“It really is a two-person job,” said Graziella with a smile. “Tesoro,if you are busy, I can see if Ugo will go with Cris.”
“No, no,” Ellie said a little bit too quickly. She turned to Cris. “You’re right. I think it makes sense to kill two birds with one stone. Plus, it’s not like we’ll be gone the whole day.”
“Perfect!” Simone smiled and clapped his hands together. He reached into his pocket and pulled out an ancient-looking key fob, placing it in front of Cris. “I already put gas in the car, but I would leave early tomorrow morning if you can. The air conditioning is…” Simone trailed off, extending his hand and twisting it left and right in the Italian gesture for “iffy.”
“No worries,” Ellie said. “I’m sure we’ll be fine. I have never been a fan of driving in a refrigerator.”
“Well, then, you should be all set!” said Simone. He turned back to Cris and began reminding him how to get into the underground garage where the car was parked.
“I really would set an alarm to get up before it gets too hot,” said Graziella, leaning over to Ellie. She gave her hand another pat. “And bring water.”
“I’m sure it will be fine.” Ellie smiled.
“Oh, I have no doubt. You two together areMimì e Cocò,” said Graziella, turning to grin at Cris. Mimì and Cocò were two fictional characters who couldn’t figure anything out unless they were together. Mimì was the one who lived on only facts, and Cocò didn’t need certainties. Was her grandmother saying she was a Mimì? Or a Cocò? And why was she referring to Ellie and Cris as a “pair” of anything?
“Ha. I don’t know about that. Besides, which one of us is the logical one?” she couldn’t help asking.
“Does it matter?” Graziella said. “Once one has the other, everything else is easy.”
CHAPTER 18
“Are you sure the AC is up all the way?”
Ellie rifled through the glove box of the twenty-year-old Passat wagon looking for something to fan herself with. There was nothing but tiny white tollbooth receipts, an assortment of leaky pens, and two pairs of broken sunglasses. A sheen of sweat clung to her skin on every visible surface and was turning her clothing into a damp mess. She had raked her hair back into a ponytail and pulled up her sundress to thigh level in an effort to cool down, but the heat inside the car made her feel like a hot doughnut, glazed and steaming.
Despite the plans to go on a friendly wine-procuring adventure with Cris, Ellie had been determined to continue to focus on the task of laying the groundwork for theGames Overinterview. There was no way they were going to get much alone time in the next few days with the wedding fast approaching on Saturday. Plus, she wanted everything wrapped up and ready to go before she flew home on Monday. Unfortunately, they were currently frying neuronsin a Bavarian toaster oven, and it seemed unlikely that they would be able to form full sentences, much less strategize a mutual public relations coup.
“It’s up as high as it will go,” said Cris, jabbing the useless temperature control button with his index finger. “I mean, how hot is it outside, anyway? It has to be less than in here.”
“The surface of the sun is less than in here. I am going to liquefy.”
“Please don’t do that.” Cris laughed. “I need you to watch the GPS, at least.”
“Why didn’t I listen to my grandmother and set an alarm?” The jet lag was starting to get better, but not enough to prevent her from sleeping until 8:30. She’d texted Cris in a panic, but he didn’t see her message until 9:00A.M.By 10:00, Cris had retrieved the hulking Volkswagen from the garage and picked up Ellie on Corso Buenos Aires, but then they’d agreed that it was inhuman to get on the road without coffee. At 10:45, they cruised through the tollbooth entrance to the autostrada, but it wasn’t until 10:55 that Ellie and Cris realized their fatal mistake. The air conditioning in the Passat wasn’t so much “iffy” as it was “not functional beyond a mere suggestion of coolness” and proceeded to lightly puff in their general direction from the moment it was turned on. At fifteen minutes into the one-hour drive, Cris had a growing sweat stain in the middle of his T-shirt and was taking to hanging his head out the window like a Labrador retriever every few minutes. Ellie was deeply regretting her extra diligent slathering of body cream since it was currently sliding off her legs and applying its hyaluronic acid benefits to the seat cushion.
“For the same reason we stole the lifeguard’s canoe and lost the paddles the summer we were ten—didn’t consider the consequences.”
“Oh, jeez, I forgot about that!” said Ellie. “I should have never letyou talk me into being that level of stupid. We could have been washed out to sea! I can’t believe no one ever found out.”
“You’re right, you shouldn’t have. But… they did find out.”
“What do you mean?” she asked.
“I felt bad and caved. I told Mario it was me and then paid for the paddles out of my birthday money.”
“But I was with you! Why would you say it was just you?” Ellie pulled strands of hair blown by the open window out of her lip gloss.
Cris shrugged. “It didn’t seem like implicating anyone else was the right thing to do. Besides, I am pretty sure that you would have taken it harder than me. You would have been devastated if Mario was upset with you.”
“I could have taken it.” Ellie knew that was an optimistic assumption at best. Most kids feared their parents’ wrath, but Peggy and Gio weren’t usually paying attention long enough to impose any kind of lasting disciplinary measures on Ellie or Ben. The worst punishment would come from her very own self. And apparently she wasn’t the only one who knew it. “But thank you.”
“You don’t have to thank me. I don’t know if I knew why I did it back then, except that I felt like it was the right thing to do. I’m pretty sure you would have done the same for me, right?” Cris looked over at her, but she couldn’t read his expression.
“You knew me pretty well, I guess,” she said, more to herself than to him.
“I did,” he said, his eyes flicking back to the road. “You watching that map?” He tilted his chin toward the phone.
“Oh, yes. Next exit, it looks like. Thank goodness. I don’t think I’ll make it ten more minutes in here without combusting.”
