Honeymoon For One (16 page)

It was all too much to take in too soon. She had
only left him yesterday evening, when Silvia had taken a knife to her heart and
dug right in. And yet here he was again, when she had least expected to see
him.

She dropped the newspaper, took a couple of steps
towards him and gave him a huge resounding slap. She could tell by the noise it
made that was painful.

Nico’s cheek was red and he raised his hand to it
slowly, not once taking his eyes off Ava. She waited, expecting to see his
usual, customary flash of anger but there was nothing. Instead, he watched her
calmly.

“I deserved that. I know.” Still no expression. No
anger. No smile. He just continued watching her, then he picked up the
newspaper that she had dropped, paid the kiosk owner and took Ava’s arm gently
by the crook of her elbow. He lead her back to her table.

His manner left her at a loss for words and so she
complied. The burst of anger she had felt when she first saw him had
disappeared as soon as she had slapped him.

Now
she only had questions.

What
was he doing here? Where was Silvia? Where was the child?
And why the hell was he in the paper?

“Have you been following me?” she asked angrily,
shaking her arm away. She moved over to her side of the table and sat back down
again. Her cappuccino was cold and she pushed it away. Nico moved his chair
from the opposite end of the white cast iron table and moved it alongside hers.

“I’m sorry.” His eyes, so angry and cold yesterday
were now soft and warm. Ava looked at him and for a fleeting second, she felt a
tinge of sadness too. For him, for her. For their situation.

“I thought there might also be a picture of your
bride alongside,” she said with venom.

“My
bride
?” he looked genuinely surprised
to hear this from her.

“You, Silvia, apparently you have a daughter
together. She told me, amongst other things. Was that some minor detail that
you forgot to tell me?” she was savage in the way she tossed these words at him
so contemptuously. She crossed her arms tightly around her chest, and crossed
her legs too and stared at him with eyes that were cold.

The news temporarily stunned Nico into silence.
She could tell he hadn’t seen this one coming.

“Yeah, I figured you wouldn’t know how to get out
of this one,” said Ava, her face straining with tension.

“Hmmm.” Nico snorted. “That’s what she told you
huh?”

Ava sneered at him. “You deny it then? Next you’ll
be telling me that you’re not really a playboy either.”

Nico’s face hardened. “I’m not. Maybe six or seven
years ago I might have been a bit carefree about things. But I’ve changed a lot
since then. But I don’t blame you for having that impression about me.”

“So when is the wedding?” Ava continued, at full
speed.

“There is no wedding. There never was. We were
never really a couple.” Nico said firmly. “I can’t ask you to believe me. I
can’t ask anything of you Ava, I know that. But I’m telling you the truth now.
I’ve never lied to you. Sometimes I might have not told you certain things, but
I never lied.”  He seemed desperate for her to hear his side of the story. They
were still standing, a few metres away from the kiosk. Nico’s dark eyes
glittered as he spoke, “ The child is not mine. I always knew that but Silvia kept
telling everyone. I think as the years went by she started to believe it
herself. So the time had come when I decided to end these rumors. And my father
too wanted to know, in a way.” He said this to himself more than to her. “You
met him that day.”

Ava let out a mock peal of laughter, slowly
uncrossing her arms and letting her hands splay out onto the table. “Ahhh, yes.
Mr. Cazale. You did mention him to me, that your father was the owner of the
hotel. All the pieces of the puzzle are starting to take shape. I knew there
had been bits missing. And now I  know that you aren’t a hotel driver. You’re
the owner’s
son
. If only I’d known that the other day, I might have made
a play for your father instead of you, being the gold-digging carnivore that
you think I am.”

She immediately regretted saying anything about
his father but the words had come out and it was too late to take them back.

Nico placed his hands on the table and leaned
closer to Ava. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. You mentioned the watch, the suit and
then you kissed me. I’ve had that type of attention all my life. Its what I
know and what I can see from a mile away and what I run away from.” His eyes
pleaded for forgiveness but Ava wasn’t giving in so easily.

“You didn’t fit as someone who was just the driver
for the hotel. And for what it’s worth, I noticed your watch the first day we
met. It’s so damn big it would be hard to miss. I saw your expensive designer
suit the day after. I wondered how come a man dressed like you and with
your…..how shall I put it? Your personality…how could you be a mere driver? But
I was too preoccupied with my own problems. I didn’t want your attention Nico; don’t
you remember that? I wanted to be left alone. You were the one who kept
hounding me. You offered to take me here and there. I was going to Pisa and Milan until you convinced me to go to Montova. I didn’t ask you to do these
things for me. I only wanted to be left alone. I wanted this holiday to give me
some peace. But you didn’t let me have that peace.”

It had all come rushing out, the words she had
held inside for too long and now they were all out and she didn’t care what he
thought. She sat upright in her chair placing her arms firmly against the armrests,
as though she might slip down and onto the floor if she let go of them. She
watched him, sitting in front of her looking downcast and she waited to hear
what else he had to say.

Instead, Nico folded his hands together,
interlocking his fingers. “I’m sorry I hurt you Ava. I was wrong.”

“That’s it?” she asked dubiously. “I tell you my
feelings in an attempt to explain to you that I wasn’t the gold digger you had
me down for and that’s all you have to say in your defence.
Sorry
?” Nico
stood with his head bowed, taking in the full brunt of her onslaught.

“You held me, we kissed, we-” she stopped, not
wanting to open up the floodgates of emotion that memories of the kiss bought
back. He might not have thought anything of that moment. The last thing she
wanted him to know was that she had thought of nothing else but that kiss.

Changing tactic, she said, “I have Silvia telling
me that you have a child, telling me to stay away from you, I see you and your
father and Silvia and a little girl,” she fought for composure before adding in
a whisper, “and all I could think of was how you had used me.”  She took a deep
breath, more to still her emotions so that she would not do the very thing that
she felt like doing – crumbling into pieces in front of him.

But as she glanced at him, Nico lifted his head; something
she said inflamed him because his eyes were blazing once more. She had come to
know his body signals well enough now to read his moods. It didn’t look as if
he was going to say anything anytime too soon. She got ready for another
assault. “I wasn’t looking to meet anyone when I came here. Believe me when I
tell you that men were the furthest thing from my mind. The only reason I asked
you that day by the stream, when we were in Montagnano, was because I thought
we had a moment of closeness. I felt you were opening up to me. I wanted to
know who you were. I knew you were keeping something from me. And, as it turns
out, you were keeping a whole other side of your life from me. You used me
didn’t you Nico?”

He let out an angry gasp and waited before
launching into his own explanation. “I was trying to make this a good holiday
for you. I wasn’t making a play for you. I swear I wasn’t. You must believe me.
It’s just that I felt sorry for you.”

Ava shot forward in her chair and cocked her head
towards him haughtily. “You felt sorry for me?” she asked slowly. Her eyes
narrowed as she waited for his response. Nico opened his mouth and then closed
it again; he seemed to have second thoughts about what he was going to say.

Ava countered, “Why would you feel sorry for me?
Do I look that desperate to you? A woman alone on holiday? Do you really find
it so hard to believe that a woman alone might actually want to be left alone?”
Her voice was getting louder and people around them were starting to look their
way.

“Let’s take this discussion somewhere else shall
we?” suggested Nico, anxious to take this public demonstration away from prying
eyes and ears.

“Answer my question,” she said in a firm voice,
getting up and moving away from him as though the mere proximity of him was
objectionable to her. Nico followed her cautiously, not wanting  to make
an already bad situation even worse.

A few strides were all it took for him to catch up
with her and when he did, he placed his hands lightly on her shoulders, gently
forcing her to turn towards him.  But Ava stared at him with such contempt
that he released his hands and left them dangling by his sides.

“Why are you so mad at me?” he asked finally, a
hint of irritation creeping into his voice. “Why so much melodrama Ava?” She
could tell that he regretted the words as soon as he said them. He put a
placating hand up but it was too late to salvage the damage. “You feel sorry
for me?” she sneered again. “Was that your pity you were giving me over by the
bench at Montagnano? Is that what you tell all women who catch your eye?” She
kept on pummeling him with her words and even though she knew this was an
pointless conversation, she couldn’t help herself. She wanted to hurt him and
make him feel as bad as she had felt yesterday. He looked so despondent and she
knew she should stop carrying on so, but each time he opened his mouth he said
something else that set her off.

He stared at her pensively. She had seen that look
on him before, when he wasn’t quite sure whether he ought to say what was on
his mind.

“Well, say it then,” she insisted, glaring at him
as she stood in a confrontational pose before him.

Nico was silent again. He blinked, then looked
away before throwing his hands up in the air and raising his eyes to hers. “I
know what happened to you. I know how hard this trip must have been for you.”

Ava
gulped.
Come again?

“What?” she asked in a whisper, it was as if the
wind had been knocked out of her lungs and she was gasping for air.

“It is the worst thing that could happen to a
person.” He looked right into her eyes and saw the surprise on her face. The
contempt in her eyes was replaced by genuine surprise.

Ava stared at him vacantly as thoughts clashed in
her mind. What on earth was he talking about? When she didn’t respond, he
continued, “I could feel you were very sad, that first day at the airport when
you landed.”

Ava’s eyes rolled upwards. She was thinking back
to that day when she landed. “My flight was delayed and I lost my luggage. Big
deal,” she said and turned around and carried on walking.

Nico followed hard on her heels.  “I’m not
talking about that,” he said softly. “I know this trip was meant to be your
honeymoon.”

For the second time, Ava stopped dead in her
tracks. She turned around and stared at him impassively.

How did he know?

“Shit happens,” she said at last.

“So-so you’re okay about it all?” asked Nico,
stopping and staring at her incredulously.

“Yes, I’m pretty much over it now. Shit happens
all the time, you know. You just have to get on with it.”

Nico put his hands to his face. “And you think
we’re passionate. I think you Americans are cold-hearted and callous.”

“Oh really?”

“
Shit happens
? That’s all you have to say
about it?”

“Pretty much,” returned Ava slowly. She was
starting to wonder how he could have known anything at all. Had Connor phoned
the hotel?

“Did you love him?” asked Nico. From the crazy way
he was looking at her face Ava could tell he was more than a bit concerned.

“Once, yes, very much so. But people change.
Looking back now, it was the best thing he could have ever done for me.”

Nico shook his head, not quite sure whether he was
hearing right or not. “Wait, wait,” he said, rubbing his face with his hands.
He was struggling to make sense of it all. 

“Dying was the best thing your fiancé could have
done for you?”

“Dying? Who said he was dead!” The surprise in
Ava’s voice made her words hang in the air and reverberate all around them.
Several passers by stopped to listen.

Nico
put his fingers to his chin. “So he’s not dead?” he asked calmly.

“Who? Connor? No, not the last I heard anyway. You
thought he was dead?”

“Yes. I thought you were a widow.”

“Widow? Hell no. I was a jilted bride!” And then
Ava realised what it was that Nico had believed had happened to her. She found
the whole idea so ridiculous that she laughed out loud while Nico watched her
with a worried look on his face. Now she knew she was
definitely
scaring
the daylights out of him.