Page 123 of Secrets of the Brother
She sat up straighter and flipped through a few more pages. “Like really, really good.” Closing the cover and handing the sketch pad back, she studied me consideringly.
I narrowed my eyes. “What? What is that look?”
She held up her hand. “Wait right here! Don’t go anywhere!”
A few minutes later she returned with a stack of files.
I crossed my legs, and she dumped them on the quilt on the settee between us.
She grabbed a hairband and twisted her hair into a messy bun on the top of her head. “I need your help. Barone has given me until the end of this week to come up with a new design for the wine labels or he’s going to run with the old one.”
She flipped the first file open and handed it to me. “This is the old one.”
I looked over the familiar image. Everyone in Italy was familiar with the Cavalieri wine label.
She then started opening the rest of the files and pulling out drawings. “Here are the submitted design samples.”
I frowned. “This one is terrible. The colors are all wrong. Light blue? Apparently, this designer isn’t aware that Donatella Cinelli Colombini, the famous Italian winemaker, has declared that a light blue wine label means the wine was made on land confiscated from the mafia.”
Amara’s mouth dropped open. She took the design from my hand and tore it in half without saying anything.
I smiled. “Smart choice.”
I cocked my head to the left as I studied the next design. “And this one.Proxima Novaas a font choice? For a wine label? Are they serious?”
Amara groaned. “I know! Help me! I’m desperate.”
I grabbed my sketch pad and opened the package of colored pencils Enzo bought me. “Your main concern is the current label is iconic, so you need to do something that looks new but still feels familiar.”
“Yes! Exactly!”
She scooted closer to me, to see what I was drawing.
We spent the next hour coming up with designs. We barely even looked up when Rosa entered with a fresh pot of linden flower tea and some fresh pastries and fruit.
We only took a break when Gabriella arrived in her usual dramatic fashion.
She was followed by a tall man I recognized as the one who'd helped us out, and who Enzo had chatted with about the wrecked Ferrari after we got back to the villa last night. Alfonso was his name, I thought.
I lowered my head, more than a little embarrassed.
He had been the soul of discretion and an absolute gentleman who'd acted like there was nothing amiss about me standing there in a wrinkled coat, leaves sticking out of my hair, as Enzo nonchalantly avoided any explanation as to how we managed to trash two insanely expensive cars in the middle of a deserted road in the Apennine mountains on a cold autumn night.
Still, it was beyond humiliating.
Alfonso’s arms were piled high with flat white boxes and several round hat boxes.
Gabriella held several garment bags aloft as she clung to Alfonso’s elbow and steered him toward the lounge setting across the room. “Right over here, Alfonso.”
She guided him straight into a table. “Oops. Watch the table, darling.”
He cast her a dark look before maneuvering around the table and dropping the boxes on the closest marble table at the exact moment Gabriella pulled an expensive looking vase filled with dried flowers out of the way.
Milana followed in their wake, carrying two garment bags.
The moment I saw her, I gathered my things to leave. I knew I should have stayed in Enzo’s rooms or a hotel.
Milana tossed the garment bags over the back of a chair and crossed over to me. “Fuck. Are you leaving because you’re mad at me?”
