by Lise Gold
“I’m not late.” Nadine rolled her eyes at the first of undoubtedly many more stabs to come. She’d neglected him, and now she was going to pay. That was fine though; she knew arguing was Luca’s favorite pastime and their feisty discussions always had a friendly undertone. “How have you been?”
“Hungry,” he grunted, looking at the food.
Nadine ignored his comment and plated the food while Luca laid the table in the worn-out kitchen that hadn’t been updated since he’d bought the apartment in the seventies. She’d offered to paint it for him many times, but he liked things to stay the same, and wasn’t even using the new pans she’d bought him.
“There was a stranger in the building,” he said as he sat down and poured them wine.
“That was my friend Rome, she’s been staying with me.” Nadine prepared herself for a stream of curses. She’d had trouble understanding him when she was first learning Italian as he mumbled and swore a lot, using old curse words and a lot of slang, but now, their conversations flowed effortlessly. Luca’s ignorance to how predictable he was amused her, and so she could only laugh when he started on a new rant that centered around Rome.
“That’s the most ridiculous name I’ve ever heard.”
“It’s not ridiculous. I think it’s a nice name,” Nadine retorted in an equally harsh tone as she sat down opposite him.
Luca huffed and chewed his food slowly. He always did that when he needed time to come up with a reply. “I bet she’s American.” He narrowed his eyes at her. “Is she?”
“Yes, she is and I’m American too, so watch your words.”
“You’re not. You have dual nationality and while you’re here, you’re Italian. Why was she staying at your place? Can’t she afford a hotel?”
“We’re dating,” Nadine lied, purely to wind him up. She’d told him she was gay after he kept trying to set her up with his son, but he always pretended he didn’t recall that conversation.
“You’re lying. You can’t date a woman, that’s not God’s way. I’ve told you many times, my son is a good man, but you refuse to give him a chance.”
Nadine let out a sarcastic chuckle and shook her head incredulously. “Your son is married with three kids. Just because you don’t like his wife doesn’t mean he doesn’t.” And just to get back at him for being nasty about Rome, she added: “I think your daughter-in-law is a lovely woman.”
Luca’s eyes darkened, and he looked like he was about to explode. He knew exactly how far he could go with Nadine though, as she’d walked out on him on multiple occasions, so he changed the subject and asked her about work. Nadine’s story was that she worked at a restaurant as she was often away at night, and although that didn’t exactly line up with the expensive apartment she rented or the dresses she wore when she left, he’d never questioned it.
Nadine made some stuff up about her recent shifts and they talked and ate, entirely comfortable around each other. What had started as a near fistfight, had turned into a weird kind of friendship, and Nadine always smiled to herself when she thought back to her first meeting with her incredibly rude neighbor. He’d accused her of pushing the previous tenant—who she’d never met—out of her house and called her a charlatan. Nadine had thought about shouting back at him, but instead, she’d cooked him a meal and knocked on his door that same night, figuring he was lonely and missed his old neighbor and his wife, who she’d learned had recently passed away. Luca would have probably thrown it in her face back then, if it wasn’t for the fact that he really loved food, and he wasn’t a very good cook himself. So, he’d put the empty dish back in front of her door with a ‘thank you’ note, and that was when she’d started cooking for him regularly. She’d almost fainted when he invited her in for the first time. Although they generally argued a lot, she knew he appreciated her company and in some strange way, she liked hanging out with him.
Lately, she’d been worried about him, though. Throughout their conversation, the frown between his brows came and went as he fell back into thoughts. Memories, maybe? It happened more frequently now, and sometimes he forgot what they were discussing. Nadine never commented on it, but she called his son every two weeks to let him know how his father was doing, as the old man would never admit to becoming forgetful himself.
The deep grooves in his face spoke of a hard past, but all she knew about Luca, was that he used to own a bar, as he blatantly refused to talk about himself. When his only son, who was supposed to take over the business fell in love with a Sicilian girl and moved there, his heart was crushed and that had triggered his unreasonable hatred for his daughter-in-law.
“When will you be moving?” she asked him, knowing his son wanted to collect him in roughly six months’ time.
“I won’t be moving. I’m staying right here,” Luca said, pounding his fist on the table. “That damn woman wants to sell my house and take the money.”
Nadine shook her head and sighed. His son had asked her to mentally prepare him as she seemed to be the only one who could get through to him sometimes, but so far, Luca wasn’t having any of it. “She’s not going to steal your money. And it will be nice to be with your grandkids, right?” she tried, knowing that was his soft spot.
Luca, gave her a small smile, then pushed his plate to the side. “I think I’m going to take a nap now. Thank you for lunch, it was delicious. You’re a great cook and you’re going to make some man very happy one day.”
19
“Finally, babe. You did it.” Barbara, Rome’s childhood friend, was going through the clothes Rome was planning on getting rid of after clearing out her closets. “If I’m honest with you, I wanted to tell you to give up a couple of times. After all those rejections I was worried you were going to work yourself to death and get into tons of debt over something that would never happen.” She smiled, finger combing her strawberry blonde hair back behind her ears. “But I was wrong, and you were right. You’re about to become the next Bill Gates or Zuckerman or…”
“Stop it!” Rome threw a T-shirt at her. “There’s still no guarantee it will pass the test stages once it’s rolled out on a small scale, but I have high hopes. Doesn’t mean it will make me an app tycoon, though; that’s just ridiculous.”
“Well, tycoon or not, I’m sure you’ll be able to afford a place with a spare bedroom now because I’m going to miss you.” Barbara jutted out her bottom lip. “Even though I barely see you as it is.”
“Of course I’ll have a spare room for you. And I’m sorry I haven’t been around much.” Rome folded up the last T-shirts she would take and piled them into her third suitcase.
“You should be sorry about this instead,” Barbara said, holding up the Buffy T-shirt Rome had thrown at her. “It’s about time this was thrown in the garbage.”
Rome laughed and stopped her from putting it into the charity pile. “Hey, that’s my favorite T-shirt.”
“Exactly, that’s what worries me.” Barbara teased her by going on her tiptoes and holding it high up. “Sucks being short, huh?”
Rome jumped up and snatched it out of her hand. “I don’t care what you think; I like to sleep in it.”
“You’re never going to find an Italian boyfriend if you wear that in bed.”
“I don’t need a boyfriend,” Rome was quick to retort. The truth was, since her nights with Nadine, she couldn’t picture her future with a man at all, but she kept that to herself.
“Everyone needs someone to love.” Barbara picked up a scarf from the ‘go’ pile, wrapped it around her neck in front of the mirror, then put it in her own bag. “And don’t you want kids at some point?”
“Not again.” Rome shot her a warning look. “Spare me the kids talk, I’m not even in the headspace to date, let alone think about kids.” She shook her head and sighed. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to snap.”
“It’s fine, I shouldn’t keep bringing it up. I just don’t want you to be lonely, and your life seems so incredibly lonely.”
“Well
, that’s sweet of you, but my life is about to change drastically, so you can stop worrying.” Rome gave Barbara’s arm a squeeze. “I really appreciate you coming over and helping me pack. I know I said I didn’t need help, but it’s really hard to plan if I don’t know how long I’ll be away. And since you’re the Queen of Planning, I really appreciate it.”
“With three kids you learn how to run a smooth operation,” Barbara said with a chuckle. “And it’s not like I’ve been available much in the past years either. I’ve missed you, and I’m looking forward to a little trip to Rome. If Terry is willing to have the kids for a week,” she added, rolling her eyes.
“I’d like that,” Rome said. “You’ll love Italy, there’s no way you couldn’t.” With Barbara being a full-time mom, and Rome solely focused on her career, they couldn’t have been more different, yet their bond felt more like one of sisters, and so it didn’t really matter how often they saw each other.
“I’m glad you’ll be living in a place you love. Who would have thought you’d ever be in Rome, right? Your name-town? I’d expected you to move to Silicon Valley, or Tokyo, not Rome. But hey, that’s Silicon Valley’s loss.” Barbara winked. “So, tell me more about this new friend you haven’t shut up about since I got here.”
“Nadine?” Rome felt heat rise to her cheeks as she said her name. She’d thought of little else over the weeks she’d been back in Portland, and although their communication was mainly concentrated on the apartment hunt, there had been some flirty messages back and forth, too. “I haven’t talked about her that much, have I?”
Barbara let out a sarcastic chuckle as she shot her an amused glance. “You’ve mentioned her like five times since I got here. And I’ve only been here for two hours.”
“Okay.” Rome felt busted, but she managed to keep her cool. “Well, Nadine’s great fun. She lives in this amazing bohemian apartment in an incredibly charming neighborhood. She’s American-Italian, and she’s the most passionate person I’ve ever met.”
“Passionate?” Barbara laughed out loud, pointing to Rome. “I’ve rarely heard you say that word before. You’re a nerd; you don’t do passionate. You get off on statistics and…” She paused, noticing the blush on Rome’s cheeks. “Wait… what has she done to you? And where did you meet?”
“We ehm… we met at my pitch.” Rome bit her lip, wondering whether to share the whole truth or not. “It was in a restaurant and she was with one of the investors as his escort…” She waited for Barbara’s reaction that was as predictable as the time.
“What the fuck?” Barbara laughed even harder now. “You’re friends with a hooker?”
“She’s not a hooker,” Rome said, a little too sharply for her own liking. She was surprised at the stab she felt at Barbara even calling Nadine that, but she tried not to get worked up about it. “She goes out with people to make them look good; she doesn’t sleep with her clients. Unless they’re female and she wants to sleep with them…” She reached into her purse and held up the small bottle Nadine had given her. “And she’s only doing it to fund her perfume business. Nadine’s a perfumer and she’s incredibly talented. She made me this.”
Barbara glared at her while opening the bottle. “Jesus, Rome.”
“What?” Rome arched a brow as she zipped closed her suitcase and opened the next.
“You’re defending her like your life depends on it. And you keep talking about her.” Barbara dabbed a little of the essence on her wrist and sniffed it. “Mmm… God, this smells good.”
“But you asked me!” Rome crossed her arms and widened her stance. “I was only answering your question.”
“Yeah, but you kept bringing her up before, and now that you’ve told me she’s gay—I mean, I assume she is, if she sleeps with her female clients… Do you have a crush on her or something?”
“Of course not.” Rome started rooting through her toiletries, barely registering what she was throwing into her toiletry pouch. She couldn’t look at her friend, because Barbara knew her too well and she was sure her swooning expression would give her away. Yes, she was smitten with Nadine. But only a little, she told herself. “She’s a woman.”
“You don’t have to remind me of that. But it’s not unthinkable, right?” Barbara walked around Rome to face her again when she didn’t answer. “Do you have a picture of her?”
“No.” Rome picked a couple of random nail varnishes from her box and added them to the pouch.
“Liar. Come on. I know you have a picture. Show me.”
Rome let out a deep sigh and reluctantly reached for her phone. She opened one of the few pictures she had of her and Nadine—a headshot of them in bed—and tried not to stare at it while she held it out.
“Fuck me, she’s pretty.” Barbara frowned.
“Pretty is an understatement,” Rome said without thinking.
Barbara’s gaze shifted from the picture to Rome and back. “I was right, I knew it. You should see yourself.” She tilted her head as she studied the image closer. “And why are you lying down? Is that a pillow? We’ve never taken pictures like this together. And why is your hair all messy?”
Rome took her phone back and threw it in her purse, then sat down on the bed, deciding to confess. “I slept with her.” A strange sensation settled in her core as she said it out loud, and in that moment, she knew that telling someone would change everything, because it made it real. Barbara had already figured her out, though, so there was no point denying it. This time, there was no laughter, and Rome was grateful for that.
“You did not…” Barbara bit her lip and hesitated before she continued. “Was it a drunken thing or…”
“No, it wasn’t. I stayed for two nights, actually.” Rome let herself fall on her back and stared up at the ceiling. “She’s addictive, Barb. She drags me along in her passions, and I can’t help but get sucked in. The fact that she’s a woman…” Her voice trailed away, and she continued in a near whisper. “I don’t care because no man could ever live up to her. No woman either. She’s incredible.”
“And she’s also an escort.”
“I told you, she’s only doing that to fund her…”
“It doesn’t matter,” Barbara interrupted her. “You have a crush on her and she’s an escort. I don’t want you to get hurt.”
“I won’t. It’s not serious and it never will be.” Rome had told herself that a million times. As a true analyst, she’d dissected the situation and concluded that A; it was unlikely that she was gay because if she was, she’d surely have known sooner. Nadine was just an exception because she was, well… Nadine. B; it could never get serious as Nadine didn’t do relationships and Rome always made sure never to get close to anyone either. C; she was likely to be overexcited because the whole woman-thing was new to her and so her pheromones were likely playing up. As soon as they’d settled, she’d be free from her infatuation and everything could go back to normal. Until that happened, there was nothing wrong with indulging in the memories. Despite her attempts to rationalize her feelings, her heart started racing just at the thought of seeing Nadine again. “Please stop worrying about me.”
“Okay. Just be careful.” Barbara sat down on the bed and leaned over her, forcing Rome to look at her. “So… how was it?” Her lips pulled into a smirk, lifting her freckled cheeks. “I don’t get much action these days, but now that you do, I can finally start living vicariously through my best friend.”
Rome met her eyes and couldn’t help but laugh. “It was insane.”
“Insane?”
“Yeah, insanely good. Like I didn’t know it was possible to be so good-good.”
“Oh…” Barbara’s voice went up a notch as she stared down at her. “Better than with a man-good?”
“Absolutely. A different league entirely.”
“Fuck…” Barbara swallowed hard, hanging onto her every word, now. “What did you guys do?”
Rome looked up again, her face taking on an even brighter shade of red. “Do you r
eally want to know?”
“Hell, yeah! Tell me everything.”
“Okay. Rome scooted to the middle of her bed and crossed her legs, then poured them both a large glass of wine from the bottle on her nightstand. “Here, take this. you’re going to need it.”
20
Nadine was fidgeting with her napkin while trying to refrain from drinking her nerves away. She was usually the one to be late, but tonight, she’d been early. She didn’t like that her reunion with Rome would take place during one of her escort dates, but it was the way it was. Besides, Nadine had told herself to stop getting carried away. Their passionate nights had been great, but now she needed to refocus and so did Rome. As soon as Rome walked in though, her resolve crumbled.
“Hey.” She smiled as she kissed Rome on both cheeks and caught a waft of the perfume she’d made for her. Rome looked incredible in a simple, black dress that reached her knees, and a black, silk scarf draped around her shoulders. Her blonde bob was immaculately straightened, and the elegant designer heels told Nadine she’d been shopping for tonight. Had she been shopping with her in mind?
When she met Rome’s gaze, the look of longing in her eyes made Nadine’s breath hitch, and as hard as it was, she fought to hide her desire and refocused on Flavio, who was sitting next to her. He kept trying to place his hand on her thigh, and she repeatedly brushed it away, thinking it wouldn’t be a bad thing when this job came to an end. It was rare that she went on more than two or three dates with the same person, exactly for this reason. They got sucked into the fantasy and almost started believing it was real sometimes, as seemed to be the case with Flavio tonight. He was looking at her like he was about to propose any minute now, and his infatuation might become a problem if she wasn’t careful.