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“What, Grazi?” He asked when he caught me staring.
“You’re beautiful.”
The compliment took him by surprise.
“You are too,Tesoro mio.”
“Go now, before I try and keep you all for myself.”
Salvatore left the bedroom laughing and that made my heart swell. We were finally good again and it made me so happy, all the fights and the fear from the other day turned into dust and got carried away by the wind. Now, all I had to do was enjoy my little corner of heaven.
~~~
Sasa didn’t came back for lunch, so I ate alone on the back patio, looking over the crystal blue water. Totto served me with a fresh spread of seafood, but didn’t want to sit and have some himself. I kept telling Salvatore that the old butler was overworking himself and we needed to start planning his retirement, but Totto was so good at taking care of us. He was in the Fiori house ever since Sasa was a kid and he remained loyal through thick and thin. Convincing him to take time off for himself won’t be easy.
After lunch, there was not much for me to do, so I did some stretching to release some of the soreness that settled in me after the night Salvatore and I shared and then moved on to making those phone calls. Talking to Rosa Vitale was emotional, to say the least. She listened in silence and when I was done telling her how my bodyguard may have crippled one of the most important people in modern ballet production, she laughed. I didn’t expect that.
To be honest, I wasn’t sure what I’d expected from her – anger, disappointment maybe – but instead, Rosa apologized. She talked about how I was sheltered all my life and she should have known better than to throw me to the wolves like I was ready to fend for myself. She mentioned Salvatore too. Rosa Vitale was not one to believe in the institution of marriage and she didn’t understand why I would chain myself to a man, but she did say she was grateful to know he’d be taking care of me.
Rosa was not mad that I embarrassed her name at the Scala. More than that, she said she was going to call the director and say her piece about the way the Academy was protecting its students. In Rosa’s words, ‘it was about time people start speaking out loud about that shit’.
I couldn’t see her face, but I didn’t need to. I could read in the tone of her voice that she was no stranger to this subject, but I didn’t dare ask if anything had happened to her.
We said goodbye as friends and she promised she’d come visit when she returned from her holiday in the South of France. She also promised to drag me to a studio to make sure I wasn’t losing my skill because I was paying more attention to my husband than to my training.
I didn’t bother explaining to Rosa that while I loved ballet, I needed Salvatore to breath. He was my life. Not many could understand what was between us, because it wasn’t just love. We were tied together like a knot and there was no me without him.
When I was done clearing the air with Rosa Vitale, I called Pina, who sounded more than happy to hear from me. The chat we had was light, not dabbling into anything too serious and it was exactly what I needed. A friend. Pina was the closest woman outside my family I had, and even if we couldn’t see each other for now, I wasn’t willing to lose her.
After that, the day went by slow.
“Grazia?” Totto said my name questioningly when he saw I was spying on him.
“What are you doing?”
He raised the hangers in his hands for me to see them better.
“One of your dresses and Salvatore’s favorite suit were just returned from the drycleaner. I was about to put them in your dressing room.”
“Oh.”
“Do you need anything?”
“I was just getting bored. You don’t happen to know when Sasa will be home, right?”
“Dear girl, you’re more aware of his schedule than I am.”
“Right.”
“Call him if you need him.”
“He has an important meeting today, closing up that big business. I don’t want to bother him.”
“Bother?” Totto puffed. “You have no idea how many nights he spent in his den, looking straight at his phone waiting for your name to show up. Call your husband, Grazia.”
His words put a smile on my face.
“Maybe I should.”
