Authors: Lily Zante
“Widowed?” asked Nico, resting both his hands on
the table. He was still trying to get a grip on this turn of events. In two
sentences Gina had completely changed the way he now thought of Ava Ramirez.
“No wonder she looked so tired and sad. She said
it had been a terrible journey just to get here,” said Gina with an air of
sadness.
“Poor woman,” agreed Nico distractedly. He
straightened himself up. It made sense now why she hadn’t fallen for his
charms. This woman was making a terribly sad trip on what should have been one
of the happiest times of her life. He understood now why she had been so temperamental
when he met her at the airport. And why she had bumped into him. The poor woman
was suffering from stress. She had even been on the verge of tears.
Obviously, he would keep his distance from her but
at the same time ensure that this would be as pleasant a trip for her as he
could make it.
“Gina, I don’t want to make an issue of
this. But see to it as far as you can that Ms. Ramirez still believes that I am
the hotel driver.”
Without batting a beautifully made up eyelid, Gina responded, “Of course Mr.
Cazale.”
“Gina, this also means that you will need to refer
to me as Nico for now.”
“Of course Mr. Cazale.”
“And that means starting from now,” he chided her
gently as he flicked through the paperwork. There it was:
Mr. & Mrs. Connor Beachroft.
Honeymoon suite 7 nights 15
th
– 21
st
Feb
inclusive.
“I took the liberty of removing the complimentary
flowers, champagne and chocolates.”
“How thoughtful of you. Thank you Gina.”
Gina nodded. She didn’t want this poor woman’s
honeymoon to be any worse than it already was.
Ava awoke the next morning in Verona feeling
brighter and happier than she had in weeks.
She was on vacation and therefore free to do what
she wanted every day. There was no work, no commitments and nothing to worry
about. She had not taken on any more copywriting assignments for the past
couple of months and had been relying solely on the income from her online
children’s store.
Her brilliant virtual assistant, Kim, would keep
an eye on the site and take care of customer queries and problems as they came
up. This was the beauty of running an online store. She could work from
anywhere in the world.
A short while later, Ava sat alone in a corner of
the small yet light and airy conservatory where breakfast was served. It was
almost ten o’clock and she hadn’t realised that she had slept like a baby. She
had been amazed to find that the jeans and white shirt that the driver had
ordered fit her perfectly all over.
She hoped she remembered to thank him.
Munching away at her bowl of fruit, Ava flicked
through her itinerary. The dining room was all but deserted. A few guests had
been leaving as she entered and an elderly couple sat in the far corner.
She glowed with that aura that only a first day on
holiday can evoke; indeed she felt a tinge of excitement coloring her every
move. As she flicked through her guidebook and glanced at her itinerary she
realised that she had already missed the first of the guided tours, which
started at ten in the morning. It was already past ten now. She would never
make it to the city centre, where the tour started, in time.
Her fork slipped from her fingers and the metal
clang of it against the bone china bowl reverberated around the small
conservatory. It was quiet here and the elderly couple both looked over at her
and smiled before turning back and carrying on with their conversation.
Damn Connor and his love of guided tours.
Then it suddenly struck her: Why was she still
following the old
itinerary?
Before she could answer her own question, Nico,
tall and charismatic, appeared before her.
“Good Morning Ms. Ramirez.” Her eyes glanced
over his pristine white shirt and smart dark gray trousers and she noted that
he seemed gentler this morning. Or perhaps he seemed to be in a better mood
because she herself felt rested and more happier, and therefore saw him in a
different light.
“Good morning Nico.” Ava looked up and pushed her
bowl away. She cast her eyes towards him, noting his chiseled features
and at the same time noticing that his dark brown eyes had flecks of amber in
them.
“Did you sleep well?” he asked, clasping
his hands behind his back and standing up straight, almost like a butler.
“I slept wonderfully well. I slept so well in fact
that I’ve missed the guided tour to Casa di Giulietta.”
“You want to go
there
?” he asked, in a tone
which suggested against it.
“I would have gone there. But we-I-uh. I had a
guided tour organized for it. Actually, there were quite a few guided trips
organized.” She trailed off abruptly, remembering all the trips that Connor had
insisted they go on, when all along, she hadn’t wanted any guided tours at all.
She had always preferred to explore new places by herself.
She felt as if he was waiting for a response from
her.
“My fian-Uh.” She was flustered and realised that
the word tongue-tied meant exactly that. She couldn’t get her words out and in
her panic, in reaching out for her coffee cup she accidentally knocked it over,
sending a splintering sound echoing around the glass windows of the small
conservatory.
Visibly horrified at the mess she had made, Ava
scrambled to the floor to pick up the broken pieces of the cup as the dark
liquid began seeping slowly along the floor.
“Please, Ms. Ramirez. It’s alright,” said Nico
holding her gently by her elbow and helping her to her feet. The elderly couple
had turned to watch the commotion taking place.
“I’m so sorry,” said Ava in a small voice. She
felt the redness creeping to her face and she could hear her heart beating fast
again. Nico still gently held her elbow and then, realizing it was no longer
necessary, he let it go gently.
They stood facing each other. Ava’s gray-blue eyes
scanned his face before looking downwards. What was the matter with her?
“Please,” he said softly, “It’s really no big
deal.”
She looked up into Nico’s almost black eyes and
saw that they were softer now. Gone was the arrogance that she had seen in them
yesterday. As another hotel assistant rushed to clear up the mess, Nico
said in a voice low and gentle, “I can take you to the Casa di Giulietta Ms.
Ramirez. I have to go into town and I can pick you up when you’re finished. If that’s
alright by you.”
Now that he was being completely agreeable and
going so obviously out of his way to be nice to her, Ava wasn’t so sure she
wanted him to go away. She nodded.
“And your luggage has arrived. I took the liberty
of getting the porter to deliver it to your room, once I saw you were in here.
I hope that’s alright with you.”
“Yes, thank you,” said Ava with a sigh of relief.
Her shoulders relaxed a little as she exhaled. Whatever it was that had just
come over her, her anxiety was now gone. Having someone like Nico to talk to
and look at, for he was remarkably good-looking, would make it easier for her
to move on with her life and put the old, with Connor, behind her.
“Would you like to go now?” he asked, watching her
anxiously, his eyes not once leaving her face.
“Yes,” she said absent mindedly. “I’m ready to
move on.”
They had been driving for a short while when Nico
asked her “Was all your luggage intact?”
“Yes, it was.”
He
nodded and watched her from his rear view mirror.
“It says here that Juliet’s Balcony is very
popular with tourists and that you can rub Juliet’s left breast if you want a
new lover,” said Ava, carefully reading through her Lonely Planet Guide To
Italy and then blushing at what she had just read out aloud.
“So legend has it,” answered Nico slowly.
“So incredibly romantic,” mused Ava, staring out
of the window at the lush green countryside.
“How long have you been working at the Casa
Adriana?” she asked.
“Most of my life. Or at least it seems like that.”
Ava watched his face in the mirror, unable to read
the expression on his lips. She sat back in the plush leather seats and rested
her head against the fat headrest.
“About two years now,” said Nico, finally putting
a number to his reply.
“It’s a wonderful hotel,” said Ava, lifting her
head up again. “Everything about it is so carefully and meticulously thought
out.” She looked down at the white shirt she had on; it was one that Gina had
bought, she assumed, and it fit her perfectly.
“I’m glad to hear that your opinion of the service
in our country is slowly changing,” said Nico dryly.
“Whoever owns that hotel - and I know its not a
chain because Conn-I.” She stopped and caught him staring at her again.
“Because I see now that privately run hotels have a very unique and distinctive
touch about them that make them special.” One of the things about Connor was
his insistence on staying at only the best and most lavish of places. He wasn’t
one for seeking out the more well-known chains of hotels. He preferred
exclusive, family run hotels that people found out by word of mouth. The Casa
Adriana was such a hotel.
The cobbled and congested streets near the Casa di
Giulietta signaled that their short journey was almost at an end. Nico parked
up and they got out. Although it was still relatively cold here at this time of
the year, the sun was out and it helped to keep the chill out of the air. It
was not very busy now, but she could imagine the throngs of people who would
cluster here during the summer.
“I can show you around if you like?” suggested
Nico, “But I feel that would you prefer to explore alone. No?”
“Yes, I would actually.” Ava seemed a bit
embarrassed to admit this.
“Of course. Take your time. I will be waiting out
here for you.”
She
beamed a smile at him before making her way down Via Cappello which led to the
small courtyard inside which was Juliet’s house, the Casa di Giulietta.
As she ambled along Via Cappello, the deliciously
welcoming aroma of freshly baked bread and pastries seduced her taste buds. She
stopped and bought a freshly baked warm pastry, shaped like a heart with
sprinkles of sugar on top. It melted as soon as she took a bite; the buttery
sugary pastry making her wish she had bought another one, or two, at the very
least.
She paused as she walked into the courtyard,
looking at the statue of Juliet. She looked at the scattered messages
scribbled down with hope on paper and band aids, and stuck to the walls all
around.
Licking the last crumb of the pastry from her
lips, she looked up at the infamous balcony. Connor had always told her that
she was a hopeless romantic. And she had to grudgingly admit that he was right.
After all, her wedding date had been set for Valentines day and here she was
staring up at Juliet’s balcony outside the Casa di Giulietta, eating a buttery,
sugary heart shaped pastry. She laughed in spite of herself. Connor had knocked
all vestige of romance out of her with one phonecall.
She braced herself and walked inside to examine
the house.
No way was she going to rub Juliet’s left breast.
A new lover was the last thing she needed.
But as soon as she got inside, the attendants were
moving everyone through and out the other end.
The Casa di Giulietta was closing for the
afternoon because a wedding was going to take place in this very building. Ava
strained her neck to see over the crowd. The museum attendants were vacating
the building and others were bringing through beautiful bouquets of flowers.
A low gasp escaped from Ava’s mouth and she put
her hands to stifle it, holding back an overwhelming urge to vomit. She felt
her chest tighten and struggled to find enough air to fill her lungs. All of a
sudden, she felt claustrophobic and needed to get out. She could see spots
dancing in front of her eyes and she squeezed her way through the now heavy
throng that had started to gather, as news of an impending wedding went viral around
the streets.
She struggled free from the crowd and found
herself out in the courtyard once more. The irony of her sorry situation was
not lost upon her and with a heavy heart, she rubbed away the tears that had
rolled down her cheeks.
Here she was, running away from the ruins of her
own wedding and finding herself in the middle of another one.
She wiped her eyes quickly as she walked out of the
courtyard. Her legs moving faster and faster as if she couldn’t get away from
Juliet’s house fast enough.
As she marched on and turned a corner which opened
up into the local market, she soon screeched to a halt at the sight of Nico
sitting at one of the tables outside. He was sipping what looked like an
espresso. Across the table sat a glamorously made up blonde woman, tall, thin
and with eyes only for Nico.