The plane cruised at thirty-five thousand feet in the air and Curtis snored for the entire flight.
By the time they touched down in Italy, Ginny felt like Ben and Ally Prince were her new best friends. If they could get through their issues, so could she and Adrian.
Through the plane window she could see the sky was cloudless and powder blue. The light was golden and excited chatter started up from the seats around her.
Ginny placed her hand on Curtis’s hairy arm and gave it a gentle shake. “Wake up, we’re here,” she said.
“Cool,” Curtis said with a yawn. “Can’t wait to jump in the pool.”
Ginny thought about the website photos she’d seen for Splendido and frowned. “Um, I don’t think it has one.”
“For real?What kind of hotel doesn’t have a pool?”
She wondered why he talked like someone a decade younger. In fact, all his clothes looked more suited for someone in their twenties. Curtis and Adrian might get along.
Curtis wore his travel bag over his shoulder and they waited by the luggage carousel to collect Ginny’s suitcase. They both stared at the juddering rubber belt for ages until the only luggage left was a broken buggy and a child’s pink rucksack circling repeatedly.
The Manchester flight details disappeared from the information screen, replaced by one from Amsterdam. Ginny glanced around her uneasily. What was going on? Where was her case?
She overheard someone muttering that a container of luggage had been left behind in the UK and she told Curtis.
“Bummer,” he said. “Lucky I’ve got allmystuff.”
They headed toward a long queue stretching from a small desk. At the front, an airline representative gripped a clipboard, his face shiny and red. There was lots of jostling and raised voices. Curtis busied himself by talking into his phone like it was a walkie-talkie. Ginny couldn’t hear what he was saying and saw him gesturing with his other hand as if performing a rap.
“What happens now?” she asked the crimson-faced airline representative, after she’d finally completed a form at the desk.
“When the luggage arrives, we will contact you,” he said wearily.
Ginny ran her tongue over her fuzzy teeth. “When will that be? I only have the clothes I’m wearing. All my toiletries are in my case, and my phone charger...” The more she spoke, the more she wished she’d packed these things in her handbag rather than her suitcase.
The man exaggerated a shrug. “Mi scusi,” he said, looking harassed rather than sorry. He beckoned the next person in the line toward him.
“Don’t worry.” Curtis nudged her. “I have spare socks and an iPhone charger. Sorry, no makeup or dresses though.”
Ginny couldn’t decide if his joke made things worse or not. She longed to get changed out of her jeans and blouse. “My phone is a Samsung,” she said.
They exited Arrivals almost two hours late. Someone called Nico was supposed to be meeting them and Ginny hoped he’d stayed around.
There was a handful of people waiting. One was a slim man, sinewy like a greyhound. He had black curly hair and his tanned skin was lined like tree bark, contrasting against his pale blue shirt. His eyes looked sad, or perhaps he was just tired from standing there so long. His handwritten sign said SPLINTER.
Curtis pointed at it. “That’s us, right?”
Ginny nodded and approached the man with her head cocked. “Nico?”
“Sì. Ben arrivata, Signora Splinter.” He looked down at her feet. “The luggage is still in England, yes?”
She forced a smile and shrugged. “It’s just me and my handbag.”
“And she’s got me, too.” Curtis grinned. He shook Nico’s hand.
“Prego.Please follow me.”
Ginny already loved Nico’s lilting accent and how he seemed to add “ah” to the end of his words. He wore his clothes well and she admired how his leather shoes looked handmade.
Outside, Ginny shielded her eyes against the sun with her hand. She reached into her handbag for her sunglasses and remembered they were in her suitcase. Oh, god, all her clean underwear was in there, too. She glanced at Curtis and the thought of potentially having to borrow a spare pair of his boxer shorts made her wince.
As Nico led them toward a shiny gray BMW, Ginny felt a little better, thinking that Adrian wouldlovethis car. Her lips straightened when Nico walked past it and opened the passenger door of a scratched white minibus. He gestured for them both to get inside.
