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Chapter Twenty
Ithink deep down when I sent my message to Lorenzo on Monday asking about dates, I knew that he wouldn’t reply without me having to chase. Oh well.Just keep the objective in mind. You’re not looking for a reliable husband who will be there to bring you tea and a hot water bottle when you’ve got your period. You’re looking to hook up with a guy who is so hot, he would make the gorgeous Channing Tatum look like Quasimodo, for a weekend of no-strings-attached sex.Thus, lengthy WhatsApp chats and punctual messages weren’t really part of the deal.
Relax. This is all probably normal in the dating game.
Right. Time to send that message. It’s 10.15 a.m. here, so 11.15 a.m. there. Perfectly fine.
I sat up in bed, plumped up my pillow and began typing a WhatsApp message:
Me
Hello, handsome. Any news on those dates? As it’s only two weeks away, the flights are getting booked up, so I need to be quick. Can you let me know today? Grazie mille xxx
There. I kept it light, squeezed in a compliment (they say flattery gets you everywhere), and showcased my Italian vocab skills. How could he resist?
I was still guilty of checking to see when he was last online, whether he’d read the message or not and how many hours had elapsed since I’d sent it. I couldn’t seem to help myself.
Three hours and fifteen minutes later (not that I was counting…), he replied:
Lorenzo
I can be with you on the 28 and 29, but unfortunately I have to work until the 27.
Couldn’t argue with that. Two nights of passion had always been my objective. And I’d rather him let me know that he was working on certain days now so I could book the flights accordingly.I typed out my reply:
Me
Great! I’ll let you know once I’ve booked my tickets.
A wave of excitement flashed through me once again, just like on the last night at the villa, when he’d first confirmed he was up forhelpingme. I grabbed my iPad, typed in the dates and checked for the available flights to Pisa.
The flights were triple the cost I’d paid before. Understandable, I supposed, seeing as it was a bank holiday. Maybe I should shop around and do a bit more research?
Here comes Reasanna…
FFS, Sophia. Are you really doing this shit again? Are you going to spend hours going through all your cost analysis bollocks like the old you, or are you going to take a leap of faith and go for it? You’re already on the flights/hotel price comparison site you and the team use for all your work bookings, so you know it’s good. And it’s not like you don’t have the money! You should just bloody well book it. Seriously, woman!
So pushy…but she was right.
I checked the dates again to be sure, selected the times and then clicked confirm quickly. Even a seasoned PR like me couldn’t resist all the threats ofthere’s only one seat left at this priceandfive gazillion people have booked onto this flight in the last five minutesthat flashed up on the booking page.
Done. This bank holiday, I would not be sitting at home like I normally did, working on my laptop and staring out the window as the rain poured down, lamenting why the weather was always so shit in England during bank holidays.
Nope. This time, I would be jetting off to Tuscany for a shagathon with an Italian stallion.
I reached for my phone and sent Lorenzo another message:
Me
All booked. Arrive Fri 27th May (5.30 p.m.), leave Mon 30th May (afternoon). Is Florence city centre the best place to stay?
A record twenty-seven minutes later (of course I wasstillnot checking timings…), he replied with:
Lorenzo
Nice
He wouldnotbe winning any prizes for literature. And he didn’t answer my question about where to stay. Never mind. We could deal with that another time. For now I just wanted to take a moment to reflect on the fact that I was returning to Italy. What’s more, I had booked a flight in around forty-five minutes as opposed to multiple hours, which is the time it would traditionally take if I was going through my normal checking and analysis procedures. Bella and Roxy were right. I really was a new woman.
