Chapter 11
SAMMIE
I stepped out of my room and smiled.
It was another gorgeous sunny day and as the heat warmed my skin, I thought about how lucky I was to be here.
I’d lived in London all my life, so I was used to waking up and seeing grey, cloudy skies. But here, the scenery was like a postcard. The sky was a beautiful clear blue shade and the surroundings were lush and colourful. This was only my third day here and I was already wishing I could stay longer.
After having another blissful sleep, I was feeling more positive. I’d thought about it and I’d come to the conclusion that the reason why I wasn’t into Edward was because I’d set my expectations too high.
Having seen how happy Stella and Jasmine were, I’d assumed that I’d come here and instantly fall head over heels. And because their boyfriends were the total package, I’d expected my match would be another Mr Perfect. But that wasn’t realistic.
If I’d met someone like Edward in London, I would’ve been content. He was an improvement on pretty much every guy I’d dated in the last two years, so I shouldn’t grumble.
Yeah, I hadn’t clicked with him as much as some of the other guys I’d dated, but that was the point of coming here, right? To push myself out of my comfort zone and try going out with a different type of man.
The Love Hotel experts knew what they were doing. They’d matched hundreds of couples: including Stella. They’d put me with Edward for a reason. I had to trust their choice and roll with it.
Although Edward didn’t light my fire right now, like Stella said, I barely knew him, so I had to give him time to warm up. If I included today, I still had twelve full days left for the romance to grow. I just had to be patient.
I set off down the path that led to reception to collect yesterday’s photos.
Although the pool volleyball wasn’t as fun as I’d hoped, I was looking forward to seeing our highlights in print.
Then in just over an hour, we’d head off on the excursion which would help us bond even more. It was gonna be a great day.
Once I picked up the envelope, I went to the restaurant. I’d deliberately arrived extra early to have breakfast with Edward.
Yesterday, after I’d finished speaking to Stella, I’d had a shower, then went for a long walk on the beach which was amazing.
When I got back, I did my playlist and told myself I’d have a little cat nap, but then I ended up waking up after ten and I didn’t have the energy to go the restaurant, so I’d ordered room service.
That meant I hadn’t seen Edward for dinner, so I wanted to make the effort to start the day with him today.
‘ Buongiorno !’ I said to the ma?tre d’, Tommaso, and Romeo as I stepped into the restaurant.
‘ Buongiorno , Samantha.’ Romeo gave me a small smile and for some dumb reason my stomach fluttered. I must be hungrier than I thought. ‘I see you have been studying.’
‘Eh?’ I frowned.
‘You said buongiorno . Now we have another word to add to your extensive list of Italian vocabulary.’ The corner of his mouth twitched.
‘Ha!’ I grinned. ‘By tomorrow, I’ll practically be bilingual!’ I laughed.
‘Anything is possible.’ He cocked an eyebrow. ‘ Come stai ?’
‘ Bene ,’ I replied.
Romeo gave me a nod of approval and my stomach flipped again. I really needed to get some food ASAP.
‘Let me take you to your table.’
‘ Grazie ,’ I said, feeling proud that I’d said three whole words of proper Italian. ‘Is Edward still here?’ I followed Romeo through the restaurant.
‘I have not seen him this morning.’
‘Oh.’ My face crumpled. ‘I thought he was an early bird?’
‘Perhaps he will come later.’
Romeo stopped at a table and pulled out the chair for me. This time my heart fluttered which meant it couldn’t be because of my hunger pangs.
When I realised that it was fluttering because it liked Romeo’s romantic gesture, I sent it a strong warning to calm the fuck down.
Yes, pulling out a chair was chivalrous and sweet, but Romeo was just doing his job. This wasn’t the time to start getting stupid ideas about my Love Alchemist. Especially as today was the day that me and Edward were going to hit it off.
‘ Grazie .’
The Cuisine Champion (yay, I remembered the crazy job title!), took my order and Romeo left.
Maybe Edward was still at the gym or doing a hundred pre-breakfast laps in the pool. I thought about waiting to go through the photos, but I was too excited so decided it wouldn’t hurt to have a quick peek whilst I waited.
I fished the envelope out of my bag, then opened it faster than a kid unwrapping a birthday gift. But when I did, I noticed there were only two pictures. Given how much I’d seen Romeo snapping away whilst we were playing volleyball, I’d expected a lot more.
Anyway, it was quality not quantity that counted. I’d prefer to have two awesome photos than a hundred rubbish ones.
I slid them out of the envelope and as I glanced at the first one, my face fell.
It was a photo of Edward holding the ball over his head, like it was a trophy.
I was smiling, but he wasn’t even looking at me. I think that was taken when we won a point. There wasn’t much else to the photo. Yeah, he was shirtless, but as I studied him, I felt nothing and when my eyes landed on those speedos, I cringed.
Okay, so the first photo was disappointing, but there was still one more.
I flicked to the next shot and it was of me. I was standing at the net and was smiling and punching the air.
See. That was good.
But then I remembered, that was when I’d hit a winning shot in the first round. Edward was in the background, but for some reason his face seemed a little blurry.
So that was it? Those were the only pictures we had for our memory book? I wasn’t seeing that ‘hidden bond’ that Stella had spoken about, but I wouldn’t let it affect me.
I checked my phone to see if there had been any messages from Edward. We’d exchanged numbers during a break at the volleyball match. At that point we were in the lead so he was in a good mood.
There was nothing from him so far. I hadn’t received a link to download his playlist yet either.
In the end I’d chosen generic holiday songs, like ‘Summertime’ by DJ Jazzy Jeff and The Fresh Prince, ‘Holiday’ by Madonna and ‘Cruel Summer’ by Taylor Swift.
After breakfast, I returned to my room, got my stuff, then headed back to the reception where they said the coach would be waiting to take us to Alberobello.
Wow, I said to myself as I took in the sight of the coach. The Love Hotel never did anything by halves.
This ‘coach’ had a sleek, glossy black exterior and looked like one of those luxury tour buses the celebs travelled on.
As I climbed the immaculate steps and saw the interior, my eyes popped. It had tinted windows, wooden flooring and plush grey and white reclining leather seats which looked like they had loads of legroom. At five foot six, it was wasted on me though.
At the back of the coach there was even a kitchen with a coffee machine, fridge and microwave, plus loads of drinks and snacks.
I could definitely get used to travelling like this.
Edward wasn’t here yet, so I found two empty seats then sat down.
Five minutes later he still hadn’t arrived, which was strange seeing as he was worried about being on time for yesterday’s briefing. I took out my phone.
Me
Hi Edward, it’s Samantha. The coach is leaving soon. Everything okay?
A few minutes later, I saw that he was typing a message and exhaled. Phew! He was probably just running late.
Finally, his message popped up, but when I read it, my heart sank.
Edward
Not feeling well. Not coming today.
Me
Oh no! What’s wrong?
Edward
Stomach bug.
Me
Can I bring you anything?
Edward
No. I’ll be fine. Have fun.
Shit. My stomach tightened. I should’ve checked on him earlier.
I jumped up and headed for the coach door. I didn’t know Edward’s room number, but if I went to reception, given the circumstances, hopefully they’d tell me. Being sick in a foreign country was the worst, so I needed to make sure he was okay.
Although I’d been looking forward to this trip, it wouldn’t be right for me to swan off and enjoy myself whilst he was in his room feeling like shit.
Just as I was about to get off the coach, Romeo got on.
‘Samantha?’ He frowned. ‘Is everything okay?’
‘Edward’s not well. He’s too ill to come today, so I’m gonna check on him and stay behind in case he needs something.’
Romeo’s face tightened and he ground his jaw.
Seriously?
Just when I was starting to think this guy wasn’t a total dick, he had to prove me wrong. How could he be angry that Edward was ill? It wasn’t his bloody fault.
‘You stay here,’ he said. ‘I will go.’
‘But…’
‘I will tell Edward you wanted to check on him, so he knows that you were concerned. But if he is sick, he will not want you to see him at his worst so soon.’
‘Okay. Tell him I said get better soon and I’ll stay if he thinks it’ll help.’
Poor Edward.
So far today hadn’t gone to plan, but I was still optimistic.
Once Edward was back on his feet, things would be better.
I was sure of it.