Total pages in book: 55
Estimated words: 51166 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 256(@200wpm)___ 205(@250wpm)___ 171(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 51166 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 256(@200wpm)___ 205(@250wpm)___ 171(@300wpm)
When one of her snores is loud, she startles awake, her eyes suddenly wide before she levels her gaze at me. “Oh, Daniela, you’re back! Did you have a good lunch?”
“Yes, very good.”
The older woman is wide awake now, as if she’d never been napping. “And what are your plans for this evening? Will you come to the restaurant again?”
I look to Matteo, who tilts his head in a small shrug.
“I’d love that,” I tell Nonna Sofia.
We go to the restaurant earlier than we had the night before, Matteo, Fiero, and I in Matteo’s small car. I ask questions about their village and their family to fill the awkward silences between the men, and I’m anticipating a long, potentially uncomfortable meal with the two of them, but I’m saved by Nonna Sofia as soon as we enter the restaurant.
“Matteo, Fiero, we need help. Gianluca’s wife had their baby today, earlier than expected, so the kitchen is short-handed. One of the waiters is sick, too.”
Matteo speaks up first, but I quickly join in. “I’ll help.”
“We’ll all help, Nonna,” Fiero says.
The older woman wastes no time assigning tasks to each of us. Fiero ends up in the kitchen, Matteo serves customers, and I’m told to take over folding the napkins Nonna Sofia was working on so that she can attend to other things.
A few minutes into my task, I find myself humming along with the restaurant’s background music. When I’m nearly finished with the napkins, Signora Bestia finds me, thanks me profusely for helping, and asks me to take a stack of menus to the front desk.
From there, I bounce around, doing whatever’s asked of me, helping Matteo deliver dishes to tables, ferrying silverware from the kitchen to the wait station, even greeting guests and helping a mother with a fussy child.
Giovanni, who’d been busy in the kitchen, finds me when I’m clearing a table. “I didn’t know we’d hired such a beautiful new waitress.” He doesn’t linger long enough for me to reply, but instead flashes a devilish grin over his shoulder as he continues on his way.
Later, I’m surprised when I realize that only a few guests remain in the dining room. Several hours have passed in what seems like no time at all.
Back in my bed that night, alone and again staring at the ceiling, I realize how happy I was working at the restaurant. I felt like part of the family, rather than a guest.
How wonderful it would be, to be part of this family.
But even if that could somehow be possible in some parallel universe, I know I wouldn’t be happy here if I had to choose between the brothers, and last night Fiero and Matteo made it very clear that they still expect me to choose.
The only solution I can think of is the heartbreaking one I keep coming back to: I have to let both of them go, and settle for that nice guy and a couple of kids.
That’s been my dream since I was little.
When did it go from being my ideal, to just settling?
I hear footsteps in the hallway a couple of times, but no one comes to my room.
The next morning after breakfast, Matteo gets a call from someone at the university and tells me he needs to drive into Naples for a few hours. I wait for him to invite me to go along, but he doesn’t. Fiero is already in his studio working.
The back terrace is empty, so I sit out there for a while, staring blankly at the beautiful scenery and feeling sorry for myself, a sad young woman with not one, but two gorgeous boyfriends, who still can’t get things right. Unlucky at love, as always.
Maybe Matteo and Fiero have reached the same conclusion that I have: it’s time for things to end. I’m sure they won’t break up with me during this trip, but I expect we’ll all have a talk when we get back to the US. If they don’t initiate it, I will.
Despite my terrible record of romantic failures, I’m not one to dwell on the negative. I cut my pity party short as soon as I hear voices from the house. Elenora and her children have come over, so I go inside to visit with them, Signora, and Nonna.
They’re all so lovely, and I’m sad that I’ll never see them again after this week, but I choose to focus on the fact that I was fortunate to meet them at all.
Matteo still hasn’t returned, and Fiero hasn’t surfaced from his studio, so I decide to take a walk around the grounds. I’m drawn from one flowering bush to another, trying to soak up as much Mediterranean sun as I can before I have to go home to bleak winter weather and long hours spent indoors studying. Eventually, I come upon an olive orchard.