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“This feels like it doesn’t count. I want to come back when I can actuallyseethings. The Colosseum, Vatican City, the Sistine Chapel. And I meanreallysee them, up close. Not from a distance.”
Donovan nodded while gazing out at the city. “Yeah. I really wanted to take a tour of the Colosseum.”
I sighed and collected our plates. “After we take the cookies out, what do you want to do tonight, darling? Put the kids to bed, then watch a movie in the lounge?”
He was still staring off.
“Donovan?”
“I don’t want to stay in tonight,” he said. “Let’s go out.”
25
Donovan
The Day We Explored Rome
I had been having an amazing time with Molly. I couldn’t have asked for a better person to be stuck with for the last week and a half. And I wasn’t just saying that because of the way she looked in a sun dress, bent over the pool table. We’d been having ablastplaying house in the hotel.
But tonight, I didn’t want to be stuck inside. I wanted to explore Rome with her. I wanted to see the sights, to touch blocks of stone that were older than Christ himself.
And I sure as hell didn’t want to wait until a future trip to do it.
“Let’s go see the Colosseum,” I said.
She looked at me like I had started speaking Russian. “But it’s closed.”
“So what? I want to see it up close.”
“We’re under a lockdown,” she said, as if it were obvious. “We’re only allowed out in the morning, and that’s just to get food or medicine.”
“Then we’d better not get caught.”
“And if someone does catch us?”
I grinned. “What are they going to do? Kick us out of the country? Sounds like a win-win.”
She laughed as we climbed down the ladder. “I don’t know. I’ve never broken the law like that before…”
“Here we go with the rules again.”
“This is different than stupid hotel rules,” she insisted. “This isserious. We could get in real trouble if we’re caught.”
I pressed the elevator button and turned toward her. “Do you trust me?”
She looked up at me and nodded.
“Then I’ll make sure everything is okay.”
I meant it. I would do whatever it took to protect Molly, while also showing her a good time.
She smiled like she believed it, too. “Okay. I trust you.”
We grabbed two of my masks from the room and went down to the kitchen to take the cookies out of the oven. Then I went into the office behind the concierge desk. There was a drawer with a small supply of hotel toiletries. I found a bottle of Italian-brand cough syrup and shoved it in my pocket.
Molly took a big step away from me. “Are you feeling sick? Do you have a cough?”
“I feel fine. Let’s go.”
