it’s a very beautiful and a relatively unknown area.’
This all sounded good. While Rich had a hasty espresso, Marina retrieved the car from the underground car park and they were soon heading north. As they drove, Marina asked for a bit more detail on the sort of locations that interested them.
‘Can you give me a rough idea of the plot, if it isn’t too secret? It’ll just help me come up with suitable places and it might save us some time.’
This sounded like a very sensible idea to Emma. She glanced back over her shoulder and decided to give Rich a chance to show what he knew.
‘Did you finish reading the screenplay last night, Rich?’
‘Sort of. I actually went out like a light, but I was wide awake at about three so I sat up and finished it then.’
‘And you liked it?’
‘Yep, I liked it a lot.’ He smiled. ‘I didn’t realise my old man was such a romantic.’
‘Good, well, why don’t you give Marina a brief summary?’
He leant forward so that his elbows were on the backs of their seats. Emma moved to one side to give him space but she noticed that Marina appeared quite happy to feel his forearm resting against her shoulder. Emma hoped this wasn’t going to take her mind off the road.
‘It’s a love story and it takes place right before the outbreak of the First World War. There’s this girl, Emily. She’s English and she’s been sent abroad by her father because she’s got mixed up in the suffragette movement – you know, votes for women and all that. Anyway, she’s travelling around Italy with her governess and she runs into this guy. It’s love at first sight for her, although she struggles to come to terms with it because she’s very much against all men at this point in her life. Besides, she can’t work him out. He’s always very reserved and… I suppose you could say he’s a bit troubled. Anyway, as she travels down to Tuscany and beyond he keeps popping up all over the place and their relationship deepens.’
‘So she falls in love with him, but does he fall in love with her, too?’ Marina accelerated past a big truck, disdainfully ignoring the No Overtaking sign at the side of the road.
Rich nodded. ‘You don’t see it from his point of view but, for my money, yes. He falls head over heels in love with her. I’m sure of it.’
‘So there’s a happy ending?’
Emma decided it was time to interrupt the narrative. ‘You’ll have to wait until the movie comes out.’ She grinned across at Marina. ‘But if all goes well – and we’ve got two of the biggest stars playing the leading roles – we’re hoping this particular love story will break a few box-office records.’
At that moment they drove through a dark tunnel beneath what looked like an old convent on the hill above. As they emerged on the other side, they found themselves at the entrance to a narrow valley, its steep sides reaching almost vertically upwards towards the higher mountains beyond.
‘Wow, this is amazing.’ Emma was impressed. ‘We’ve only been driving for less than half an hour and we’re already in the mountains.’
‘Don’t forget, Turin was where the Winter Olympics took place back in 2006. There are mountains all around the city. Going back to the film, would I be right in thinking it’s not so much a mad passionate affair as a slow-burn “will-they, won’t-they” sort of thing?’
‘Exactly.’ Emma nodded approvingly.
‘Fine. That helps me a lot. And we aren’t looking for bright, flashy places like Monte Carlo, Rome or the centre of Florence, are we? You want places with an altogether quieter, more reflective sort of feel.’
‘Dead right, Marina. Our brief is to look for beauty, but off the beaten track.’
The road became ever narrower, but Marina had obviously got the measure of the big vehicle and managed to squeeze up the valley towards the solid mass of mountains in the distance. After another twenty minutes or so, the valley floor widened and they arrived at a little town. Here the houses were mostly solid structures with gently sloping roofs to catch and hold the snow as added insulation in winter, with massive slabs of stone in place of roof tiles. A river rushed down the valley through the trees below and a sturdy-looking church dominated the little main square. Marina turned right and drove up to a sign announcing the Grand Hotel.
She pulled into the near-empty car park and turned off the engine.
‘I’ve arranged to meet the local guide here. That’s probably him over there.’
Sure enough, the door of a battered 4x4 opened and an elderly gentleman climbed out. As Marina left the driving seat and went over to greet him, Emma checked out the hotel behind them. For such a tiny town in an unknown valley, it looked as grand as its name, although not in the first flush of youth. Clearly, in its day, this had been quite some place.
‘Buongiorno signori.’
Marina led the old gentleman back to the car where he tipped his hat at them. This was a jaunty-looking green felt hat with a feather sticking up on one side. Emma later learnt from Marina that it was an army cap, showing that he had once been in the Alpini, Italy’s elite mountain corps.
They climbed out and Marina made the introductions. The elderly man, Cesare, didn’t speak any English and so Marina slipped into interpreter mode. And she was good at it. As Cesare spoke, she supplied an almost simultaneous translation. After a discussion with Marina about their requirements, Emma saw him nod decisively. She had been able to follow bits of the conversation, but the bulk of it had been too technical. Marina filled in the blanks.
‘He’s going to take us to a gorge with a narrow bridge over it. By the sound of it, it definitely falls into the melancholy category as well as scenic.’
This set bells ringing in Emma’s head. She turned to Richard. ‘Hey, Rich, you’ve just finished reading the screenplay. Did I dream it or isn’t there a scene right back at the beginning where the old governess thinks Emily might have tried to kill herself?’ In fact she already knew the answer, but it seemed like a good way of getting him involved – and checking that he really had read the thing.