with kids.”
“He’s not.”
“Or in jail.”
“Nope.”
“Or gay.”
“Not gay,” I said.
Jason didn’t look happy about my certainty on that point.
“Chelsea, I understand that you need to do this,” he said. At my look of doubt, he added, “I do, but I think we can figure out a compromise.”
I lifted my eyebrows. I was willing to listen.
“Five days,” he said.
I shook my head, not understanding.
“Take five days in Italy all by yourself,” he said. “If you’re going to find true love, your laughter, or the happy, carefree girl you used to be, you’ll be able to find her within five days.”
“That’s pretty arbitrary,” I said. “How do you know five days will do it?”
“Because both Ireland and Paris were resolved for you within two days,” he said. “Good or bad, I’m betting Tuscany won’t take any longer than that.”
I opened my mouth to protest.
“If you need more time, we can arrange it,” he said. “I’ll stall Severin, or heck, I’ll even take him to the wrong vineyard. Just don’t quit, not now, not when you don’t know how everything is going to play out.”
“What are you going to do while I’m in Italy?” I asked.
“I’ll fly back to Boston and get the paperwork and contracts for Severin’s gift started,” he said. “And I’ll check on Aidan.”
He had me hooked right there and he knew it.
I turned the knob on my door and pushed it open. “All right, Knightley, I won’t quit tonight, but I reserve the right to change my mind.”
His smile was blinding. “You’re still in the game?”
“Allora, I suppose,” I said, using the Italian word for “well then.” I shook my head, thinking I must be crazy. “I’ll see you in Italy.”
He looked like he was going to step forward and hug me, but I could not allow that, because when it came to him, I had no common sense or self-preservation. Healthy boundaries were the only way to maintain my equilibrium. I slipped inside my door, and with a little finger wave, I shut it, but not before he sent me a knowing wink. Incorrigible.
* * *
• • • •
AH, FIRENZE. WHEN I’d been here seven years ago, I’d spent my last hours before I departed curled up in a ball at the airport, awaiting my flight while clutching the tiny pocket prayer book with the title ovunque proteggimi, meaning protect me everywhere. No bigger than a matchbook with an embossed image of Saint Francis of Assisi on one side and his prayer for peace—or pace—in Italian on the other, I held it like a talisman that would get me back home to my mom as quickly as possible. I still had the prayer book. I kept it in the top drawer of my nightstand at home.
It occurred to me when I arrived in Boston after that desperate flight home how ironic it was to get the call about my mom while in a city and country that so revered the woman’s role as a mother. The Madonna and child were by far the most prevalent images in the city to the point where I had begun to feel an affection for them, as if they were always watching over me.
My favorite representations were the ones where the mother looked affectionately exasperated with the child, who was usually depicted as a toddler in those poses. When I thought of my time in Italy, it was the ever-present Madonna and child that came to mind.
I reserved a room at a small hotel near the station where I would catch the morning bus to the vineyard, Castello di Luce, where I had worked with Marcellino. It was located about twenty miles outside of the city, nestled in the rolling hills of Tuscany. There was a small village adjacent to the vineyard, and I was looking forward to seeing what, if anything, had changed during my years away.
At the moment, I sat at a small wrought-iron table in the courtyard of the hotel, brooding over my espresso while admiring the massive terra-cotta dome of Il Duomo in the distance, which stood out above the city’s skyline. I wished I had the energy to go browse the shops on the Ponte Vecchio, a bridge over the Arno River in the heart of town, but I hadn’t slept well and I was exhausted. I knew there was nothing I could buy that would distract me from my current bout of self-doubt.
I breathed in the sweet air and tried to be present and enjoy the