One Winter Weekend

Chapter 9

Chapter 9

T he following morning, the sun shone brightly from the small hotel window, waking Helen from her sleep.

Paddy was already downstairs in the lobby sipping the one kind of tea he had managed to get from the kitchen.

She stretched her neck, trying to get the crook out of her neck from the lumpy mattress and quickly got dressed. She could only hope today’s adventures in Rome would be nothing like the day before

The rest of the group drank their caffè e latte with bread and jam. Paddy could not believe that there was no eggs, rashers or sausages – bacon didn’t seem to be in the Italian diet at all.

“What I wouldn’t give for some black pudding,” he whispered regretfully to his wife as she signed for the bill.

“I’ll be hungry in an hour,” Helen agreed. “Though I suppose it explains how all these Italians are so slim…”

In the lobby, the wedding party once again waited for Fabrizio to meet them.

Somewhat unsurprisingly (at least to Caroline), he was nowhere to be seen. She went up to the desk to inquire about their coordinator, but Fabrizio was absent.

Though she wasn’t certain the desk clerk had fully understood her, routinely referring to their coordinator as il capo , which according to Caroline’s iPhone translator app, meant the boss .

She chose to keep this from Molly and the others to avoid their stress. Instead, she asked the receptionist for some tour brochures, and arranged for a taxi to be called.

When she finally rejoined the others, she was completely armed with maps and tickets still warm from the hotel’s printer.

“Okay,” she said as she returned. “Turns out, Fabrizio isn’t able to make it this morning, but we’ve got a whole itinerary here, so don’t worry.”

Molly opened her mouth to protest, but Caroline kept talking. “So first up, we’re going to go check out the Forum of Augustus, followed by the Colosseum. After that, I suggest we get ourselves some lunch near the Piazza di Spagna, and maybe do some shopping, because why not? We’re in Rome, so let’s do this right. And if we’re finished in time, we can go and see Santa Maria, where you two lovebirds—” she motioned towards Ben and Molly with a wide, gaping smile, “—are getting married.”

The cars pulled up moments later, not giving anyone a chance to disagree with her last minute plans.

However, Ben held back a little and when they were alone, he asked Caroline intensely, “Where exactly is Fabrizio? I thought he was supposed to meet us here.”

She shrugged. “Apparently, the guy is about as reliable as our reservations were,” she said. “So I improvised.”

“You did all this on the fly this morning?” Ben looked impressed. “That’s … incredible. Thank you.”

Caroline nodded. “That’s what bridesmaids are for. But listen: don’t tell Molly about this, okay? She’s stressed enough as it is. And with your parents and hers… well, I think you can agree that we have to make this as easy on her as possible.”