that at first she thought she wouldn’t be able to get a
table. But finally she found one, and sat down with a
small sigh of relief.
Half an hour later, she was just finishing her second
cup of coffee when a handsome young Italian approached
her table.
'Scusi, signorina,' he apologised, giving her a
boldly flattering smile. 'May I share your table? Only
the cafe. is full and…'
He was very good-looking, and quite obviously an
expert at recognising solitary female tourists, Jodie
reflected in rueful amusement as she looked back
at him.
From the other side of the square Lorenzo watched
the age-old tableau being played out in front of him.
Young male Florentines traditionally spent the summer
months flirting with gullible female tourists — so
much so, in fact, that it was an accepted rite of passage
that moved from the discreet pick-up, via walks
through the city, to the speedy conclusion of sex in
the tourist's hotel and another notch in her partner's
belt. And of course Jodie, with her woman's body so
eager to make up for her lost teenage years, even if
she was not prepared to acknowledge it, would no
doubt fall into this particular young Florentine's
hands like a ripe peach.
Lorenzo could already see how openly responsive
she was to her admirer, tilting her head back to look
up at him, no doubt smiling at him… How often had
he seen his mother give that same smile to her lover
when as a young boy she had used him to camouflage
those early meetings. When he had also smiled guilelessly
at the man with whom she’d planned to betray
his father. Well, Jodie was not going to get the opportunity
to follow his mother's example, no matter
how clinically businesslike their own marriage was to
be. Purposefully he started to make his way toward
the cafe..
'Please do have the table,' Jodie told the waiting
young man gently. 'I was just about to leave anyway.'
'No — why Don’t you stay and allow me to buy you
another cup of coffee?' he suggested, leaning towards
her, his hand reaching to her arm.
Immediately Jodie stood up and stepped back from
him, shaking her head as she refused politely. 'No,
thank you.' She could see the confusion and disbelief
in his eyes and had to struggle not to laugh. He was
very good-looking, and no doubt used to having his
overtures met with far more acceptances than refusals.
Lorenzo came to an abrupt halt as he saw the way
Jodie got up from the table and then shook her head.
Her body language made her feelings quite plain, and
he could see from the sag of the young man's shoulders
that he was as aware as Lorenzo that he had been
turned down.
Jodie took her bill to the cash desk and, having paid
it, started to head back towards Lorenzo’s apartment.
Lorenzo turned the small incident over inside his
head, frowning as he did so. He tried to visualise either
his mother or Caterina doing what Jodie had just
done in the same situation, knowing that neither of
them would have walked away as she had. Could
Jodie be different from them? Could she be that rare
woman — at least in his experience — who was not
driven by ego and vanity, who did not need a constant
influx of new and admiring male attention?
As he walked past the cafe. his young fellow citizen
was already eyeing up another tourist, who, to judge
from the way she was smiling back at him, was rather
more appreciative of his endeavours than Jodie had
been.
It had become impossible for her to walk into the
apartment without having to go and stand in front of
Lorenzo’s 'children of courage' gallery, Jodie knew,
and each time she did she saw something new in the
artwork that she hadn’t seen before. On a low table
beneath the drawings there was an expensive leather-
bound album in which Lorenzo had placed details of
every child whose work hung in the gallery. She was
studying it when Lorenzo walked in.
'Tired of sightseeing?' he asked her.
'My feet are,' Jodie admitted ruefully. 'So I
thought I’d come back and do some reading instead.
I bought lots of books about Florence while I was
out. Some of them have descriptions in several different
languages, but I was thinking, while I’m here,
I’d like to try to learn Italian.'
'Since we shall be moving between Florence and
the Castillo, it might not be wise for you to enrol in
a formal language school, if that is what you were
thinking. But it would certainly be possible to hire a
private tutor if you wish,' Lorenzo offered, adding,
'Have you had lunch yet?'
Jodie shook her head. 'No. I stopped for a cup of
coffee at the cafe. in the square.' She paused and wrinkled
her nose.
'You didn’t enjoy it?'
'The coffee was fine, but I got hit on by one of
those professional flirty types. I suppose that’s one of
