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“Like some throwaway, then?”
“Mom, please.”
She releases a set of juicy expletives directed at Severio. After the conversation with Severio last night, I’m peeved she’s not cursing Gio.
I wait until she’s calm again and ask, “Did you know the claiming isn’t about sex?”
“Clearly, it is.”
I don’t think this is a good time to tell her I have a new tattoo. “Did Gio?—”
“Come home, Cristina.” She cuts me off, probably because it’s too risky to talk about Gio right now. I heed my mom’s caution and don’t push.
“I’ll be there soon. Love you.” I hang up first and squint my eyes, trying to ward off the headache that won’t go away. Severio offered me pain pills from his toiletry bag. Rebelliously, I wouldn’t take them before, but now I need them because I want to function like a human and not a zombie.
My phone pings a text message from an unknown number. It reads:I know you’re awake. Join me.
7
A GENTLEMAN
CRISTINA
Having been discovered, I step out of the room at the same time that Paulina walks in. One eye seductively hidden by a hat, she gives me what I interpret as a knowing smile. Unless I’m reading way too much into this, she thinks I slept with Severio. Why else would I be sneaking out of his bedroom at noon?
I smile back, certain my face is as red as a ripe currant.
After Paulina, Corrado’s wife, Michela, smiles as well and bids me good morning as she walks by. I mumble something back, her cute baby, thankfully, taking up all her attention. Even though I promised myself I wasn’t going to wave at the baby, I do it anyway so I can see her wave back. She doesn’t because her cheek rests on her mom’s shoulder, and her eyes are droopy. She’s clearly ready for an afternoon nap.
I could use a nap too. Or a time capsule trip into an alternative reality. I’ll take anything that would get me out of sitting down for brunch with Severio.
Corrado comes from the terrace and closes the door behind him. His attire of T-shirt and shorts tells me the family is going to the beach before they depart. (And never return.)
“You forgot the slippers.” He points at my bare feet.
“I didn’t forget them.”
Lazily, Corrado’s gaze climbs from my feet to my face. His hazel-green eyes harden. “You will want to do exactly what my brother’s note instructs.”
My face burns. “I thought his note was private.”
“It was.”
“But you read it.”
Unashamed that he breached his brother’s privacy and mine, for that matter, he nods.
“That’s not very nice,” I tell him as if he cares.
“I’m not here for nice.”
Since he’s standing at the door, I don’t move in his direction. I wring my hands and look around the room.
Corrado walks toward me, and I tense, pulling back my shoulders like a soldier might as his commanding officer walks by. Thankfully, Corrado says nothing more before exiting the villa.
Now that Severio’s entire family saw me before they left, my walk of shame is complete, and I make my way outside, where Severio’s dressed in a pair of crisp black pants and a white button-up shirt. Business casual again, even as his family is going to the beach, and he’s visiting one of the nicest resorts on this side of Europe. Most men, even Gio, who dresses as formally as my dad used to, wears more casual clothing when coming for lunch at the resort over the weekend.
But if Severio is departing today, maybe he’s ready to leave already.
