I laughed. “Don’t worry. I’m going to tell them I’ve known you for almost two months.”
“You mean, back when I hated you?”
“Exactly!” I said cheerfully.
She shook her head. “Please don’t tell your parents that Ieverhated you.”
I grinned. “My parents wouldn’t have a problem with that. They’d find it funny – especially Mama.”
“Is there anything theywouldhave a problem with? Any topics I should avoid?”
“Yeah,” I said wryly.“Whyyou hated me in the beginning.”
“…oh.” Emilia was silent for a moment. “So I’m guessing they’re not real fond of you working for Adriano’s family.”
I clenched my jaw. “You could say that.”
“So… try to avoid the topic.”
“I’d appreciate it, yeah.”
Emilia gazed out the window at the passing scenery. “How did you get the job with Adriano’s family if you lived all the way out here?”
“A friend of mine from high school moved to Florence and went to work for them.”
Lorenzo.
I hadn’t thought about him for weeks.
I tried notto think about him atallthese days. Not since San Michele, when we’d rescued Lucia.
“What does Lorenzo’sfamily think about him working for your bosses?” Emilia asked.
As I stared at the road ahead of me, memories filled my mind.
Lorenzo’s casket in the tiny chapel where they’d had the memorial service.
The smell of the flower arrangements the Rosolini family had sent, their sweetness suffocating in the tight space.
The sting of his mother’s palm on my face as she slapped me –
And the sounds of her sobs as she crumpled to the floor.
“…I don’t know,” I lied. “I have enough problems withmyfamily.”
Emilia knew I was dealing with something, so she remained silent for a few minutes.
But eventually she gasped and said, “It’s so beautiful here!”
“It is,” I agreed.
We’d entered Val d’Orcia – the valley of the Orcia river.
If you’ve ever seen a photograph of Tuscany, it was likely taken in Val d’Orcia. The area is chock-full of iconic Tuscan elements: rolling hills… farmland… tall, skinny cypress trees…
The Rosolinis’ estate looked very much like Val d’Orcia, even though it was some 60 miles to the northwest.
If you’ve seen the movieGladiator,they used Val d’Orcia to stand in for the Spanish homeland of Russel Crowe’s character Maximus.
