#MidWeekTease where I ask what it's like ...Being Luca's

Ask Leigh, because that's what she needs to decide.
She was once...or was she?
Now it's up to her...
Is she happy... Being Luca's...

Leigh shut the front door with her bum, kicked off her shoes and wriggled her toes with relief. Proper shoes on a hot day were torture. Especially as in this part of Scotland hot days were as rare as her going for a run. Very infrequent.

She walked into the kitchen and put the heavy carrier bag she was carrying down on the work surface and rubbed her aching back. For once the Mediterranean tiles on the wall, and her traditional cream cooker didn't give her the usual surge of pleasure. Fuck it, I ache. And it wasn't just her back. Could you really have an aching heart?

Damned if today had to be the first, and probably only day of summer. The one day she had no option but to go into town and collect some very important, and in some ways, upsetting papers.

Now she was hot, sticky, and sad.

Still it was done. To all intents and purposes, Miss Leigh Monteith, spinster of the parish was back. In six weeks she would no longer be Signora Leigh Corrieri, no more Luca's wife. Her own person. Alone. Maybe she'd better get a cat.

 But dammit she hadn't wanted that.

Leigh had loved Luca, accepted if she married him her life would be turned upside down. She'd done her best. Until she had to acknowledge her best wasn't good enough, and the all too short idyll came to an abrupt end.

Sixteen months, just over one season, and a helluva lot of heartache.

Leigh straightened her shoulders and went to the cupboard to take out a bottle of Barolo. After all she hadn't divorced all things Italian—and especially not wine—just Luca Corrieri.

No doubt it would be all over the papers the next day. Leigh gave up a mental prayer of thanks that when she moved into the house after leaving Luca, she'd paid cash, and used her maiden name. Her neighbors all knew her as single, albeit someone who wasn't interested in dating. A couple had tried, but accepted her polite refusals. The excuse, I've just come out of a long-term relationship and I'm not ready yet, worked wonders. One of those wannabe dates was now going out with one of Leigh's friends.

It took scant seconds to open the wine and leave it to breathe. Leigh put her shopping away and wandered into her bedroom to change into a wrap around skirt and a vest. She intended to sit in her suntrap of a garden, wallow for a few minutes, or longer, and relax with her wine, before she made a pizza and got on with her life.

Where had it all gone wrong? Was Luca right when he said she'd never trusted him? Never allowed herself to believe in him and his love?

 Was that me? Leigh blocked that disturbing thought. It had returned more and more often over the last few months. Had she really been so shallow? Walked out on Luca and given in so easily?

She was lucky there had been no necessity to hunt for a job. Her free-lance hairdressing worked well. A lot of her customers had welcomed her back with open arms, and Luca hadn't stinted in sharing his wealth.

 The trouble was she'd rather have had his loyalty and fidelity than his absence and his money.

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