But do plentiful reasons beget dishonest intentions?
An image of talented, caring Dario rolls through his mind. Remorse rages in his gut.
Being stranded here all alone is perhaps what he deserves for being a dirty, rotten gold-digger.
DARIO
At the Magione train station, shiny red trains with blazing headlights barrel by. Charlie’s bike is chained outside, butCharlie is nowhere to be found. Nobody disembarking looks anything like the tattooed American he is in search of. Concern clutches his heart in gnarled knuckles.
Back in the car, not only is Dario fearful for what’s become of Charlie, but he’s panicking over where he must go to find him.
As Fabrizio speeds toward Perugia—the only other place Dario can think to look—Dario taps on the overhead light. Instead of obsessing about the strength of the panic attack that awaits him at the end of this car ride, he reads his nonno’s next letter.
Caro Tesorino,
The true mark of a person is how they act in a crisis.
In business and in love, extreme situations arise without warning, and you have to trust that the people around you are ready to rise to the challenge.
Observe who steps up and who shies away from the difficulties the universe throws at you.
Life, at times, can be hard to swallow. Look for the ones who fill up a water glass for you to make the big gulp easier. Investigate if you would do the same for them.
Many people think finding their life partner is about looking outside themselves for the perfect person. Alas, if only it were that simple. Choosing a mate often means turning inward and inspecting the parts of yourself you would rather not address.
It is unfair to ask your partner to be brave for themselves and to be brave for you, too. While there is give-and-take, that leans heavily toward the latter. To have a balanced union, you must have equal measures of both. You must have harmony— just ask your mother.
You have shown your courage by agreeing to my unorthodox plan to find you a partner, but passively going along with this to inherit Amorina will not lead to the outcome most wanted.
I beseech you, Tesorino, to dig deep and live boldly. The right spouse for you will emerge once you take the leap.
Con affetto,
Nonno
Closing his eyes, Dario visualizes the ideal outcome, like his therapist taught him to. In his head, Charlie, entirely unharmed and happy, stands outside of the American-owned bar right off Piazza IV Novembre. A sweating, light beer rests in his hand as he talks with a group of coeds who are taking a summer study abroad. The nightlife swells around him. People ask about his tattoos, and he talks of his time in the Amorina Factory and at Villa Meraviglia.
The fantasy fades out right as they crest into the lot outside Fontivegge with its high-arched entryways.
At first sight of the mobs of travelers waiting on pickups outside the station, all the adrenaline leaks from his body. The very idea of stepping toward that crowd makes his skin itchy all over, and his chest collapses inward.
He snaps his eyes shut again and attempts to summon Charlie as if he were a patron saint of strength. His racing heart shouts messages at his head, “Run! Hide! Go home!”
This vicious anxiety! How he wishes he could spoon it out of himself and serve it up to Angelo who would scarf it down without tasting it.
Fabrizio opens the car door and Dario captures enough bravery to stick a leg out, but that’s as far as his body will allow.
As soon as the summer breeze crests across his blazing cheeks, he slams the door shut, and clutches the seat belt for safety even though the car is in Park.
Fabrizio pokes his head back in the driver door. “Stai andando dentro?”Are you going inside?
Out of the corner of his eye, he notices a raincoat he must have left back here during the last storm. It’s no suit of armor and it does not match his outfit, but it will have to do. He tugs it on, throws up its hood and heads into the fray.
The outside air is oppressive, especially with the thick coat fabric taut around his face. The beep of the car locking behind him is a whip at his backside, speeding him up so he can return to safety soon.
Please find Charlie here. Please find Charlie here. Please find Charlie here.
It’s a prayer, an incantation, a plea. A call to his father, his grandfather. Anyone who can hear his thoughts and act on his behalf.
