Page 93 of Only One Tour Bus

It takes some pushing at his back until he’s at an optimal position (and a lot of unnecessary sighing on his part, if you ask me). Then I fall asleep, the second to last thought in my head regret that tonight I’m missing out on sex in our maybe limited time together.

But the exhaustion soon takes over, as well as the lulling warmth of Callum’s body.

“And here is the birthplace of the Renaissance!” I point to the bronze doors behind me.

Callum doesn’t let them soak it in before he launches into his speech. “There was a competition between two goldsmiths, Lorenzo Ghiberti and Filipino Brunelleschi, to design the Duomo’s dome, and although there is some debate over if they both won or only one did, Ghiberti ended up doing the Baptistry doors with scenes from the Old Testament. He had a new approach to depicting the human body and perspective, and the way he represented three-dimensional space, all of which became characteristic of the Renaissance, but he still had some late Gothic characteristics with his elongated figures and Gothic shapes.”

I take over. “But don’t feel too bad about my man Brunelleschi, because he won that commission to do the dome behind you. It was the largest dome at the time, the first octagonal dome built without a wooden supporting frame, and it was built without the flying buttresses we saw at Notre Dame. He invented a lot of technology to do it, including a three-speed hoist, a special crane, and hand screws.

“And that’s the end of our tour. Now you have some time to enjoy Florence like a Medici, the famous and rich banking and governing family who provided the world with two popes. Take a look at Callum’s lists for how to eat like a Medici, walk through their palaces, and see their art. But please don’t poison anyone like a Medici. And then we’ll meet you later for the leather demonstration.”

With some dirty looks from the two sets of parents from last night, but happy looks from everyone else, the group leaves us.

“Want to lunch like a Medici?” I turn to Callum.

“I don’t know if I should take you up on that, after that poison comment.”

“You should be extra scared, because anything I do, I can just buy an indulgence from the Medici popes when we go to the Vatican and be forgiven for all.”

“I would research more on the current Catholic outlook on indulgences before you make any decisions based on it.”

“Nah. I’ll take my chances with my medieval knowledge.”

We find a restaurant that neither one of us has tried before and sit down. Before we can order, Callum’s phone rings.

“It’s Rob.” He holds up the phone so that I can see the name on the screen.

“Ahh.” My first instinct is to hide behind my wineglass and I lift it up in a sad attempt at avoiding reality.

Callum raises his eyebrows in judgment, which I can still see because the item I choose to hide behind is transparent, and answers the phone, putting it on speaker.

Great. This isn’t a coincidence after last night. He’s calling to yell at us.

CHAPTER 40

CALLUM

“Hi, Rob. I’m here with Asha,” I say.

“Hi, both of you. I hear there was drama with some tourists yesterday.”

“The teens ran off for some underage drinking. But they were back safe and sound before the end of the night,” Asha says.

“And the parents saw you sitting down during the search party?” Rob is definitely madder that the parents saw us than the fact that we were sitting. Or that the youths were lost.

“We were taking a break,” I say. “It’s not like there was anything we could realistically do to find people who didn’t want to be found.”

“I’m not saying there was. But sloppy to get caught. This isn’t what I was hoping for when I had both of you do a tour together.”

“It was unfortunate,” Asha says.

“Whose idea was the break?”

“Me,” I say before Asha can do something reckless like sacrifice herself for me. And it was my idea.

“I expected better from the responsible one.”

“Wait, what?” Asha looks highly affronted that she is not the responsible one, brows furrowed into an irritated V. Adorable, but irritated nonetheless.