Honeymoon For One (9 page)

“Is everything alright?” asked Nico. Ava nodded
before answering her cell and walking away, making her way up the stairs
slowly.

Why did her mother never stop worrying about her?
“Hi mom. What’s up? I have like five missed calls from you.”

“You have five missed calls from me and you’re
wondering what’s up?” Ava could hear the worry in her mother’s voice and she
was suddenly worried that something was wrong. She clutched the cell to her
ear. “Are you alright mom?” She walked into her hotel room, slipped off her
jacket and lay down on the bed.

“’I’m worried about you Ava! Five calls to you and
no answer,” her mother cried. “What’s a mother supposed to think?”

Ava
groaned and let herself breathe again. Of course, everything was fine. Her
mother was fine. She mother was just being her mother.

“Mom I’m fine. In fact, I’m having a wonderful
time.”

“Now that I know you’re safe and well, I’m having
a wonderful time knowing that you’re having a wonderful time.” Ava could hear
the relief in her mother’s voice and imagined her sitting down in her favorite
reading chair which was her favorite place for making calls and reading.

“It’s so beautiful here mom, I wish you could see
how beautiful it is here.”

“A few days in Italy and you sound like a new
person Ava. I’m so glad you went. I knew it would be the right thing for you.”

“Rona doesn’t think so.”

“Rona can’t see beyond diapers and poop at the
moment. And she’s not getting much sleep either. I bet she wishes she was out
there with you. But she’s glad you got away. She returned the ring by the way.”

The
ring. Connor. She hadn’t thought of him at all lately.

“Was everything alright….giving the ring back and
all?”

“Must
have been. She didn’t say much about it.”

The final thing had been done. Now Ava felt that
the final connection, that last link to Connor was severed forever. She took a
deep breath and watched her stomach rise and fall as she breathed in and out.

“I’m real glad that’s done mom.”

“I know Ava, I know.”

“Mom?” Ava ran her hand over her stomach, and
wondered if she should mention the handsome driver she had met. Though it was
silly because what was there to say?

“Ava?”

She decided against it and settled for “I miss you
mom.” What would her mother make of it anyway? After all, there was nothing
going on except a wisp of attraction on her part. She couldn’t gauge Nico’s
interest in her. She flushed as she remembered him teasing her.
You don’t
think I’m doing all this for you do you?
He had said. He was probably doing
nothing more than his working duties required of him.

“I miss you too honey. Enjoy the rest of your
trip. I love you.”

“Bye mom, love you.”

Ava
lay on the bed, thinking of Nico’s jet colored eyes and tried to wonder what
had changed in only two days.

It had been an early morning appointment for Nico.
But he was relieved that it was over and done with. He left the steps of the
private hospital and rushed to his car, slamming the door shut behind him.

He turned and waved to Alessa as she got into her
mother’s car. He hadn’t wanted Alessa to experience any pain and luckily for
her, it had been a painless experience. Luckily for him, it had been a quick
experience and she had asked no awkward questions. Unluckily for him, Silvia
had been in a foul mood the whole time and hadn’t been the easiest of people to
get on with.

At least it was over and done with.  His
shoulders relaxed for the first time that whole morning. This was what he had
given up his day at Montova with Ava for. His nostrils flared at the thought of
it. Soon, it wouldn’t matter. He was sure of the outcome.

His thoughts turned to tomorrow and the trip to
Montova with Ava.  His face brightened and the tightness that had made his
eyes heavy and fixed that grouchy look on his face, soon melted away.

Despite his earlier resolve, he was finding it
difficult to stop thinking about her.

She
wasn’t the least bit charmed by him, he could see that. But for him it was such
a breath of fresh air to meet a woman who knew nothing about him at all. Yet he
couldn’t escape the fact that her visit to Verona was mired by the most tragic
of circumstances. He was trying to do his best to make everything good for her.
But the fact that he was looking forward to tomorrow and spending a whole day
with her, made him feel guilty for having these feelings at all.

He reasoned that it would be better to spend a day
being her friend, than wishing things could be any different.

By the time his car pulled into the driveway at
the Casa Adriana, his mood had changed completely and he was eager to get on
with the meetings he had lined up for the day. Getting out of the car and
walking towards the hotel entrance, he quickly checked his daily schedule on
the Blackberry to make sure he wouldn’t miss anything important today.

As he bounded up the two stone steps leading to
the double glass doors, Ava was making her way out. She slipped her cell phone
into her bag without looking where she was going and went crashing straight into
Nico, sending his Blackberry flying out of his hands. It went scuttling across
the ground. He heard a small groan escape her lips and in an instant she was on
the ground, reaching out for it. He bent down at the same time, so close to her
that he could almost taste the scented body lotion she had used. For the
briefest of seconds, the image of a bare backed Ava, slathering body lotion
over herself burst into his mind.

“Did I break it?” she asked apologetically, her
face contorted with horror as she picked up his Blackberry and examined it in
her hand.

“Uhhh,” was all Nico could manage as he struggled
to shake the image away. “Here let me see,” he said, reaching over to take it
from her. His fingers grazed the warm skin of her palms and sent a tingling feeling
in his chest.  He pretended to look the Blackberry over.

“It’s fine I’m sure, don’t worry about it,” he
said, managing to display a degree of calmness which he didn’t really feel.

He stared at her, his heart beating wildly now
that he was so close to her. Her eyes had changed color again and were now a
lighter shade of blue in the morning sun.

“I’m so sorry Nico,” Ava said worriedly, slowly standing
up. “I seem to have a knack for bumping into you all the time.”

“You do, don’t you,” he managed to say, with a
slight smile, though he didn’t care at all whether his Blackberry  was broken
or not. He couldn’t get the scent of her out of his senses. All he could see
was the clear gray-blue of her eyes and his insides melted. He felt like a hot
blooded clumsy teenager once more. Which was a crazy thought, because it had
been well over a decade since he had left his teen years.

Ava was having an odd effect on him and he
couldn’t find the right words to say to her. It wasn’t that he didn’t know what
to say. It was that he knew what he couldn’t say. He knew what path he could
not venture down.

He straightened up, but the calm smile on his face
belied the tumultuous feelings stirring inside him. He wanted this woman. But
she was not his to have.

“It’s fine, please don’t worry about it,” he said,
resisting the urge to touch her face and tell her that it was alright. Instead,
he gripped the Blackberry tightly, fighting to keep these feelings that she had
stirred up, under control.

“Are you sure?” asked Ava again, staring up at his
face searchingly. He wished she would either leave or let him through because
he couldn’t stand this close to her any longer without doing something he would
later regret.

Mistaking his silence for anger about the
Blackberry she said, “I’ll get you another one if it’s damaged.” She stared up
at him for the longest time.

“It’s fine Ava, really. I must get going.”

“Busy day today?” she seemed eager to strike up a
conversation.

Then
he remembered he had told her he would be tied up for the day. “Yes. Hectic.
Where are you off to today?” He asked, to lighten his tone.

“Gina told me to try the Roman Theatre and the Arena but I’m thinking about going to Milan for the day.”

“Milan?” he asked in surprise. “That’s over an
hour away, by train.”

 “I like trains,” retorted Ava defensively.

“Ahhh.  You like shopping too? If you like
shopping, you will love Milan. Most of the women do.” He didn’t have Ava down
for someone who was so interested in shopping. She and Silvia were such
opposites. .

“I thought I might check out Milan ahead of our
trip to Montova.”

Nico’s
eyes glittered with curiosity, “If you want to shop for yourself, then by all
means go to Milan. But if you’re looking for products for your store, you won’t
get them in Milan. Montova is much better. But, I don’t want to keep putting
you off visiting these places. It seems that’s all I am doing at the moment.”
His eyes displayed a touch of playfulness. He tried not to stare too intently
at her face as she thought about it.

“Since you’ve convinced me to go to this place
tomorrow, I don’t think I’ll bother going to Milan today. I’ll go to those
places that Gina suggested instead.”  She got out her sunglasses and
slipped them onto her face.

“The arena is a good choice although it is better
when they have operas on,” said Nico and he couldn’t help but notice the
wedding band on her hand.  “Have a good day Ava,” he said, opening the
glass door.

“Ciao.”

They parted ways and Ava practically skipped off
the steps and headed out of the hotel.

Nico watched her walking away out of sight and the
adoring look on his face changed in an instant as he saw Silvia storming
towards him with a look of pure hatred on her face.

“You forgot your calculator,” snapped Silvia
blasting in through the double doors and heading straight for him. She threw
the small silver device at him. The good feeling that Ava had just left him
with, evaporated into the air.

“It’s only a calculator Silvia,” he said irritably.
“Alessa was bored, I told her to play with it. I don’t even need it back.” But
he knew the real reason for her coming here was not to return the calculator,
she would have found another excuse if it wasn’t that. He hadn’t even seen or
heard her car pull up but he didn’t need to guess. He knew that she had seen
everything.

Silvia’s face turned into a tight smile. “Don’t
worry darling, you know how much I like to see you,” she said, before she
rushed back to her car.

As soon as she said that, he knew she had seen
everything. With a face like thunder, Nico headed straight towards the
reception desk only to find Gina hitting him with the words he least expected.
“Nico, your father’s back.”

The day could not have gotten any worse. 
Nico placed his hand across his forehead and ran his fingers through his thick,
black hair. His father was not going to be very happy with him. But he had to
face him no matter what.

“Where is he?” he asked Gina wearily.

“In the office,” she replied, looking sideways at
the small door just behind the hotel reception.  “You’d better be quick. He
has a meeting with the Luxuriant Group at two.”

“He wasn’t supposed to be back until tomorrow,”
replied Nico, tensing the fingers of his hands.

“The Luxuriant group bought forward their meeting
to today. They have an offer that interested your father greatly.”

Nico’s shoulders rose and fell sharply as his
breathing grew deeper. He walked towards the door slowly. He didn’t like the
sound of this. His father had given him two years and he was only halfway
through.  

What
was all this about?

The Luxuriant Group were one of the larger groups
that had their big, corporate eye on the Cazale hotels. Nico knew that if his
father had curtailed his trip to Rome, then he would be seriously considering
their offer to buy. He walked through the main office and opened another door
at the side which led to Edmondo Cazale’s office.

Nico knocked before walking in anyway. He was the
only one who ever did this. His father sat behind the large wooden desk and looked
at Nico with his puffy, baggy eyes. Eyes that were once almost jet black in
color, eyes which Nico now had. Now, with old age, Edmondo Cazale’s eyes were a
gray-ish, dark brown. But he still had a handsome face and his almost silver
hair gave him a distinguished look that commanded immediate respect.

“There you are son,” he said slowly, putting down
his pen and clasping his hands together.

“Back so soon Papa?” asked Nico, looking at his
father with a mixture of love and frustration. He already knew why his father
had rushed back but he wanted to hear his father say it.

His father pinched the top of his nose with his
forefinger and thumb, massaging it gently. He was getting headaches so often
these days.