by Olivia Hart
“Wait… wait a minute! Did Anita go to Umbria with him?” Pina continues relentlessly.
“Yes… I think so… I’m not sure. There was an important concert in Umbria…” She turns to Matteo for help, and totally disorientated, she asks him, “what did Anita say this morning about the concert?”
“Well, Pina, whatever happened it’s not important now.” Matteo’s tone is brusque. “Let’s try to salvage something from this mess instead.”
“We didn’t really need an artist in our building! I hate those types. He’s not funny – he’s just posh.” Everyone looks at Paolo with surprise. It’s unusual to hear him say something like that – the sophisticated architect.
“Talking about posh, Paolo get a move on, and let’s count how many new sticks we need to buy for the tomato plants.” Matteo says jokingly, and everybody bursts into laughter.
Giovanna is glad that the subject has shifted from Anita to more practical matters but Pina hasn’t been fooled. She still mulling things over, connecting the dots. “Hmm… did Giovanna say it was this morning that she saw Matteo Spina?”
“It’s really true that the clothes don’t make the man.” Giovanna is commenting on Daniel’s final coup de grâce.
“Coming from you?” Pina bursts out. “You thought the world of him – a classy young man, from a good family…”
“So what? I was fooled like everyone else… everyone but Anita! Thank god she didn’t fall for him.” She adds, full of pride.
*
Pina watches Giovanna and Matteo exchange glances. “There’s something peculiar about the whole situation.” She remembers what she wrote in her diary…
April 30, 10 a.m. – Matteo Spina, all dressed up, leaves the building. I wonder if he has a date… but no, he says that has to go to the tax office to sort something out. 10:15 a.m. – Giovanna also leaves. Jesus! That dark purple suit really looks great on her – those legs! At her age!
May 7, 9:45 a.m. – Matteo Spina’s wearing a jacket and tie again! He sure looks like a new man when he’s dressed like this. He says he’s going to the station to say goodbye to a relative. 10:00 a.m. – Giovanna rushes out. She doesn’t stop to chat like she usually does. She explains that she’s late for a baptism – on a Monday? Strange. She really looks beautiful this morning.
So, every Monday morning they both leave the building just a few minutes apart, all dressed up. “If I’m right, this is really big news!” Pina thinks, returning to help the others restore the poor garden as best they can.
*
At that moment Anita comes through the gate. She keeps re-living the nightmare which has come so unexpectedly she can barely breathe and her stomach feels hollow.
“Anita! Did you see what Daniel – that asshole – has done?!” Paolo tries to include her.
The pain she’s feeling prevents her from engaging with her neighbours. She finds outs that Daniel has left abruptly. “Just as well… I don’t give a shit!” She thinks.
They want to show her the damage to the garden, but she can’t hang around. “I’m sorry, I have a terrible headache, it hasn’t happened for months. I need to rest. Bye…” She leaves and goes straight up to her room. She closes the door and collapses on her bed.
When Giovanna returns half an hour later, she pauses in front of Anita’s door but decides to leave be.
In the dark, Anita’s thoughts are racing in a frenzy. When she reaches the abyss, she feels her pain turning to rage. A new burning, furious feeling elbows its way to the surface. “What? Did he already have another woman? Who stays with him at his place? Since when?! I can’t believe this. He’s worse than Daniel! I have to call him right now. I need to know. Where’s my phone…?” In a matter of moments Anita, exhausted, falls asleep.
*
Mizuki knows perfectly well how to get there. He turns onto Via Maria Adelaide and then again onto Via Penna, where he unexpectedly finds a parking spot.
“We have time to take a walk.” He says to Kyoko.
“Mizuki, you should’ve told me if you wanted to walk… I would’ve worn sneakers instead of high heels!
Mizuki is observing an inscription on a marble plaque. “Via del Vantaggio – advantage. Do you know why they call it this? Ancient Romans loved horse racing. There were good horses and others less so. They gave the slower horses an advantage and made them start exactly from here, giving them a chance to win.”
“Ah! It’s like a handicap for golfers!”
“Precisely.”
Suddenly Kyoko asks, “and where we are now? It seems familiar…”
“Via del Babbuino.”
“And Piazza di Spagna?”
“We’d have to walk a little further… it’s over there.”
“Please, Mizuki, let’s go. I want to show you something!”
Just before Piazza di Spagna they stop in front of the Tiffany window.
“Oh no! It’s closed. I wanted to show you the most beautiful ring I’ve ever seen! It’s called Enchante: two diamonds shaped as two hearts entwined…”
“Ok, but now we need to go. Hotel de Russie is at the end of the street, we have to walk a little further.”
*
Kyoko looks around in awe. The hall is a triumph of white: walls, columns and the sheer linen curtains dancing in the light breeze of the evening. At the heart of the hotel is a beautiful piazza, a secret garden…
“Incredible! It doesn’t feel like we’re in in the centre of Rome…”
“This hotel was designed by the architect Valadier, who also renovated Piazza del Popolo.”
“But when?” Asks Kyoko.
“If I remember correctly, in the early nineteenth century. Many Russian aristocrats who escaped the revolution lived here, too. That’s the reason it’s called de Russie.”
“You sure know your stuff!”
Lost in thought Mizuki continues, “Also Picasso and Cocteau stayed here. They had adjoining rooms and they used to pick the garden oranges from their windows.”
Kyoko bursts into laughter. “If I didn’t know you, I’dsay you’re in a relationship with an art history student!”
Their conversation is interrupted by the waiter. “Dark chocolate tarte with passion fruit sorbet. It’s our speciality.”
Mizuki sinks his spoon into the dessert with a sense of relief. The conversation was taking a dangerous turn.
*
“Such a bore!” Alessandra looks herself in the mirror of Hotel de Russie’s bathroom. “I know I have to do this for my husband, but these dinners with lawyers are really boring.” She touches up her lipstick and leaves. But what she sees when she returns to the dining room makes the evening much more interesting. At a corner table a beautiful Japanese woman, – red lips, ivory skin, a dark ponytail that touches her waist – sits with… he looks just like him. But it is him! I hope he didn’t see me. I don’t think so; they’re too lost in each other to notice anyone else. A romantic evening… I’m sure that isn’t a business dinner – I wonder what Mizuki must have told Anita – so naïve! You really can’t trust any man.”
Alessandra already knows who she will call early tomorrow morning.
23
Disturbing Thoughts
Mizuki wakes up after an agitated night of dreams, or rather, nightmares. He gets up, and passing in front of a mirror, is surprised at the state of his disheveled hair. He opens the French door in the kitchen and the fresh air wakes him up properly. It’s early. The sun is rising. The view has the soft pastel colours he loves. On the terrace he looks around, shivers and returns to the kitchen. He begins to make coffee. Since he’s been living in Italy his habits have changed and morning coffee has now become a ritual for him.
He pours the dark hot liquid into a big cup, as Anita taught him to. He sits at the kitchen table slowly stirring in the sugar. He loses track of time.
Later he knocks on Kyoko’s door. “Are you awake? I’m making breakfast…”
*
“Ahh… I had a r
eally good night’s sleep!” Kyoko sits in the chair with a sigh of pleasure.
“I can see that. You look beautiful!”
“Too bad I can’t say the same thing about you! You look like someone who had an all-nighter. Worrying about something?”
Mizuki doesn’t respond to her teasing. He doesn’t want to go there… “I wonder why women keep wearing make-up. You’re so beautiful in the morning au naturel!”
“She must have been really beautiful in the morning…” she replies. “By the way, is this hers?” She waves a hair slide.
“Give that to me!” And he snatches it out of her hand.
“Ouch! So it’s something serious. Don’t you want to tell me?” Then looking at his unsettled gaze, she continues, “Ok, let’s change the subject.”
“What’s your plan for today?” Mizuki asks her.
“I want to complete my shopping spree… I still haven’t been to Armani and Valentino! And you?”
Mizuki can relax now – the danger has passed. “I think I’ll stay home for a while – I have a report to check. I’ll go to the office in the afternoon.”
“Ok, see you tonight.” Kyoko disappears with a swish of silk.
*
Anita is totally overwhelmed by what happened. She would like to rest forever. Maybe a weekend on another planet would be good; or maybe she needs a shamanic ritual to make her forget the last fifteen years of her life!
Her phone rings. “Anita! Where have you been?” It’s Alessandra who doesn’t even give her time to say ‘hello’. “I called you on Saturday night, but you didn’t answer and didn’t return the call!”
“Hi! Yes, I saw your call, but it was too late to call you back; then it completely slipped my mind…”
“Are you ok? You sound strange…’
“I’m fine. I just woke up.”
“Listen, I have to tell you something important. You won’t believe who I saw last night!”
“You’re right, I can’t imagine…”
“You told me he was away…” Alessandra wants to take her time to get to the heart of the scoop.
“Away? Who are you talking about?”
“Who? Him – your charming Japanese guy!”
Anita doesn’t answer. She feels her heart racing.
“Last night at Hotel de Russie… at one point I saw Mizuki, who’s not in London like we thought, but in a very trendy place with a woman who for sure does not go unnoticed. I didn’t go to say ‘hello’… I didn’t want to embarrass him. I don’t think he saw me.”
Anita’s ears pulse with pressure. Alessandra’s voice sounds muffled, as if it’s coming from far away. Then suddenly she reacts. “Sorry to disappoint you. You wouldn’t have embarrassed anybody. I knew about Mizuki’s business dinner at de Russie. She’s a colleague…”
Alessandra has a moment of hesitation. She’s taken aback, but doesn’t give up. “Did you know also that she’s Japanese and amazingly beautiful?”
Anita doesn’t answer.
“Come on Anita, let’s get together and I’ll give you all the details…”
“I don’t have time; I have to meet a group of tourists in a few minutes. Talk to you later. Bye.”
Anita hangs up. “Such a bitch! And her tone… as if she enjoyed every bit of it. She’s totally tactless… but it’s the last time I’ll let her do that! Bitch!”
Then her rage over a betrayed friendship takes a back seat. The mysterious Japanese woman takes centre stage. She begins to imagine her and Mizuki in bed together, her long dark hair brushing against Mizuki’s body… she loses her breath. She feels lost. “No – it can’t be true.” Her need to know elbows its way into her consciousness. Alessandra might give her some details that will chase away any doubt about Mizuki’s relationship. It’ll be devastating, but it’s better to know.
Her fingers quickly type the message. Let’s meet tomorrow. I should be finished by about six. Aperitif at the same place. I’ll confirm later. Sent.
*
Anita is going through a whole catalogue of negative feelings when her phone vibrates. It’s Mizuki. If he knew what she was thinking about right now, would he still be calling her?
Anita looks around her room before answering: seeing the familiar array of knick knacks and clothes surrounding her is somehow depressing.
“Hello!” Mizuki’s voice sounds anxious.
“Hi.”
“How are you, Anita?”
“Fine.”
“What are you doing?”
“Nothing.”
Mizuki had hoped to hear her usual warm, cheerful tone; instead her voice is like a GPS. Something must be really wrong.
“Is there something wrong?”
Anita breathes deeply so she won’t explode. She wants to say, “Of course there is something wrong – I saw you with another woman!” But she remains silent.
“Anita? Are you still there?”
“Yes.”
“I want to see you.”
“And how are you going to do that, since you’re still in London?” She says, colder than a block of ice.
“I returned yesterday afternoon…”
This time not even Buddhist meditation can restrain her. She bursts out. “And when did you plan on telling me?!”
“But didn’t you know that I called you on Saturday evening?”
“No!”
“Oh right, of course not… another person answered… a man actually.”
“You must have dialed the wrong number.” she says, cursing Daniel for the umpteenth time.
“Anita-san, do you have something you want to tell me?”
“Don’t call me by that name!” Her tone is tough. She wants to sound like a strong woman, although she’s on the verge of sobbing like a little girl.
“I need to see you.”
Her tone is malicious when she answers, “Ok, I’ll come to your place tonight.”
“I’d rather not… why don’t we meet in a small, quiet restaurant?”
She immediately thinks that he’s confirming her suspicions and that there’ss no way Mizuki could fix the situation, ever. Before quickly hanging up, she tells him she’s already busy for dinner.
“Bye,” he whispers to the vacant dial tone.
A silence charged with disappointment and disbelief envelops Mizuki. He feels empty and lost. “I could’ve let her come round… but Kyoko would be in our way. It would be hard to talk.”
Anita is pacing her room. “Son of a bitch! Liar…” When finally she collapses on her bed, her rage gives way to desperate sobs. She hugs her pillow and feels that her happiness with Mizuki is fading away. Once again, love has betrayed her.
*
Matteo Spina strokes Giovanna’s hand. “What’s going on? You’re so quiet…”
She doesn’t answer and looks around as if she were in an unknown place. Yet they’re in their favourite restaurant, where they always have lunch after dance class. Adriana, the owner, welcomes them like old friends. They know the menu by heart: old Roman recipes, like cod with little tomatoes or grilled artichokes.
Matteo insists. “Giovanna, did you hear me?”
She returns to the present. “I’m worried…”
“Why?”
“Don’t you see what’s happening? Anita is so depressed and I don’t know what to do. I feel helpless – like there’s nothing I can do.”
“We can only be there for her. She’s a woman now, not a girl anymore. You have to accept this, Giovanna.”
“Yes, yes… it’s easy to say. But why did she have to fall in love with that man? He could be her uncle… and what do we know about him? What do we know about his way of life, his way of thinking? Why couldn’t she have chosen an nice Italian boy?”
“… Yes, a good guy, from a good family… exactly like Daniel, that loon!”
“I have to admit, you had better intuition than I did about Daniel. From the start you weren’t sure about him…”
Adriana brings two s
teaming bowls of bean soup that – as she says – could raise the dead, to the table. In fact, Giovanna’s expression suddenly relaxes, and at her first taste she swoons.
They both enjoy the soup in sacred silence, then Giovanna says, “There’s something else that worries me.”
“What?”
“You know, when the dance teacher told us about the final performance… I freaked out. I’m not sure I can dance in front of an audience, even though I enjoy the lessons very much… I mean, I don’t want to expose myself to people watching, laughing, and criticising… I’m afraid we’ll be a disaster, Matteo.”
“Love, it’s time to stop with all these fears! Fear of talking to Anita about us, fear for Anita’s future, and now even fear of the tango? Without mentioning your fear of the Japanese… look, he’s not a samurai in armour, ready to draw his sharp katana! And don’t you think it would be lovely to have Japanese grandchildren with naturally ginger hair?” Matteo smiles at her.
Giovanna bursts into laughter, then looks at him with tenderness. “I love you, Matteo.”
24
Showdown
Alessandra weaves speedily in and out of the heavy traffic in her SUV, laughing at the other drivers who honk and curse at her. She’s become really good at this and feels very proud of herself.
It took her longer than expected to get ready – she wanted to look perfect, and now she’s late for her meeting with Anita. She can already imagine her friend’s expression when she hears, and actually sees, what Allie saw at the de Russie… she can’t wait!
She also likes the idea of meeting at the usual café in Via di Ripetta, where she’s treated like a queen.
Her thoughts are interrupted by an incoming message. Without stopping she checks her phone. It’s a text from Anita. My visit to the Colosseum took longer than I thought it would. Let’s meet at Casina Rosa in Garbatella like old times.
“This sucks! I need to go all the way back now…” she thinks, turning on the GPS, since she can’t remember how to get there anymore! She does a U turn, crosses over into the other lane, and gives the finger to a terrified driver cursing her.
