by Lily Zante
“Good.” She replied swiftly, looking over towards the side entrance where she had told all the maintenance men to come in from.
“And until we get someone to help you with the main reception duties, I’ll head over to the kitchen to see what reasonable prices these good men can give us for fixing our kitchen problem.”
Nico rushed over to the side door which lead out to the utility and kitchen areas at the back of the hotel and all thoughts of Ava had long disappeared from his mind.
“One more thing!” Gina called out after him but Nico had already gone through the side door.
She had meant to tell him that Ava would be leaving the hotel tomorrow morning.
Chapter 19
At around eleven o’clock the next day, Ava boarded a train from Verona Porta Nuova and by one o’clock in the afternoon, she was sitting at a table outside in the Piazza San Marco in Venice, a few days days earlier than planned.
When they had been due to get married, she and Connor had paid for everything to do with the wedding. Once the cancellations had started, Ava had returned half of all the money less the cancellation fees. But she had decided to carry on with the holiday in Italy. Connor wouldn’t mind. Would he? And even if he did, she didn’t think he would have the gall to ask her for half the money. Thank goodness the honeymoon had all been paid for in advance otherwise there was no way she would be able to afford the opulent Hotel Sant Adelina where she had checked into, overlooking the Grand Canal. She had been lucky that it was still not the peak holiday season here and the hotel manager had been extremely accommodating about letting her have the room a few days early. Though this now meant she had a longer stay here in Venice and would have to pay for the extra days out of her own pocket.
Having a few extra days to spend in Venice was a blessing as far as she was concerned. Verona had been wonderful. Had been. Until yesterday when everything had fallen apart.
She stirred her cappuccino for over a minute before realizing that she was going through the motions. Immediately, she stopped, recollecting the events that had ruined what had started to become a wonderful vacation. She had been so busy visiting the sights in Verona, and going to different places with Nico that she hadn’t done any of the sight seeing outside of Verona. She had been happy to stay where she was, with Nico.
Her heart missed a beat when she thought of him. It had felt as though a bullet had grazed her heart when Silvia had announced that she and Nico had a child together. Why had he never mentioned anything to her? Maybe he was just a suave, handsome, charmer, nothing more than a playboy who had lured her into thinking he was something else. And she had fallen for it too.
And yet Silvia had wanted Ava to think that she and Nico were more than friends, though Ava suspected this wasn’t somehow true. Who knew? It wouldn’t be the first time Ava had been wrong when it came to love. Or unlucky. Maybe she had it all wrong? She thought about that moment yesterday when, recovering from the news of Nico’s child, she had seen Nico, Silvia and the man she assumed to be Nico’s father in the main hotel lobby. The sight of the three of them together had firmly put her in her place. They had something together, some bond. And she was just an outsider. Rona had been right after all. She had been a little diversion for the hot blooded Nico and she had ended up getting hurt all over again.
How could she end up falling for yet another man who was so wrong for her?
She sipped her coffee and played around with her Panino. This one was double the price and not even one tenth as good as the one she had eaten in Montagnano yesterday. Yesterday. Nico. The bench, the stream, the lunch. Their kiss. The memories of the day flooded back crystal clear.
The chatter of people walking around provided welcome background noise to her inner turmoil.
A blip on her phone told her she had a message. She checked it and saw it was from her mother. She had stopped mentioning Connor a few days ago and now her texts were very boring and to the point: Enjoy your holiday and don’t eat too much seafood. You know how ill it can make you. Ava closed the message and stared vacantly out at the square.
The angle of the sun hit the back of her neck at just the right spot, dousing her in a slice of warmth even though there was a bit of a chill in the air. The sun in Verona had been warm, all over. Here in Venice there was a definite bite to the air but she had been prepared and had worn her cream woolen dress, with brown woolen tights, leather boots and a tight fitting leather jacket over it. She was warm, and she was content. She would survive. And she would return to Denver shortly and carry on with her life just as it had been before she left. Over time Nico and Verona would slowly disappear from her memories, once she got back into the daily routine that was her life.
The waitress delivered a warm chocolate croissant to the table behind her and she almost passed it right over Ava’s nose as she walked by. Ava could do nothing more than dream about having a chocolate croissant with her Panino.
There it was again. Panino. Panino with Nico.
Nico.
No matter how hard she tried, he always kept appearing back in her thoughts. And whenever she remembered his face, she remembered their kiss. She had thought of nothing else but that during the entire train journey to Venice.
She bit into her panino and regarded the irony of her situation. Here she was taking her vacation in Italy, in a bid to get away from the disaster of being jilted six weeks before her wedding day. And now that she was in Italy she found herself in the beginning of what appeared to be another disastrous situation. Despite her best efforts she had started to develop feelings for a man who turned out to be a liar and a cheat. And a father too.
How bad could it get?
What would her mother think? And Rona? She would never hear the end of it from Rona. No, she could never mention what had happened in Verona to anyone ever again. It would be as if Nico had never existed for her.
As she put her unfinished Panino down on the plate, Ava looked around her at the newsagent’s just to the side. The scarlet red dress on the fashion model on the cover of Italian Vogue, caught her eye as she stared at the cover. She wondered whether she should get up to buy the magazine only after she had finished her coffee, or whether she should get up now and buy it, leaving her coffee cup temporarily at the table. The newspaper stand was just a stone’s throw away. She looked around, wondering what she should do then wondered why she was thinking so much about wondering what to do. Images of her and Nico kissing and the hot feelings they aroused, left her unable to think straight about anything else.
And then, her gaze fell upon a photo of Nico. It was a close-up of his face and it was on the front cover of an Italian newspaper.
What was he doing on the front cover of a newspaper?
She got up slowly from her table, her eyes fixed on the black and white newspaper so snugly embedded in the newspaper stand. She walked towards it stealthily, then picked it up and unfolded it. Without a doubt, it was him; those magnetic eyes, even in black and white, were so beautiful and magnetic. The thick dark hair and that indisputably handsome face. It was him alright. Underneath the photo, the words: Nico Cazale and then something in Italian that she couldn’t make out.
Her heart fluttered furiously as her eyes quickly skimmed the two columns of writing devoted to him. It was a business paper, so she didn’t think it was any type of tabloid news. She scanned for the words “Silvia” and anything else that might be un-businesslike. Anything that gave a hint of a marriage. She wasn’t interested in business news or mergers. She wanted to know about the human mergers such as marriage. Her eyes flitted speedily over the words, looking for the words she didn’t want to find when all of a sudden, the words “Hello Ava,” sailed into her ears and knocked the wind right out of her.
She knew, in that instant, who it was.
Stepping out from behind the newspaper stand where he had been hiding was Nico, all six foot two inches of him, in his business suit and crisp white shirt. Unlike the usual confident and self-assu
red Nico that she was used to, he now seemed a little unsure.
Ava stared back, not sure whether this was a dream or real. Nico in the newspaper and now in the flesh before her. Not in Verona, but here in Venice. A million words and questions floated through her mind and stayed trapped in her throat. But the only word that came out was “You?”
It was all too much to take in too soon. She had only left him yesterday evening, when Silvia had taken a knife to her heart and dug right in. And yet here he was again, when she had least expected to see him.
She dropped the newspaper, took a couple of steps towards him and gave him a huge resounding slap. She could tell by the noise it made that was painful.
Nico’s cheek was red and he raised his hand to it slowly, not once taking his eyes off Ava. She waited, expecting to see his usual, customary flash of anger but there was nothing. Instead, he watched her calmly.
“I deserved that. I know.” Still no expression. No anger. No smile. He just continued watching her, then he picked up the newspaper that she had dropped, paid the kiosk owner and took Ava’s arm gently by the crook of her elbow. He lead her back to her table.
His manner left her at a loss for words and so she complied. The burst of anger she had felt when she first saw him had disappeared as soon as she had slapped him.
Now she only had questions.
What was he doing here? Where was Silvia? Where was the child?
And why the hell was he in the paper?
“Have you been following me?” she asked angrily, shaking her arm away. She moved over to her side of the table and sat back down again. Her cappuccino was cold and she pushed it away. Nico moved his chair from the opposite end of the white cast iron table and moved it alongside hers.
“I’m sorry.” His eyes, so angry and cold yesterday were now soft and warm. Ava looked at him and for a fleeting second, she felt a tinge of sadness too. For him, for her. For their situation.
“I thought there might also be a picture of your bride alongside,” she said with venom.
“My bride?” he looked genuinely surprised to hear this from her.
“You, Silvia, apparently you have a daughter together. She told me, amongst other things. Was that some minor detail that you forgot to tell me?” she was savage in the way she tossed these words at him so contemptuously. She crossed her arms tightly around her chest, and crossed her legs too and stared at him with eyes that were cold.
The news temporarily stunned Nico into silence. She could tell he hadn’t seen this one coming.
“Yeah, I figured you wouldn’t know how to get out of this one,” said Ava, her face straining with tension.
“Hmmm.” Nico snorted. “That’s what she told you huh?”
Ava sneered at him. “You deny it then? Next you’ll be telling me that you’re not really a playboy either.”
Nico’s face hardened. “I’m not. Maybe six or seven years ago I might have been a bit carefree about things. But I’ve changed a lot since then. But I don’t blame you for having that impression about me.”
“So when is the wedding?” Ava continued, at full speed.
“There is no wedding. There never was. We were never really a couple.” Nico said firmly. “I can’t ask you to believe me. I can’t ask anything of you Ava, I know that. But I’m telling you the truth now. I’ve never lied to you. Sometimes I might have not told you certain things, but I never lied.” He seemed desperate for her to hear his side of the story. They were still standing, a few metres away from the kiosk. Nico’s dark eyes glittered as he spoke, “ The child is not mine. I always knew that but Silvia kept telling everyone. I think as the years went by she started to believe it herself. So the time had come when I decided to end these rumors. And my father too wanted to know, in a way.” He said this to himself more than to her. “You met him that day.”
Ava let out a mock peal of laughter, slowly uncrossing her arms and letting her hands splay out onto the table. “Ahhh, yes. Mr. Cazale. You did mention him to me, that your father was the owner of the hotel. All the pieces of the puzzle are starting to take shape. I knew there had been bits missing. And now I know that you aren’t a hotel driver. You’re the owner’s son. If only I’d known that the other day, I might have made a play for your father instead of you, being the gold-digging carnivore that you think I am.”
She immediately regretted saying anything about his father but the words had come out and it was too late to take them back.
Nico placed his hands on the table and leaned closer to Ava. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. You mentioned the watch, the suit and then you kissed me. I’ve had that type of attention all my life. Its what I know and what I can see from a mile away and what I run away from.” His eyes pleaded for forgiveness but Ava wasn’t giving in so easily.
“You didn’t fit as someone who was just the driver for the hotel. And for what it’s worth, I noticed your watch the first day we met. It’s so damn big it would be hard to miss. I saw your expensive designer suit the day after. I wondered how come a man dressed like you and with your…..how shall I put it? Your personality…how could you be a mere driver? But I was too preoccupied with my own problems. I didn’t want your attention Nico; don’t you remember that? I wanted to be left alone. You were the one who kept hounding me. You offered to take me here and there. I was going to Pisa and Milan until you convinced me to go to Montova. I didn’t ask you to do these things for me. I only wanted to be left alone. I wanted this holiday to give me some peace. But you didn’t let me have that peace.”
It had all come rushing out, the words she had held inside for too long and now they were all out and she didn’t care what he thought. She sat upright in her chair placing her arms firmly against the armrests, as though she might slip down and onto the floor if she let go of them. She watched him, sitting in front of her looking downcast and she waited to hear what else he had to say.
Instead, Nico folded his hands together, interlocking his fingers. “I’m sorry I hurt you Ava. I was wrong.”
“That’s it?” she asked dubiously. “I tell you my feelings in an attempt to explain to you that I wasn’t the gold digger you had me down for and that’s all you have to say in your defence. Sorry?” Nico stood with his head bowed, taking in the full brunt of her onslaught.
“You held me, we kissed, we-” she stopped, not wanting to open up the floodgates of emotion that memories of the kiss bought back. He might not have thought anything of that moment. The last thing she wanted him to know was that she had thought of nothing else but that kiss.
Changing tactic, she said, “I have Silvia telling me that you have a child, telling me to stay away from you, I see you and your father and Silvia and a little girl,” she fought for composure before adding in a whisper, “and all I could think of was how you had used me.” She took a deep breath, more to still her emotions so that she would not do the very thing that she felt like doing – crumbling into pieces in front of him.
But as she glanced at him, Nico lifted his head; something she said inflamed him because his eyes were blazing once more. She had come to know his body signals well enough now to read his moods. It didn’t look as if he was going to say anything anytime too soon. She got ready for another assault. “I wasn’t looking to meet anyone when I came here. Believe me when I tell you that men were the furthest thing from my mind. The only reason I asked you that day by the stream, when we were in Montagnano, was because I thought we had a moment of closeness. I felt you were opening up to me. I wanted to know who you were. I knew you were keeping something from me. And, as it turns out, you were keeping a whole other side of your life from me. You used me didn’t you Nico?”
He let out an angry gasp and waited before launching into his own explanation. “I was trying to make this a good holiday for you. I wasn’t making a play for you. I swear I wasn’t. You must believe me. It’s just that I felt sorry for you.”
Ava shot forward in her chair and cocked her head towards him haughtily. �
��You felt sorry for me?” she asked slowly. Her eyes narrowed as she waited for his response. Nico opened his mouth and then closed it again; he seemed to have second thoughts about what he was going to say.
Ava countered, “Why would you feel sorry for me? Do I look that desperate to you? A woman alone on holiday? Do you really find it so hard to believe that a woman alone might actually want to be left alone?” Her voice was getting louder and people around them were starting to look their way.
“Let’s take this discussion somewhere else shall we?” suggested Nico, anxious to take this public demonstration away from prying eyes and ears.
“Answer my question,” she said in a firm voice, getting up and moving away from him as though the mere proximity of him was objectionable to her. Nico followed her cautiously, not wanting to make an already bad situation even worse.
A few strides were all it took for him to catch up with her and when he did, he placed his hands lightly on her shoulders, gently forcing her to turn towards him. But Ava stared at him with such contempt that he released his hands and left them dangling by his sides.
“Why are you so mad at me?” he asked finally, a hint of irritation creeping into his voice. “Why so much melodrama Ava?” She could tell that he regretted the words as soon as he said them. He put a placating hand up but it was too late to salvage the damage. “You feel sorry for me?” she sneered again. “Was that your pity you were giving me over by the bench at Montagnano? Is that what you tell all women who catch your eye?” She kept on pummeling him with her words and even though she knew this was an pointless conversation, she couldn’t help herself. She wanted to hurt him and make him feel as bad as she had felt yesterday. He looked so despondent and she knew she should stop carrying on so, but each time he opened his mouth he said something else that set her off.
