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“Sothat’swhy you brought the cough syrup. As an alibi.”
“I’m kind of surprised it worked.”
I peered out the window at the dark plaza. “You don’t think he’s going to report us, do you?”
“I hope not. But just in case, we should probably get out of the lobby.”
I was still riding an adrenaline high from our excursion to the Colosseum. “Want to have a night cap in the lounge? There was a cabinet full of DVDs. I bet we can play them in English, too.”
He let out a long, shuddering sigh. “I dunno. After getting caught, I think I’m done for the night. I’m going to go to my room and think about what I’ve done.”
I snorted. “You sound like a grounded teenager.”
“That’s exactly how I feel! The cop letting us go feels like the pandemic version ofwait ‘til your father gets home.And in this case, dad is the long arm of the Italian judicial system.”
We grabbed cookies from the kitchen and took the elevator upstairs. Outside our rooms, Donovan gave me a peck on the cheek.
“Sweet dreams, Feisty.”
“Goodnight, Donovan.”
I felt jittery with adrenaline as I went inside my room. I had never gotten in trouble with the police before. Heck, I had never received so much as a parking ticket. Breaking the law in a foreign country, during a nationwide lockdown, felt as serious as murder.
But everything was fine. They let us go. It was over.
I needed to take my mind off the police run-in. It was still the afternoon back home in Indiana, so I decided to call my best friend Sara. I had been having alotof fun with Donovan, and I really wanted to tell someone about it.
I can’t believe I gave Donovan a blowjob in the Colosseum,I thought while the phone rang.She’s never going to believe me.Usually she was the one with the exciting sexual adventures. I had lived vicariously through her my entire life without doing anything fun myself. She would lose her mind when I told her.
But after five rings it went to voicemail.
I still wanted to hear someone else’s voice, so I called the store next.
“Nellie’s Boutique, Andrea speaking.”
“Hey, it’s me. How is everything in Elkhart?”
“It’s weirdly normal,” Andrea told me. “I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop on this whole thing. How is Italy? It looks really bad there!”
“Rome isn’t too bad yet,” I said while sinking into my bed. “I’m quarantined in my hotel. There’s only one other person stuck in the hotel with me, a guy named Donovan. We’re pretty bored, but we’re finding things to do…”
My relationship with Andrea was professional. I had met her boyfriend twice, but she didn’t share personal details. I wanted to talk to someone, though, and I was hoping she would ask about Donovan.
She didn’t take the hint.
“You could always get started on the fall order catalog!”Andrea said. “Your mom always tried to get that done by March, and you didn’t finish it before leaving for your trip…”
There was a lot of administrative work to be done at the boutique. I had been putting it off because I didn’t want to do it. It was the kind of work my momlovedto do, but I didn’t have the same passion for the boutique as she did.
“I don’t have my laptop here, so I would need to do it all on my phone.”
“Yeah, good point. I guess it can wait until you get back… Oh! A customer just pulled up! I’ve got to go. Bye, Molly!”
I sighed as I hung up the phone. I considered calling one of my other girlfriends, but it didn’t seem worth the effort now. I didn’treallywant to talk to them.
The only person I want to talk to is Donovan.
I could hear him moving around over there. It didn’t sound like he was getting ready for bed.
