Love & Gelato(6)

I sat down at the desk, scooting the chair around until my back was to the window. “Believe me, if I’d had any idea of what I was getting into, I would have pushed back even harder. This place is weird. There are headstones all over the place, and it feels like we’re really far from civilization. I saw some houses on the road coming in, but besides that it looks like there’s just forest surrounding the cemetery.”

“Shut up. I’m coming to get you. How much does a plane ticket cost? More than three hundred dollars? Because that’s all I have after our little run-in with the fire hydrant.”

“You didn’t even hit it that hard!”

“Tell that to the mechanic. Apparently the whole bumper had to be replaced. And I blame it on you entirely. If you hadn’t been jamming out, I probably wouldn’t have had to join in.”

I grinned, pulling up my feet to sit cross-legged. “It is so not my fault that you can’t control yourself when old-school Britney Spears comes on the radio. But do you need help paying for it? My grandparents are in charge of my finances, but I get a monthly allowance.”

“No, of course not. You’re going to need your money to get home from Italy. And I really do think my parents will be on board with you living here again. My mom thinks you’re a good influence. It took her like a month to get over the fact that you put your dishes in the dishwasher.”

“Well, I am pretty remarkable.”

“Tell me about it. Okay, I’ll talk to them soon. I just have to wait until my mom chills out. She’s in charge of this big football fund-raiser for Ian, and you’d think she was throwing a debutante ball. Seriously, she is stressing out way too much. She totally lost it last night when none of us ate her noodle casserole.”

“I like her noodle casserole. The one with tuna, right?”

“Ew, you do not like it. You were probably just starving because you’d gone on a nine-hundred-mile run. Also, you eat everything.”

“True,” I admitted. “But, Addie, remember, it’s my grandma we need to worry about convincing. She’s super on board with me living here.”

“Which makes absolutely no sense. Why would she send you halfway across the world to be with a stranger? She doesn’t even know him.”

“I don’t think she knew what else to do. On the drive to the airport she told me she’s thinking about moving with my grandpa into an assisted care center. Taking care of him is getting to be too much.”

“Which is why you should live with us.” She exhaled. “Don’t worry. You just leave Grandma Rachelle to me. I’ll take her out to buy some of those butterscotch candies all old people love, and we’ll talk about why the Bennett house is your best option.”

“Thanks, Addie.” We both stopped talking, and the sound of insects and Howard’s music filled the brief silence between us. I wanted to crawl right through the phone back to Seattle. How was I going to survive without Addie?

“Why are you being so quiet? Is Gravedigger there?”

“I’m in my bedroom, but I get the feeling that sound travels in this house. I don’t know if he can hear me or not.”

“Great. So you can’t even speak freely. We’d better come up with a code word so I know if you’re okay. Say ‘bluebird’ if you’re being held hostage.”

“?‘Bluebird’? Isn’t it supposed to be a word that doesn’t sound out of the ordinary?”

“Crap. Now I’m confused. You said the word, but I don’t know if you meant it. Are you or are you not being held hostage?”

“No, Addie. I’m not being held hostage.” I sighed. “Except maybe to the promise I made to my mom.”

“Yeah, but do promises really count if you make them under false pretenses? No offense, but your mom wasn’t exactly forthcoming about why she wanted you to go to Italy.”

“I know.” I breathed out. “I’m hoping there was some reason for that.”

“Maybe.”

I looked over my shoulder at the window. The moon was skimming the dark tree line, and if I hadn’t known any better I would have thought the view was crazy pretty. “I’d better go. I’m using his cell phone, and this is probably costing a fortune.”

“Okay. Call me again as soon as you can. And seriously, don’t worry. We’ll have you out of there in no time.”

“Thanks, Addie. Hopefully I can FaceTime you tomorrow.”

“I’ll be waiting by my computer. How do they say good-bye in Italy? ‘Choo’? ‘Chow’?”

“I have no idea.”

“Liar. You’re the one who’s always talked about traveling the world.”

“Hello and good-bye is ‘ciao.’?”

“I knew it. Ciao, Lina.”

“Ciao.”

Our call disconnected and I set the phone on the desk, my throat tight. I missed her already.

“Lina?”

Howard! I practically tipped over in my chair. Had he been eavesdropping?

I scrambled to my feet, then opened the door a couple of inches. Howard was standing in the hallway holding a bunch of folded white towels that had been stacked up like a wedding cake.

“I hope I didn’t interrupt you,” he said quickly. “I just remembered I meant to give you these.”