“No. We will stay here a day or two.”
We would stay until the weekend, then go back to Rome in time to meet Naomi and Valerio.
“What’s the story between Naomi and Valerio?” I wondered if they were even a couple.
“It is not mine to tell.”
There it was. The lack of trust between us.
“I don’t want specifics. Just…something. Are they a couple? Dating? Married? Or…it is it complicated?”
“The last,” he said, holding open the door to the trattoria for me.
Naz led me to a table, and a waitress came and took our orders. She came back with two glasses of white wine. Naz pushed mine closer and took a sip of his.
“Okay. It’s complicated.” I picked my glass up, swirling the fragrant liquid around some. “Is it like me and you complicated?”
He turned his face to the side some and lowered his eyes. He was trying to understand what I meant by the question, but it didn’t seem like he wanted to ask.
“Is she…beholden to him?”
“Are you beholden to me?”
“Okay, wrong word. Is she in hiscare?”
He stared at me. He was thinking over the question. “She is in love with a lion.”
A beat passed.
“Yeah. Okay. That makes sense.”
Another a few beats and he didn’t say anything.
“What did I miss?” I asked.
Our order arrived and the waitress set the plates down. She left and Naz motioned to my plate.
He said, “Molto bene,” as I set my fork between the pasta, about to twirl. He watched me eat for a minute before he cleared his throat. “She is in love with a lion.”
I wiped my mouth and took a sip of wine. “If she’s in love with a Fausti, then yeah, she is. What’s the issue there?”
After my words were out, it was like his face totally blanked over, before his eyes rose a little, like he had just realized something. It was like watching dots connect to form a picture.
“What?” I asked.
“Mycuginoworries,” he said, almost absentmindedly. “Naomi takes care of them in Africa. She is attracted to them.”
“She’s attracted to the Faustis.” I need clarification.
He lifted a finger.One.
“Yeah.” I laughed a little. “If a woman can take on more than one Fausti…she’s not a woman. She’s Mother Nature.”
Naz grinned. “How do you feel about Orvieto?”
“My feelings are telling me… I’m glad we’re staying for another day or two. Why don’t you live here? Or do you sometimes?”
“The villa is vast. Too large for a single man.”
