Reunited with Her Italian Ex. Lucy Gordon

night and that’s why you overslept.’

      ‘What? I’d taken some herbal pills to get to sleep after a strenuous day. A lover? I’d only been here five minutes.’

      ‘Giorgio sees you as the kind of woman who can attract men as fast as that.’

      ‘Cheek!’

      ‘In his eyes it’s a compliment.’

      She scowled for a moment, then laughed. ‘I guess I’ll learn to put up with him.’

      Giorgio reappeared with her breakfast.

      ‘Eat up and we’ll get to work,’ he said. ‘I’ll get you a map of Verona.’

      ‘I’ve got one,’ she said, drawing it from her bag. ‘I bought it at the airport so that I would be ready. The more you plan, the simpler life is.’

      ‘True,’ Mario murmured, ‘but there are some things that can never be planned.’

      ‘And you can’t always anticipate what they might be,’ she agreed. ‘You can try, but—’ She shrugged.

      ‘But they always take you by surprise,’ he murmured.

      ‘Not always. Just sometimes. It’s best to be ready.’

      Giorgio looked from one to the other as if his alarm bells had sounded again.

      ‘It’s time we were making plans,’ he said. ‘I’ve called the others in the group, and they’re dying to meet you. We’re all invited to dinner tonight at the Albergo Splendido.’ He beamed at Natasha. ‘It’ll be your big night.’

      ‘Then I’d better prepare for it,’ she said. ‘I’ll look around Verona today so that I can sound knowledgeable at the dinner. Otherwise they’ll think I’m an amateur.’

      ‘Good thinking,’ Giorgio said. ‘I’ll escort you, and we’ll have a great time.’

      ‘Now, here—’ Natasha pointed to a street on the map ‘—this is the Via Capello, where I can visit Juliet’s house. I’d like to go there first, then the house where the Montagues lived. Finally, I’d like to see the tomb. Then I can work out my plans.’

      ‘We’ll leave as soon as you’ve finished breakfast,’ Mario told her.