Page 91 of Only One Tour Bus

“But you do it so well.” I tug on a bit of her hair that has escaped her messy bun.

“That doesn’t mean I like it; it’s stressful. But every job has parts that aren’t as fun. I’ll take it for the parts that I do like.”

“I want to accept it as much as you do.”

“Unfortunately, I don’t have any advice on how to make that happen. Because it would involve an entire personality change. And I like your personality.”

I sputter, at a loss at what to say in response to the compliment.

I’m saved by her phone lighting up. She flips it over face up so fast I think it’s going to fly out of her hand and smash into the wall of the Duomo.

“Barnes and Noble would like me to know there’s a sale on pre-orders,” Asha says, reading the screen and deflating from the readiness that filled her seconds ago.

“Ah. Important information, when the closest one is in New York.”

“We should get up and look for these kiddos.” But she doesn’t move.

“I’m sure they’ll love being called kiddos.”

“Well, they are! They should enjoy youth and having parents that take them to Europe.”

We still don’t get up, since I would rather be with Asha, sitting on the steps of history, than going on this pointless search and rescue mission. A rescue that the rescuees, if memory serves me, won’t appreciate.

I certainly wouldn’t have.

Then again, there is a slight chance they’re in danger. And so we have to keep looking. Before I can start to get up, I hear an angry voice from my right.

“What are you doing here?”

CHAPTER 39

ASHA

I snap my head around, heart pounding, and guiltily stand up, like I’m the one who’s underage and just got caught by my parents staying out past curfew.

“Peter. Brian. Hi.”

The fathers of the missing sixteen-years-olds glare at us.

“You two are out here sitting, having some sort of pleasant midnight chat when our children are in danger?” Brian fumes.

This wasn’t my best idea. I’m instantly flooded with regret for taking the break. It’s not like walking into bars was that hard. We should have pushed on. “We are looking for them. We’re only taking a quick break and checking if they’ve called us back. We’ve already been to eleven bars, but no luck so far.” My voice is high pitched and there’s a little quiver to it.

“This is your job and you need a break? When god knows what is happening to my daughter? I’m sure she would want to take a break, safe at home, instead of being out on the dangerous streets, scared and alone,” Peter says.

Right. Girl is probably making out with Jack in some dark corner of a bar, loving life and her travel romance. And this is Florence. It’s not exactly a hotbed of crime, unless you’re a purse or wallet, which is a problem in all tourist-heavy destinations.

“We’re doing our job and are concerned about your children. But we’re doing everything we can and walking into random bars was a long shot to begin with. We’re not the police and have no idea how to conduct a professional search. We can call them for you, but that is the extent of our abilities. The extent of our responsibilities,” Callum says, stepping in front of me.

It’s too late. I’m angrier at myself than these parents are at me. Because they’re only mad out of their worry and I get that. If yelling at us helps, then at least we helped a little. We haven’t been able to find their kids.

“Let’s get back to it.” Nothing is going to make these parents happier to have found us sitting on the job, so all we can do is move forward. I try a reassuring smile, but that seems to anger the parents even more who maybe think I’m trying to make light of it. My lips turn down in a worried frown that I hope they’ll appreciate more.

The men storm off, and I look helplessly at Callum. “This isn’t going well.”

“I’m still confused as to what we’re expected to do in this scenario. Let me call the carabinieri and be done with it. It’s literally their job to do this sort of thing. Or maybe, the parents could have just looked after their children.”

“I’ll bring it up to them again, but they didn’t think the police needed to be involved yet. I think it made it feel too real for them. But it’s better than it being on us at this point.”