Chapter 102
PAUL AND I ARRIVED HOME at a little after one in the morning and went right to bed. But I couldn’t sleep because I kept thinking about that damaged sub and how it was sitting in Santo Stefano Bay with the Maddalenini none the wiser.
By morning, I had decided that the right thing to do was to tell Teo about the grounding. If he investigated and determined nothing was amiss, great. But it wasn’t fair for the island’s residents to be kept in the dark about something this important.
When the first light of morning started to push through the bedroom’s sliding glass doors, I slipped from bed and put on a pair of jeans and a sweatshirt. I was almost in my shoes when Paul rolled over and asked where I was going.
The lie was on the tip of my tongue. “I thought I’d go downtown and get us some pastries.”
“Mmm,” he mumbled and closed his eyes. “Grab a paper, too?”
I drove directly to town and parked the Chevelle around the corner from Bar Sanna. At the counter were a handful of old men milling about, drinking coffees and reading La Spedizione. I ordered an espresso and asked if I could place a call to Sassari.
The girl working behind the counter was quick with the espresso machine but slow getting over to the switchboard, so by the time she dialed the operator, I was finishing my coffee.
“You’re up early today,” I heard a familiar voice say as I set down my cup. When I turned around, I was staring at Mary Lou, who had on a full face of makeup and was wearing a chevron knit dress.
“You, too,” I sputtered. She was the last person I wanted to see here, short of maybe Paul. “You look great. So turned out, considering last night.”
“Well, we had to get up early. Jim’s mother is in town, so I’m taking her to Bonifacio for the day.”
“Jim’s not going?”
She shook her head. “Work’s been busy.”
I wanted to say I bet, but I kept my mouth shut.
“What about you?” she said, looking around the café. “Where’s Paul?”
I eyed the girl at the switchboard. She had the receiver pressed to her ear and was talking to the operator. I turned my attention back to Mary Lou, grateful that her Italian was nonexistent. “He’s at home in bed. And I… I thought I’d call my parents.”
Mary Lou looked at me funny. “Aren’t they in Charleston?” It took me a minute to catch what she was saying. She looked at her watch. “It’s two o’clock in the morning there.”
I was such an idiot. Of course I couldn’t be calling anyone on the East Coast this early. I thought fast. “They’re in California. On vacation.”
“Well, that makes more sense,” said Mary Lou. “I guess it’s not even midnight out there.”
“Right.”
“You know I grew up in Pasadena, right? Are they spending any time in L.A.?”
I knew absolutely nothing about California except that half the American women I’d met in La Maddalena had spent at least one tour in San Diego.
I was going to get myself in trouble if I started playing the geography game with Mary Lou, but thankfully, it didn’t come to that.
The girl at the switchboard gave me a nod and indicated that I should get myself over to the phone.
“I gotta go,” I told Mary Lou, and she waved me off. “See you soon.”
When I picked up the receiver, Mary Lou was maybe a dozen feet away from me, contemplating her pastry order at the bar. “Hello?” I said in the quietest voice I could manage. “It’s me, Eileen.”
“Eileen?” said Teo, who must have been sure he hadn’t heard me right.
“Yeah, hi.”
“Hi,” he said softly. “Is everything okay?”
“Yes,” I said, but there was something about hearing his voice that broke me a little. It had been more than a month since the conference, and I didn’t like not knowing when or if we would bump into each other next.
I watched Mary Lou order two cornetti, then turn to watch me out of the corner of her eye. I twisted around so I was facing the wall, then whispered, “I need to talk to you.”
“Of course,” he said. “What’s wrong?”
“I can’t talk now,” I said. “I thought I could, but I can’t.”
“Are you all right?”
I nodded, which obviously did me no good. “Can we maybe meet?”
It was like Teo had been waiting for me to ask. “Yes,” he said immediately. “When?”
I paused, trying to think the whole thing through. Paul had duty that night, which meant that I’d drop him at the pier at a little after five and wouldn’t pick him up until the following afternoon. “Are you free tonight? Paul’s out at Santo Stefano, which makes things easier for me.”
We agreed to meet at a bar in Aggius, a tiny town up in the mountains, about half an hour from Palau. It seemed doubtful that anyone would recognize me there.
“I’ll look forward to seeing you,” said Teo as we were getting off the phone.
“Me, too,” I said, then felt terrible because I knew I was leading him on.