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‘He is! How long have you guys been dating?’
‘Um, well, just a few months. We met when he was on holiday in London and we were, like, inseparable. We tried the whole long-distance thing, buty’know, we just couldn’t bear to be apart. So I looked for a job over here, which wasn’t easy. But if you want something in life, you’ve got to just go for it, right?’
‘Right!’
‘I mean, some people go through their whole lives never findingthe one. And after he’d been sent to me, I couldn’t just let him slip through my fingers. Could I?’
‘No!’ I said, trying to keep up with her enthusiasm and the speed of the words shooting from her mouth. Maybe it was the five cups of coffee she’d had since I’d arrived that was making her speak at five hundred miles an hour. Didn’t know how she drank so much so quickly. And without having to go to the toilet either. I was bursting, but was enjoying the conversation. I crossed my legs tightly.
‘Totally!So I spent six weeks looking for something here andvoilà! My hard work paid off! I couldn’t believe it when the job came up in Chiorno. I mean, talk about fate! So when they told me I got it, I quit uni and jumped straight on a plane. Just goes to show you, if things are meant to be, they’re meant to be, right?’
‘Yeah…’ I hadn’t realised she’d quit uni to come here. The mother in me heard myself saying that maybe she should have finished her education first, but who knows? Maybe she hated her course and would have left anyway. Uni wasn’t for everyone and having a degree didn’t guarantee anything. There were loads of people who achieved success without one. Plus, Holly was only twenty, so she’d have time to go back to studying later if she wanted to.
‘I mean, it’s early days but, seriously, I think this isit. He’s, like, totallythe one!’
Holly’s face lit up brighter than Christmas lights. Not too long ago, if I’d heard someone her age gushing about a guy like that, I would have saidah, young love,making myself sound like I was about ninety-five in the process. But now I knew those butterflies and feelings of happiness weren’t just for twenty-somethings. Like me, Holly had thrown caution to the wind and chosen love. Maybe we had more in common than I thought.
‘I get it. It’s exactly how I feel about Lorenzo.’
‘Totally!I mean, what is it with these Italian guys? They’re just dripping with sex appeal, aren’t they? I mean, like, most of them are anyway. Not the old fogey ones,obvs. And Umberto is, like,totallyinto me. I mean, when he picks me up on a Saturday night and we go for a drive, he can’t keep his hands off me. Andoh my God! He has gotskills.He deffo knows his way around my body. You know what I’m saying…?’ she winked.
I did indeed know what she was saying. Those early days of passion with Lorenzo were epic.Oh, to have a fully functioning libido again...I sighed in my head.
‘Yeah, there’s definitely something in the water with Italians. I remember when I came to Florence a couple of years ago, thinking that the ratio of hot guys there was much higher than in London.’
‘Totally!’
I chuckled to myself. Holly wastotallya fan of that word.
‘Sounds like you’re really enjoying yourself here, then?’
‘I mean, the whole language thing is a bit of a ball-ache and the clubbing scene is nonexistent, but life isn’t a bed of roses, is it? Things can’t always be hunky-dory. At the end of the day, I’m, like,totallyin love with Umberto and I’m in freaking Italy, baby! All my mates are well jel! Compared to my life in London, I’m living the dream!’
I loved Holly’s positivity. What she was saying was just like what I’d written on my list. We were lucky to be here and to be in love.
‘And how are your host family?’
‘The kids are cool. We have a laugh. And the parents are…alright. Really, um…friendly.’
‘That’s good, so how—’
Suddenly the kitchen door opened and short, round man appeared.
‘Ciao!’ He smiled at Holly and then his eyes widened as he spotted me on the other side of the kitchen counter. ‘Ciao…’ He took my hand and kissed it slowly.
‘Sophia, this is Silvestro. The host dad.’
‘Ciao.’ I smiled politely. ‘Mi chiamo Sophia.’
‘Piacere,’ he said, kissing my hand again.
Alright, mister, that’s quite enough,agreed Reasanna.
He babbled something in Italian and then left the room.
‘He’s a bit of a charmer, isn’t he?’
‘Um, yeah, a bit,’ Holly said sheepishly. ‘He only works around the corner, so sometimes he pops back early before lunch.’
