“You turn there and then drive up into the hills past the Villa Webber.”
“Drive?”
This was what I’d been worried about. Both of us had said that we wanted to be in town or close to it, somewhere it’d be easy to get by with only one car. And here I’d gone and committed to a place that was at least a mile outside of town, if not more. “You definitelycouldwalk.” I looked down at his toe, which was in a boot. “Just maybe not right now.”
“Eileen—”
“I already figured it out. I can drive you back and forth to the pier. In the morning and at night.”
“That’s a big commitment.”
“A lot of the wives do it. It’ll help me get to know people. And that way, I can keep the car during the day.”
He seemed to consider this. “How much is the rent?” he asked, and when I told him, he looked relieved. It was within our housing allowance, which meant that we wouldn’t have to dip into his basic pay to cover the difference.
“I didn’t want to see it without you,” I said, which was true. “And I never would have committed like this, except Marcello told me it wouldn’t last long.”
“No, no,” he said, like he was working hard to believe me. “That makes sense.”
Honestly, he took the news better than I’d expected. Maybe it was because he was so eager to get out of the hotel, or maybe it was because navy wives were supposed to pinch-hit for their husbands, and this morning, I had done precisely that.
“When do I get to see it?” he asked.
“How about now?”
59.
WE FOUND A TAXIat the ferry terminal. On the drive, Paul told me about Nixon’s impeachment hearings, which were getting underway in Washington. The grand jury had turned over all its evidence to the House Judiciary Committee, and the special prosecutor was appealing to the Supreme Court to force Nixon to surrender dozens of tapes of Oval Office conversations pertaining to the Watergate break-in and its messy aftermath.
“Do you think he’s going to actually get impeached?” I asked.
“I hope not,” said Paul.
“Wait, really?”
“You know Nixon’s the whole reason we’re here?”
“What, like in La Maddalena?”
“Not just La Madd. The whole Med. He’s been a huge proponent of building up the Sixth Fleet.”
“Why?” I asked.
“To keep us safe,” said Paul, like it was obvious.
“Safe from who?”
“Whom.”
“You knew what I meant.”
“Safe from the Soviets, of course.”
“Are we worried they’re going to invade Italy or something?”
He shrugged. “You know what they say.”
I gave him a blank stare.
