“Probably for the best.” He pulled his phone out of his pocket, swiping open to the notes app where he’d typed in a few quick thoughts about his speech between releasing three teenage girls stuck inside a Sani-Can and helping the band find a way to set up the speakers so that they didn’t blow up Giada’s refrigerators. “I am completely unprepared for my speech tomorrow. Can you believe that? I don’t know what I am going to say.”
He told Giada all about the offers from Jason in New York and Carla in London. When she asked him if any of it was tempting, he didn’t know how to answer.
“Are you having second thoughts?”
“About running for mayor again? Not really. But then I think—” He broke off to take another sip. “I’ve got one more year on this term, plus five years after that. Where is this going to put me at the end of another six years? I’ll be—wait. I’ll be forty-three. Jesus Christ, forty-three! That’s old.”
“We’ll both be forty-three in six years, thank you for reminding me. It’s not old, though.” She frowned at him. “Did you eat anything today?”
“Only my pride. Do you know what it’s like to tell seven nuns who are raising money for a new sound system to hold tango classes at the elderly living facility that we still haven’t found the deposit bag with their money?”
“You’ll find it, I’m sure. Sister Agnese is probably going to have a headache for three days from all of that rum. Speaking of, I think I have some stuff for a sandwich. How about I make you something quick?”
“No, no, no,” he said, swigging down the last gulp of wine. “I’m going to go home. Promise.” He leaned over to double-kiss her good night and then turned to walk out.
“Andre.”
He turned back to Giada.
“Does she know how you feel?”
“What do you mean?”
“I know this is not about the nuns. Or the fact that you really need a shower.”
“I’m just really tired,” said Andrea, suddenly feeling like he’d pulled on a weighted backpack. “I’ll be OK tomorrow.”
“You should talk to her, you know.”
“I did. She said she missed soup but didn’t belong anywhere. Did you ever seeMoonstruck?”
“The old movie with Cher where she cheats on her fiancé?”
“That’s very cynical,” he said, wagging his finger at her.
“Go to sleep, Andre,” Giada said, crossing her arms.
Chapter 22
RESEARCH NOTES
A controversial aspect of Maslow’s third and fourth tier of the hierarchy is the idea that the quest for esteem from both internal and external sources may outweigh the quest for romantic love for some individuals. As modern society continues to reprioritize career and family goals, it is possible that certain individuals do not and will not recognize the need for personal, romantic relationships as fundamental. As such, they may have different thresholds (or none at all) for romantic connection, coupling, and partnerships.
The day after Andrea’s unpleasant phone call with theprefetto, Lora found a small white postcard stuck into the jamb of her front door in the morning. It was a preprinted form with a lined space where a date and a name could be added in, but it had no postage stamp. She turned it over tosee that it had come from theComune di Baia Santa, which meant that one of its two employees had walked it over and stuck it in the door while she was sleeping. Her eyes roamed over the card, picking up the words “giuramento” and “cittadinanza” and then “3 agosto 2026.” She gasped, then reached for her phone, opened the translation app, and hovered the camera over the card just to be sure. It was happening. On August 3, she would become an Italian citizen. Theprefettohad either changed his mind about Andrea or taken pity on him. Either way, she knew that this was almost a miracle.
Her stomach clenched. Who had delivered the card? It was impossible to imagine Franca tottering down to the house on her Serious Lady pumps at six in the morning. It had to have been Andrea. The last time she saw him, he was sticking his neck out for someone who was walking out of his life in theory, and now there was a date to walk out in practice. He hadn’t knocked or called or texted. But what exactly did she expect him to say?
On the first day of thesagra, Lora went for a walk in the morning, did some laundry and a bit of writing. She then decided to scrub a section of the grout on the backsplash that seemed to still have construction dust coating it, folded the clothing that had been hanging on the line, dusted the stairway, Windex’d the inside of all of the windows in the house, and bleached the inside of the commode. She would have polished the brass sconces but knew that it would be impossible to get to the hardware store for the right polish, so she settled for sweeping the back terrace. When she found herself seriously considering reorganizing her underwear drawer in rainbow order, she knew that she wasn’t just opting out of thesagra;she was avoiding it like the plague. She looked into the mirror in the bathroom as she wiped down the counter between the double sinks and frowned.Coward.
On Sunday, she decided to get herself over there, no matter what. At first, she wondered if she would feel weird walking around alone. But then she realized that she could stop by and see what Giada and Vivi were up to. She could also say hello to Beatrice, Carola, and even Luca. Plus, she knew Luciano, Romina, Franca (if Franca did anything fun ever), and possibly even Andrea’s parents would be there. She had even cultivated a waving relationship with the Tramonti twins. The more she thought about it, the more she realized that there were plenty of people to talk to, even if she didn’t talk to Andrea himself.
The piazza was packed with people: old, young, families, couples, teens. They held wax-paper-wrapped slabs of focaccia, plastic cups filled with wine, and cones of gelato. Food and craft stands lined the streets, adorned with strings of lights and brightly painted signs describing their wares. Kids ran by with their faces painted into butterfly wings, and the same band that played at the yacht club ran through a mix of songs in Italian and English. They were currently making their way through an acoustic version of “Zitti e Buoni,” the lead singer encouraging the crowd to get in on singing the chorus with him.
“Cia-oo,” sang out Giada as Lora approached the café. She had asked two of her cousins to help her out during thesagra, and the brothers were buzzing around the outside tables while Vivi ran the kitchen on her day off from the restaurant. “You’re here! I was hoping you’d stop by. I have something for you.”
“Ciao,” Lora said, double-kissing her hello. “You do? Wait, I want to tell you something. I’m going to become a citizen on August 3.” It was the first time she’d said it out loud and she found herself grinning with the sound of it. Itwaspretty exciting. Giada’s smile went wide.
“Ahhhh! I’m so happy for you! This is great news! I knew it would work out.Ma che velocità!So fast!”
