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Chapter Thirty-One
Nice place.
We’d just arrived at Geli’s house for our Italian lesson. Whilst the décor itself was very traditional, she’d just taken us into the living room, where there were lots of colourful paintings and trinkets on display. Some looked like they were from Africa, others from India and maybe South America? I guessed Geli had picked them up from her travels.
‘You may wonder why today I have invited you to the home of my mother,sì? Well, I told you at the beginning of our lessons that we were going to learn about practical things that will help you every day. So today I will teach you about things you may usea casa—at home. Okay? Let us start here, in the living room. What types of things might you want to say in this room? Daphne?’
‘I have absolutely no idea.’
‘That is helpful.’ Geli rolled her eyes. ‘Holly?’
‘How about: please can you pass me the remote control?’
‘Bene. To ask that, you sayper favore mi passi il telecomando.’
‘Cool, thanks.’
‘Prego. What else? Sophia?’
‘Shall we watch Netflix?’
‘Good. You say:guardiamo Netflix?Or even better, you could sayti va di va di guardare Netflix e rilassarci un po?which means,would you like to Netflix and chill?’ She winked.
I swear Geli was some kind of psychic. Although the massive grin plastered across my face was probably a dead giveaway. Lorenzo and I had beenNetflixing and chillingalmost every night this week. I couldn’t get enough of him. I felt like a completely different person. Crazy that less than a month ago, I’d been terrified of having sex again. I’d hadzerodesire. Butnow, I was thinking about it constantly. I was like a dog in heat.
As soon as Leo was asleep, we would literally jump on each other. Back then, in my dark no-libido days, I thought I’d never do it again and definitely not with Leo in the room, but that time away in Florence and London, my conversations with Roxy, Bella and Geli and making a point of exploring and familiarising myself with my new body had gradually made me more relaxed. Not breastfeeding probably played a part too.
Everything I’d experienced over the last few weeks had also helped me put a lot of things in perspective. I knew now what was important in my life, which was really liberating and helped my mind and body feel free.
As for Leo, he was a baby. He didn’t know what was going on. At this age it was fine. There was no risk of him being mentally scarred if he happened to wake up and see daddy on top of mummy. Although lately it had been more likemummy on top of daddy…
After my bedroom gymnastics with Lorenzo, every step I took was still an effort. But this time, a little bit of post-sex pain was worth the gain. I reckoned I was getting a lot fitter in the process too. Much more fun than forcing myself to do those exercise classes online.
It wasn’t just on the bedroom front that things were looking up. I wasthis closeto confirming a deal to sell the business to Rhonda, which had been amassiveweight off my shoulders, and since my visit, Harrison said the team seemed more motivated too.
And now here I was, back at my lessons with Geli, which had become another source of—dare I say it?—enjoyment. Life in this town was finally starting to become more bearable.
Geli took us through various rooms in the house. She taught us how to ask for different ingredients in the kitchen. After that, we helped to lay the table in the dining room, learning the names of cutlery and crockery. Then we all sat down and ate a meal she’d cooked us, which she used to teach us how to ask someone to pass things like water or wine, how to say we liked the food, wanted more, were full or hungry etc. All essential vocab for living in Italy.
Next we went to the bathroom, where we learnt how to saymuoviti, mi serve il bagno,which meanthurry up, I’m bursting for the toilet, andpuoi abbassare la tavoletta per favore!—can you please put the toilet seat down!Again, really useful stuff.
Then it was on to the bedroom. She introduced everyone to her mum, who was recuperating in bed, then took us to the spare room.
‘So, the bedroom. Important phrases you may want to know:non stasera amore, ho mal di testa:meansnot tonight, darling, I have a headache.’
‘Sorry, I didn’t catch that.’ Daphne perked up. ‘Can you repeat that, please?’ She quickly wrote it down in her notepad.Bet she’s glad the lessons are practical now.
‘Or…’ Geli looked straight at me. ‘You may wish to say:amore, prendimi adesso, which meansdarling, take me now.’ She winked. I tapped away on my phone and showed it to Geli to check the spelling.
‘Correct. You do not always need to take notes. I will send the important phrases in my WhatsApp message and voice note.’
I really liked when she did that every week because sometimes I didn’t remember how to pronounce things, so having the voice note was handy to help me check I was saying things right. Now I wasn’t exercising every day, I had more time to listen to them and practise. I was definitely feeling a lot more confident about my Italian.
‘Geli,’ said Holly cautiously, ‘how do you say, “No, please don’t come in. I’m not interested”?’ Geli’s eyes widened. I also frowned. I assumed that she was talking about someone not coming in her bedroom? That was an odd thing to ask.
‘Er, you say:no per favore non entrare, non mi interessa.’
Holly wrote it down and repeated it twice out loud.
