Tutti Italia: A Novel Read online

  “Hey. I’m glad you texted me. I had nothing better to do anyway.” He grinned at her and led her to the parking lot. He opened the passenger door of a red Jeep Wrangler for her and closed it when she was inside. He hurried over to the driver seat and got in.

  “I didn’t know that you had a car. How’d you get one so fast?”

  “I’ve had this car for a couple years. The military shipped it over for me. This is my baby.” He patted the dashboard affectionately.

  “So…where are we going?” He looked at her and grinned.

  “Do you trust me?” That was a dangerous question. If she said yes, he might try to kidnap her or something. If she said no, and his intentions were actually pure, he would be hurt that she would think otherwise. She took a chance.

  “Sure.” He smiled.

  “Good. Because it’s a surprise.” He drove slowly through the little town right outside the base, and came to a stop behind a grungy looking grocery store. He pulled into a parking space, and got out to open her door for her. She blushed a little. No one had ever done that for her, or for anyone she knew. Apparently, chivalry wasn’t dead after all, just few and far between. He motioned for her to follow him, and she did. They walked up a winding road that led up a hill for about five minutes, then levelled out. Rachel’s eyes widened. It was a flea market. Right in the middle of the street. That was something no one would do back in America, but here everyone had an agreement that this road would be closed down for the flea market one day of each week. That was amazing to her.

  “How did you know about this?” She was in awe as she saw exactly how extensive it was.

  “Some of the guys on my flight are married, and their wives come here religiously every week. I personally don’t like shopping that much. I usually know what I’m going in for, then I go in, get it, and leave.” He shrugged. “Must be a guy thing though, right?” Rachel laughed at him.

  “You mean you don’t like browsing around for new and interesting things?” He looked chastised.

  “Well, I didn’t say that per se, I just usually know what I need and where to get it so it’s a quick trip for me.” She was coming up on the first booth. It was full of scarves that were hand embroidered.

  “Now, me, I love flee markets. I like to dig around for hidden treasures, then haggle with people for the best price. I always tell them that I’ll be back later, and if I don’t find something better and cheaper, then I actually do go back for it. It’s something that mom taught me, and I love doing it.” They were passing by a vendor that was selling leather coats. She knew that even on a haggle those would be expensive, so she kept going. The next booth had handmade beaded jewelry. That caught her eye, and she spent a few minutes looking over some of the pieces that were on display. The woman asked her, in English, if she needed help with anything. Rachel smiled at her and told her that she was just browsing. As they passed another booth, and then one more, a thought struck her suddenly. She turned to Jason.

  “How did she know to talk to me in English?” Jason stopped walking and thought for a minute.

  “Well, she could have heard us talking earlier. Or maybe we just look American. You know that Italians have a much different style than we do.” That was true. Either one of those or even both could have been reason for the woman to recognize them for being what they were.

  “I thought that the Italians in this area didn’t like us?” Jason dropped his voice as they passed by an old woman.

  “It’s mostly the older generation that doesn’t want us here. The younger ones have realized that we’re mostly stupid with money on the whole and they want us around as much as possible so they can make money off us and expand their businesses.” That was a very blunt answer, but she supposed there was some truth to it. It made sense to her anyway. They were coming up on a booth that had jewelry, but it was jewelry like she’d never seen before. They all had a large rock centers and extra thick, heavy wire. It looked almost oriental in a way. Rachel instantly fell in love with it. She spent a good fifteen minutes, looking carefully at each piece. It wouldn’t be expensive because it wasn’t made up of any precious stones or metals.

  “Excuse me, ma’am? How much would it be for a necklace, bracelet, earrings, and a ring?” The woman looked at her, and was trying to take stock of her intelligence.

  “For complete set is thirty euro.” That was a little steep, but she had to try to knock her down a little.

  “Would you take twenty euro?” Rachel gave her best, you can’t mess with me look. The woman looked at her sternly.

  “Twenty-five.” Rachel smiled and handed the money over, winking at Jason as the woman wrapped the jewelry up for her.

  Chapter 14

  Rachel was back in her room, smiling to herself as she went over the details of the day in her head. She was beginning to trust Jason more and more. She thought that maybe for the first time, she’d found someone that wasn’t going to end up hurting her in the end. She was glad that he’d had today off. She was hoping that he wouldn’t consider her clingy with what she was planning next. They’d made a wonderful day of it at the flea market, had a nice lunch, and then he’d brought her home. She had a copy of the theater schedule for the whole month, and there was a movie playing tonight that she really wanted to see. If was somewhat of a chick flick…ok, it was a total chick flick, but she was considering asking him anyway. Who knew? Maybe he would say yes. To be completely honest, she didn’t have much hope that he would go once she told him the title, because no man alive, except her father who went with her mother, would willingly go to a chick flick with a girl unless she was his longtime girlfriend, wife, or mother. It was a simple fact of life. Ok, she was going to ask. The worst that would happen is that he would say no. That was one hurdle complete. The next one was whether she should text him or call him. She didn’t want to see like she was desperate, so she decided that she would text. That way, if he didn’t see it, it was ok because it wasn’t like he was ignoring a call from her. She sighed. She was really overthinking this. She took a deep breath and picked up her phone. She shot him a text saying that she was heading to the seven thirty showing of Letters to Juliet, and that if he wanted to join her, she would save him a seat. It was only six, so she went into the kitchen and made herself something to eat.

  When she finished her dinner and put her clean dishes back into the cupboard, she curled up on her bed, set her alarm for seven, and picked up the latest book she’d been reading. Her phone was silent until her alarm went off. She sighed, but she had really expected it. She knew he wasn’t going to go with her. Oh well, at least she had a good movie waiting for her. She finished the page she’d been on when her alarm went off, and put her shoes on. She peeked through the blinds and saw that the wind had started whipping a little. She threw her hair up in a ponytail and grabbed her coat. Taking her wallet and phone, she left her room and made her way down the stairs. She got a surprise when she got to the ground floor. Jason was waiting for her.

  “Hey! I didn’t think you wanted to go. You didn’t text me back.” She kept the accusation out of her voice because she was so happy that he was going to go with her.

  “Yeah, sorry about that. I ran out of phone minutes and I need to get some more but the store’s closed. I was hoping that if I got here early enough, I’d see you and I could catch up to you.” She smiled at him. He really was a nice guy. Maybe fate had a surprise in store for her that she was actually going to like for once.

  “That sounds like a good plan. But I do have to tell you some very important information that just might make your day.” His eyebrows rose in surprise, and he leaned in a little.

  “And what would that critical information be?” He smiled at her.

  “You can get phone minutes at that little shoppette thing across the street from your armory. That’s where I go because it’s cheaper.” She smiled at the stunned expression on his face.

  “How did I not know that? I walk by there every day that I have to work.
” They’d started walking towards the theater, and they were stopped at the crosswalk, checking traffic before they crossed the street. “Wow, I feel like a dunce now.” She laughed and patted his shoulder in a friendly way.

  “It’s ok. I only learned it a few days ago myself. One of the teachers I’m going to be working with next week told me about it. I would have never thought that I could go there to get phone minutes.” The made it to the ticket counter, and Jason snuck in front of her so he could get his ticket first. At first Rachel thought that he was rude, until she heard him ask for two. He was paying for her. That was wrong. She had invited him. That meant that she should pay.

  “Hey! Wait a minute!” She tried to stop him from getting the money out of his wallet and get hers out at the same time. That definitely wasn’t a success. He paid the lady and Rachel punched him playfully on the arm. “I invited you! That means that I pay. Not you.” He laughed at her good-naturedly.

  “But I’m the guy. Isn’t it the guy’s job to pay for the dates?” Rachel blushed.

  “So now you’re saying it’s a date?” she teased him. Now it was Jason’s turn to blush.

  “Well, I just thought-“ He paused, not finding the words he wanted to say. “I guess I was just hoping that it would be one.” His embarrassment was absolutely adorable. Rachel patted his shoulder affectionately as they walked into the dark theater.

  “Well, in that case, I would have to say that I rather hoped that it would be one, too.” She was glad that it was dark. She knew her cheeks were flaming. She led the way to one of the middle rows in the theater and sat down. Jason followed her and got comfortable in his seat. The credits rolled by, but then something happened that she had never seen before. A few notes of music came on, and a picture of the American flag filled the screen. Jason jumped to his feet and stood stock still, as straight as he could, with his hands balled in fists at his side. She was confused and was about to ask him what he was doing when she saw that everyone else was standing, too. She got to her feet, still not quite knowing what was going on. Then the National Anthem came on, and she automatically put her hand over her heart. She relaxed a little. Now she knew what was going on. She would have to ask Jason if they did this in all military theaters. It was a nuance for her. When the music was over, everyone in the theater sat down, and the movie started to play.

  When the movie let out, Rachel was moved. It had ended so sweetly that she had a few tears in her eyes. Jason on the other hand, had laughed at the end. She excused herself to the restroom, and dashed away the tears. It wouldn’t do for him to see her choked up over a movie. It was interesting to her though because the place where some of it was filmed actually existed. She was hoping it would be on the list for the ITT trips Jason had been talking about before. She made a mental note to ask him. When she came back out of the bathroom, he was waiting for her.

  “So, what did you think of the movie?”

  “I loved it! I was hoping that maybe I could go to Verona and see the place where Juliet’s statue is.” Jason chuckled. “What? What did I do?” He shook his head and sobered up.

  “Nothing. I was just thinking that you might be asking me to check the ITT trips every month to see if there were going to be any trips to Verona.” She blushed and looked away.

  “I, um, might have been thinking to ask you to do that. You know, maybe.” He laughed at her again. He knew he’d hit the nail on the head. He walked her back to her dorm, and this time she let him walk her to her door.

  “So this is where you live. You know, one of my good buddies lives right next door to you.” Uh oh. She felt guilty now for calling the police when the loud music was coming through her wall. At least Jason didn’t know about that. She hoped that it wouldn’t throw a wrench into the works that she was hoping were running smoothly with Jason right now. She said good night, and Jason gave her a quick hug goodnight. He took off pretty quickly, and Rachel thought he might be embarrassed. She had a broad smile on her face as she let herself into her bedroom. And she couldn’t hide it. It kept popping up at random while she was in the shower, and as she put her pajamas on, and as she curled up in bed. Today had been a wonderful day, and she wanted to capture every minute of it. Before she turned off her lights and went to bed, she pulled out her diary from the shelf behind her head and wrote down in detail, everything that she could remember from the moment that she woke up, that included Jason. When she finished, it was almost ten. She yawned and put her diary away. Bedtime.

  She woke up early the next day, and she couldn’t for the life of her figure out why. She hadn’t set her alarm. There had been any loud noises. Her phone hadn’t rang. She was just awake early. The sun was streaming through her blinds already, and she checked the time. It was eight thirty. She sighed, that was too early. She wanted to sleep in for once. She rolled over, grabbed her teddy bear, and went back to sleep. At about ten, her phone went off. She reached for it without opening her eyes and managed to open it and get it to her ear.

  “Hello?” she said groggily.

  “Hey! It’s Elena. I’ll be in the parking lot of your dorm in about thirty minutes. Then we can go shopping for decorations.” That was why she woke up early. She’d been excited about going shopping out in Italy. She was wide awake now.

  “Ok, sounds good to me. See you then.” Rachel hung up the phone and leaped out of bed. She hurriedly splashed water on her face to help her wake up faster. She fixed her hair and brushed her teeth, grabbed some jeans and a sweater, threw on some socks, and put her shoes on. She was just putting on her coat when her phone pinged. It was a text from Elena, telling her she was here. Rachel smiled and grabbed her purse. She had to stop herself from running down the pigeon poop covered steps. She wasn’t going to look like an excited American going out on the town for the first time. That was why the Italians had a bad impression of the Americans, and she wasn’t going to be someone that added to that stereotype. She found Elena’s car and jumped into the passenger side.

  “Good morning! I can’t wait to go shopping.” Elena took one look at Rachel’s excited face and laughed. “What?”

  “Nothing. You just remind me of my little sister. She lives to shop, and even she doesn’t get as excited as you just did.” Rachel toned it down a bit, and tried her best to sit still while Elena drove. She was looking out the window, trying to remember the turns that Elena was taking so that she could get to this place by herself when she got a car.

  Chapter 15

  When Elena parked, Rachel felt like she was in an old world charm village. The streets were cobble stone, the buildings were old fashioned, and the shops were smooshed together. The two of them had to park farther away and walk into the town because no cars were allowed in the shopping area. To be honest, they wouldn’t have fit down the narrow roads anyway.

  “Thank you so much for bringing me here!” Rachel jumped up and gave Elena a big hug. Elena laughed but hugged her back.

  “It’s not a problem at all. I like shopping, too, and I haven’t been here in a long time. I miss having someone to go shopping with.” The expression on Elena’s face was a sad one, and Rachel almost reached out and hugged her again.

  “What about your sister? Don’t you want to go with her sometimes?” Rachel didn’t know if that was a safe question to ask, but it had slipped out before she could filter it.

  “I would love to go with Marisol, but she goes to university in another city and it’s very far away. I only get to see her at holidays or when she has a break from school.” I almost feel like an only child because of it. My parents always try to make me go out and find new friends, but it’s hard. I don’t trust people very easily.” Rachel knew how that could feel. She’d been there herself, not too long ago.

  “Well, maybe some shopping can cheer you up. What do you say?” Elena smiled at her.

  “Yes. That always helps. And I want to say thank you for being a friend to me. I like having someone that I can do these things with. I don’t know what I would do
otherwise.” They walked up to the first shop, and as they were going in, a thought occurred to Rachel and she just had to ask Elena something.

  “Please don’t be angry with me for asking you a question, but I’m curious. Do you live with your parents?” Elena laughed at her.

  “Why would you think that I would be angry for asking that? Yes, I do live with my parents. I know that Americans like to move away from their parents as soon as they can, but over here in Italy, the children live with the parents until they are married.” Rachel’s eyes widened. She thought she was breaking the mold by living at home until she was twenty-one.

  “I didn’t know that. Just goes to show you that cultures are very different.” The shop that they were in wasn’t one where they would find anything for their room, but it was a crafts shop and Rachel was going crazy looking at all the cross stitch patterns. There were so many beautiful things that she wanted, but she knew she’d have to control herself. She didn’t have an unlimited amount of money coming in, and she wanted to make sure that she had a cushion if anything were to ever go wrong. In the end she chose two of the cheaper ones that she was debating over, and some yarn to crochet with. She was grinning widely by the time they went into the next shop. The shop was a bakery, and it reminded her of the corner bakery where she would get the morning rolls for breakfast. She bought a few fresh rolls, and Elena got some kind of pastry with chocolate in it, and they moved on.