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‘But I do. And you know this.’

‘Sorry.’ His expression changed to a grin. ‘I wish I could just hold your hand like we used to when we were young and not at all self-conscious.’

‘Or married, more to the point,’ she said. ‘You’ve been seeing Anna for a while. Don’t you love her?’

‘I suppose I do.’

‘It’s time for you to settle down. Don’t lose Anna. She’s a lovely girl.’

‘I know.’

‘Well, then?’ She looked at him, exasperated.

‘I loved you first.’

‘So?’

‘I like Anna, I do, but if I’m being honest, I still only want you.’

They’d been over this before, but she felt a pang of sympathy for her friend; she knew this feeling of loving only one person. She squeezed his arm. ‘That really is not a justifiable excuse. And you know it’s impossible.’

She wished again, as she had as a teenager, that if she had to be married to a Falzon, it would be this one. Robertu would have been kind and gentle. He would have seen her as a wife to cherish, and they would have made a genuine partnership, even though she didn’t love him like she’d loved Peter. They would have made a solid, loyal couple.

‘You’re so brutal, Valentina,’ Robertu said, but he was smiling.

She laughed, glad that they could move on… at least until the next time.

‘Speaking of which. How is the brute?’ Robertu asked. ‘Away again, I hear?’

‘Yes. You’ll hear no complaint from me.’

He frowned. ‘I keep finding strange things in the books.’

‘Strange how?’

He shrugged. ‘Things that don’t add up.’

‘Don’t ask me. I’m not privy to any of the bar’s finances.’

‘It’s a lot of money, though.’

‘In or out?’ she asked.

‘Both. Sometimes it comes in briefly and disappears, but against no merchandise.’

She made a face that told him she had no clue. ‘He gambles – maybe he’s taking money out of the bar for that?’

‘Maybe, but would he be putting his wins back into our family earnings?’

Valentina thought for a moment. ‘No, I don’t think so either. He gives me the bare minimum, you know, just enough to keep the house running. And he takes my cleaning wages.’

‘I think he’s involved in underhanded stuff, Leni.’

‘Like what?’

‘Illicit stuff.’ Robertu shifted uncomfortably.

‘I don’t know what to say. He doesn’t tell me anything, and I can’t exactly ask.’