A Year at 32 September Way (18 page)

Josh waited as Nicolette got ready to go pick up a bottle of wine and some cheese for their dinner. “I’ll stay here, if you don’t mind,” he’d said, feigning tiredness, “and you can have a few minutes’ peace and quiet.” He chuckled; he’d been talking her ear off the entire day, partially out of nervousness over whatever was going on and also in an attempt to connect with her again. Nothing seemed to work, and her lack of response to his efforts told him it was time to know for sure.

Finally, she was gone. Josh waited for her to walk down the street and turn the corner. He searched the usual spots, the ones she’d used last time. He found nothing in any of the bathroom drawers or cupboards, and nothing tucked in the stack of clean towels. The single drawer of her bedside table revealed the usual things…hand cream, a nail file, lip balm and the odd bits of scrap paper. Only one item caught his attention—a square-shaped, black, nylon envelope. Josh had never seen anything like it before. As much as he hated having to stoop to rifling through his wife’s things, he knew it was important. Without any further thought, he carefully opened the small envelope to make sure it wasn’t concealing her drug stash.

There was no powdery, white substance inside the nylon envelope, but the contents were equally upsetting.
And seeing them
felt even more hurtful than discovering drugs. Finding the pack of birth control pills inside the envelope threw him off balance like a sudden slap across the face. All this time, she’d gone along with his excitement about having a family. Each month when she hadn’t become pregnant, Nicolette reassured him they would just keep trying and soon it would happen. And all the while she was taking birth control. The magnitude of the deceit and lies pressed against Josh’s chest like a ton of bricks, making it difficult to for
him to breathe. It was almost enough to make him stop searching, to give in and give up. But the need to know the truth, once and for all, prevailed.

Josh put the pack of birth control pills back in its place and moved on to the kitchen area. “If I was Nicolette and I wanted to hide a stash of cocaine, where would I hide it?” he asked himself. Cooking was not something Nicolette enjoyed. To be honest, neither was eating, really. Josh knew she seldom spent time in the kitchen except to make coffee or tea, or to pour a glass of wine. The logical place to hide drugs would be in a place where she knew Josh wouldn’t look…somewhere amongst the unused cooking utensils or tucked away between the collection of cookbooks whose bindings had barely been cracked.

Knowing there wasn’t much time left to
search,
Josh tore through the drawers without worrying about whether or not everything was in place afterwards. He opened containers, shuffled canned goods around and looked in the cookbooks. He was stumped; the usual places revealed nothing. Perhaps he’d been wrong all along, Josh thought as he sat down at the table. Guilt started to creep in, mingling with the sadness and disappointment over discovering the birth control pills. It was all enough to cause a knot in the pit of his stomach. As he stood to make himself some tea, his too-long legs banged the underside of the table, and he heard a faint crinkling noise. Josh reached under the table, feeling around for the source of the sound. His fingertips brushed something plastic. He felt along the plastic, searching for the edge, until he found some tape. Gently, he peeled the tape away from the wood until a small, flat plastic bag dropped to the floor. There was the white powdery substance he’d been searching for.

A mixture of sadness and relief washed over him, just as they had the first time Josh had confirmed his suspicions about Nicolette’s drug use. He felt disappointed to be right and, at the same time, relieved to have found proof that he was. Stooping down, he reached under the table to grasp the small packet just as the door opened, and Nicolette walked in. “What on earth are you doing down there?” she laughed before she saw what he held in his hand and the laughter caught in her throat.

“I think we need to talk,
Nic
,” Josh responded in a cool, even tone. “It’s time for us to be honest.
About a lot of things.”

***

Crimson, heart-shaped balloons hung over the streets, and the old-fashioned streetlamps were festooned with opaque red covers. A string quartet played in a distant corner of the Piazza
dei
Signori, wooing passersby with romantic songs from long ago. A large red heart made of carpeting filled the entire center of the piazza, signaling to all that the week of Valentine’s Day had arrived in the City of Love.

Charles and Sofia decided to spend Valentine’s Day evening being tourists near their own neighborhood. The rain had slowed to a drizzle, and the temperature wasn’t cold quite as early in the evening…both sure signs that spring was on its way. Charles let Sofia select the museum they would visit, and he was in charge of dinner. Charles had made reservations at the
Trattoria
al
Pompiere
the week before because he was sure the place—a mere stone’s
throw away from the House of Juliet—would be packed for Valentine’s Day. It was a smart decision, as the maître d’ informed him there was only one window table still available. The restaurant wasn’t fancy but it had atmosphere, something they both enjoyed.

Nearly three months had passed since Charles had planned to take Sofia to the winter performance at the Arena di Verona. When she didn’t show up, he was beyond devastated until he learned that her father had been shot. As the details of the shooting unfolded, Charles knew he had to be there for Sofia however he could. A lot had transpired since that day in early December and, thankfully, Marcello was slowly on the mend. As for the two of them, they had grown closer as Charles remained a loyal and devoted friend during the most difficult time of Sofia’s life.

It was only during the last couple weeks that they were finally able to resume spending more time together. In a way it was meant to be, Charles often thought, that circumstances had caused him to delay asking Sofia to be his girlfriend until Valentine’s Day. As he thought about it, he knew no other time of year could be more perfect in the City of Love than Valentine’s Day. And so he’d arranged their dinner reservations to be as close as possible to the Casa de
Giulietta
so he could walk Sofia over to one of the most romantic spots in Verona after dinner and tell her how he felt about her, as the bronze statue of Juliet looked on.

They dined by the window with the glimmer of candlelight reflecting off the glass. The small table for two with its red checkered tablecloth was laden with bruschetta, a large Caesar salad, a delicious bottle of chilled white wine and large bowl of spaghetti with mussels, olive oil and fresh basil. A lone violinist played his way through the restaurant, much to the diners’ delight. Charles and Sofia capped off their delicious dinner with the traditional cups of espresso and just enough
limoncello
to enhance their happy feelings.

“Well, it’s been a lovely evening,” Sofia sighed as they stepped out onto the cobblestone street.

“Yes it has,” replied Charles, “and it’s not over yet. Come with me.” He held out his hand to Sofia, and she smiled as she took it. In just a few steps across the cobblestone street, they found themselves walking through the arched entryway into Juliet’s courtyard. All around them, small folded pieces of paper poked out of the stone wall crevices.  Eventually, they would all be plucked away to be read in private by the Secretaries of Juliet. This small but special group was trusted to read the heartfelt and soul-baring stories of those who had loved and lost, those who had found the love of their lives and felt thankful, and those who dared to hope and dream of a love not yet found. 

The courtyard, with its lush green vines beginning to make their way up the stone walls for the new spring season, was unusually empty for Valentine’s evening. Charles had anticipated standing shoulder to shoulder with tourists and locals, so he was pleased to have brought Sofia over at just the right moment when the only other company in the courtyard was two elderly nuns and a couple in their fifties.

“You know it’s good luck if you rub Juliet’s breast, Charles,” Sofia teased him.

He cleared his throat in response, hoping to stave off the blush he could feel burning in his cheeks. “Right, well, shall we do that together then?”

The two touched the spot that had been rubbed to a shine by tens of thousands of tourists and locals, and then stood back to admire the bronze statue of Juliet and the stone balcony perched above it. Charles knew it was time to tell Sofia how he felt; after all, he’d waited so long. He cleared his throat nervously and waited a moment as the nuns walked by to rub Juliet’s breast for good luck. Sofia let out a chuckle at the sight of them, and Charles couldn’t help following suit.

“Oh, Sofia,” he laughed. “We have such fun together, and you are so dear to me. I treasure our friendship, but I’m afraid I’m no longer satisfied with it.”

“Oh dear,” Sofia responded with a worried look on her face.

“No, I don’t mean that our friendship has become unsatisfactory,” he stammered.
“Quite the contrary, really.
You see, our friendship has grown to be so special that I can’t help but imagine how much more special it could be. If we were more than friends, that is.”

Charles shifted nervously from one foot to the other. “I’m making a mess of this, aren’t I?”

“No, you’re actually doing quite fine,” Sofia responded as she held his gaze. “Please go on.”

“Alright, then I’ll just get on with it. I’d like you to be my girlfriend, if you would,” he stated with the slightest hint of nervousness still lingering in his voice. “That is, would you be my girlfriend, Sofia?”

Sofia grasped both of his hands and looked into his soulful eyes. “I thought you’d never ask me, Charles
Winsdorth
. And I certainly hope I won’t have to wait just as long for you to kiss me!”

“Never keep a lady waiting, is what I say,”
Charles
responded with a smile. He bent down to meet Sofia’s upturned face and pressed his lips against hers. The bronze Juliet looked on approvingly as they lingered, enjoying their first kiss.
Arm in arm, the nuns walked out of the courtyard, glancing back at the kissing couple with a smile.
“Amore,” the gray-haired one said, gesturing toward Charles and Sofia, “amore.”

Chapter 15

The foggy, gray weather typical of wintertime in Verona had finally conceded to spring’s demands for day-long sunlight. Although he was used to the gray, dreary weather that lingered year-round in London, Charles was relieved to see the sun return from its winter break. The air remained cool and crisp but became more comfortable as its dampness dissipated under the relentlessness of the sun’s rays.

Charles pushed Marcello’s wheelchair through the
Giusti
Gardens, and Sofia walked alongside, holding her father’s hand. Together, the three had started a Sunday tradition of
spending the day roaming around Verona. It was good for Marcello to leave the rehabilitation center for a while, and it gave him and Charles an opportunity to get to know one another. The two men were a bit wary at first…Charles knew of Marcello’s reputation for being feisty and demanding, and Marcello intended to keep a close eye on anyone who dated his daughter.

The two men were able to bond and build their relationship based on their mutual love for Sofia. Each man loved her dearly and, truth be told, Marcello was thankful to still have Sofia in Verona because being near her was good for his heart. “I don’t think I’ll ever tire of these gardens, Papa,” Sofia sighed as she gazed at a neatly manicured topiary.

“Amazing, aren’t they?” Marcello replied. “And to think they’ve been here for more than 500 years.”

Charles looked on, thankful to be part of the moment. The relationship Sofia had with her father was quite different from the one he and his father had, and it made Charles realize how much he yearned for that. Perhaps it would be wise for him and Marcello to have the best relationship possible. He already knew he wanted to marry Sofia one day and would need her father’s permission. And it was clear how much there was to be gained for all three of them by building a good father-in-law/son-in-law relationship.

“You’re awfully quiet back there,” observed Marcello, gesturing toward Charles.

“Yes, sir; I was just appreciating the close relationship between you and Sofia. It’s as wonderful to see as these beautiful gardens,” Charles responded, almost thinking out loud.

Sofia looked on at her two men. After such a horribly difficult winter, it was wonderful to finally experience moments of joy and peace. They had all reached a turning point, and she dared to dream about what the future might hold. There would certainly be challenges ahead for her father, but she was thankful for his progress. And then there was Charles…what a pleasant surprise! Several weeks had passed since that special Valentine’s evening together, yet Sofia felt as if she’d been with Charles forever. No matter what events transpired over the remainder of the year, she certainly hoped she and Charles would walk through them together.

***

“Well, let me put it this way,” Carlisle explained after Eva asked her how her latest date had gone. “I’m considering writing a comedic novel about my dating experiences in Verona.” She chuckled at herself, remembering the crazy experiences she’d endured.