temptation in florence 05 - seaside in death (2 page)

Right below the hotel's logo was the broad double front door which stood open, welcoming them in. The family poured into the small lobby like a wave. Aunt Violetta entered first in her wheelchair, pushed by Omar. Carlina's mother Fabbiola followed with her niece Emma and Emma's husband Lucio, surrounded by innumerable suitcases. Next came Uncle Teo. Carlina had taken his arm to help him down from the small bus and was still holding it when she saw the employee who stood behind the reception desk. She gasped and involuntarily took a step back.

Stefano looked at her. “What's the matter?”

“I know that guy.” She stared at the round face crowned by tight curls. “But when I saw him last, he wasn't working at a hotel.”

“What was he doing?” His question was brief and to the point, so typical for him.

“He was a sales man who tried to browbeat and cheat me.”

Stefano's eyebrows climbed, but before he could say anything, Aunt Violetta's booming voice filled the small reception area. “What do you mean, my hotel room is number twelve? You must be mistaken, young man! I'm always in room number four and always have been, ever since we first came to this hotel seventeen years ago. And that won't change this year, do you hear me? What happened to
Signor
Alberi? He always made sure that I got the room I needed.”

The small eyes of the reception clerk narrowed. “He left.” His very tone was an insult.

“Well, that's a great pity,” Aunt Violetta said with acerbity, “but I'm sure we can still manage to solve this problem. You were probably not told that you had to reserve room number four for me.”

The clerk looked at her without any expression whatsoever on his face. “I'm afraid it's not that easy.”

“Oh, isn't it, young man?” Aunt Violetta's already considerable girth seemed to grow inside her chair. “We'll see about that. Where's the manager?”

A faint smile crossed the round face. “I
am
the manager.”

“You?” Her voice was incredulous.

“Yes. So you have to accept it when I tell you that room number four is not free.”

“I won't accept anything of the kind!” Aunt Violetta's round face turned purple. “We can always go to another hotel, you know!”

“It's f
erragosto
,” the manager said with something that looked remarkably like a sneer. “Everything is fully booked. You will not find a free room anywhere, let alone eight.”

“You don't seem to understand that the Mantoni family is a regular guest every summer and that we're used to being treated as such. I don't expect that it's easy to get a booking for eight rooms out of thirteen every summer.” Aunt Violetta closed her mouth with a snap.

“During
ferragosto
, I am able to have this hotel fully booked without the slightest difficulty,” the manager said, “with or without the Mantoni family.”

The whole clan hissed in their breaths.

Carlina dropped Uncle Teo's arm and rushed to the reception. “
Buongiorno, Signor
Rosari.”

His eyes widened. “
Signorina
Ashley. What are you doing here?”

She made a point of giving him a sweet smile. “I happen to be a member of the Mantoni family.” She could feel Stefano's quiet presence right behind her. It was good to know that he let her fight her own fights but stood ready to come to her aid if needed. “You see that my great-aunt has to use a wheelchair, so of course you can't give her number twelve, because that's a room on the first floor.” She knew that the rooms in the hotel were numbered in a logical way – the five rooms on the ground floor were single digit numbers, while the rooms on the first floor all started with one, and the rooms on the second floor all started with two. There were four rooms on each floor, with the exception of the ground floor, which had five, as three of them were smaller.

Signor
Rosari gave her the same kind of look that had made her flesh creep when he had tried to force her to stock underwear she didn't want to sell. “The rooms on the ground floor are not available, I'm afraid. We've reserved all the rooms on the first and second floor for your family, so you would be by yourselves. I'm sure that your grandmother can access room twelve easily enough with the help of the elevator.” He slapped a bunch of old-fashioned keys with wooden labels onto the counter. “I've already prepared the check-in, and I'd like to proceed now.”

Before Carlina could open her mouth, another tide of Mantoni family members rolled into the already overcrowded lobby. Benedetta with her children Annalisa and Ernesto and her French partner, Leopold Morin, waved at them as they rushed through the door.

“Here we are! Finally!” Ernesto, Carlina's eighteen-year old cousin, galloped forward with a huge grin on his face. His red hair stood up in carefully arranged order, and a wave of aftershave following him as he slapped Carlina's and Stefano's shoulders. “Have you already checked in?”

Carlina suppressed her surprise that Ernesto, who was usually one of the calmer members of the family, was taking the lead. And since when had he started to use such an overpowering aftershave? She pushed her thoughts aside. “Well, we're trying to check in.” She made sure her voice sounded dry. “But it turns out it's not as easy as we thought.”

Signor
Rosari gave her a dark look, then turned to Ernesto. “We can start right away. What's your name?”

“Ernesto Santorini.” Ernesto beamed at him like an eager puppy.

“Here you are.” The hotel manager picked one of the keys and slid it across the counter. “Number five.”

“Great, thanks!” Ernesto grabbed it and turned to go.

“But that's a room on the ground floor!” Aunt Violetta shouted at the top of her lungs.

Ernesto jumped and looked at the family matriarch with widening eyes. “What's that?”

The manager ignored him. Instead, he gave Aunt Violetta a withering look. “Yes, but it's a single room. In fact, it's the smallest room of the hotel, and you've booked a double room.”

Aunt Violetta looked taken aback. “Of course I need a double room. Omar has to look after me.”

The manager nodded. “And that's why you can only have room twelve. As I said, the double rooms on this floor have all been taken.”

Carlina frowned. “But a minute ago, you said that you had reserved rooms for all of us on floor one and two.”

Ernesto cut in, “I
always
have room five!” He clutched his key as if someone was trying to wrestle it from him.

“Oh,
Madonna
, not another one,” the manager said loudly enough for Carlina to hear.

She ignored him and turned to Aunt Violetta. “Why don't you take Ernesto's room for the moment, Aunt Violetta?”

“You expect me to live without Omar?” Aunt Violetta turned the corners of her mouth down.

“At home you don't share a room with him, either, do you?” Carlina said. “I think this might be the most sensible solution for the moment.”

“No!” Ernesto said with unprecedented violence. “I want to keep room five.”

Carlina stared at him. What had happened to her laid-back cousin?

“Ernesto!” Benedetta went up to her son, her lipsticked mouth pursed in disapproval. “Where are your manners? What can it matter to you?”

“I guess he doesn't want to share the room with Omar,” Aunt Violetta said.

“No! That's not it!” Ernesto looked around, his eyes wide, then grabbed Omar's arm and squeezed it. “I don't mind sharing a room with you at all. It's only . . . I really like my room number five.”

The rest of the Mantoni family stared at him as if he had just declared he liked to go to bed at seven o'clock sharp each and every night.

Uncle Teo drew himself up to his full height, which still made him only reach up to Ernesto's shoulder. “I think you should reconsider, Ernesto. If it helps Aunt Violetta, you don't want to be selfish, now, do you?”

Ernesto blushed to the roots of his red hair. “No. Of course not. I . . .” He broke off and bit his lip. After a visible internal struggle, he held out his hand. “Here you go, Aunt Violetta.”

“Thank you, my boy.” Aunt Violetta accepted the key and beamed at him. “Very kind of you.”

“Can we now proceed with the check in?” The manager asked in a bored voice. “Because I've got some other things to do today as well.”

Half an hour later, the Mantoni family had spread through the building, taking possession of their rooms. “Well, my dear, if this continues as it has started, I think I won't regret returning to Florence on Sunday night.” Stefano Garini pulled his shirt over his head and dropped it onto the queen-sized bed. He spoke in the direction of the open bathroom door, where Carlina was freshening up.

Carlina winced. She quickly finished putting on her bikini and threw a fresh summer dress over her head, then went through the open door and put her arms around his neck. “Don't panic yet. They'll settle down now, and you'll see, it'll be a nice change from Florence.”

“Hmm.” He kissed her neck. “I just hope--”

A sharp bang from outside the open window made Carlina jump. “What was that?”

Stefano made a rueful face. “Aunt Violetta shot the manager?”

She giggled. “Be serious.”

Several more bangs followed.

Carlina went to the window and looked out. Their room was on the second floor of the building, overlooking the garden. The warm sun had heated up the pine tree next to their window, and with the gentle summer breeze, a heady scent of hot grass and fragrant pine came into the room. Carlina took a deep breath. In the distance, she could glimpse a corner of the sparkling blue pool and a red and white striped umbrella. Then she discovered a group of teenagers standing in a circle on the gravel walk that led around the hotel. She started to laugh. “They're testing some firecrackers. I guess they can't wait for the big fireworks of f
erragosto
. Come on, I want to go swimming in the sea.” She took Stefano's hand and pulled him out of the door.

Two hours later, Stefano stretched out on his lounger, one of the two
lettini
they had rented from the beach club, and sipped at his cool beer. He had one arm behind his head as he surveyed the scene with his cool gaze.

Carlina lifted her
Lemonsoda
to him in a mute salute. “Well, did I promise too much?” She gestured at the sand and the blue Mediterranean in front of them.

He turned his head to her and smiled. “No, you haven't. In fact, if I only focus on you and your bikini – and I have to say that's a really nice bikini you're wearing – then I can almost forget that Emma is pouting two loungers further down because we couldn't get a place in the first row, and that Aunt Violetta is testing hers to the limit four rows over while your mother and Benedetta are bickering over the quality of your mother's salami within our hearing and that Annalisa is walking up and down the beach, shaking her hair every so often whenever an eligible male is passing by, and --”

“Shush.” Carlina bent forward and placed a finger over his mouth. “Just close your eyes and relax. The sun will make them drowsy, and soon they'll all take an afternoon nap, and with your eyes closed, you can pretend you're all alone in the world.”

“Ha,” Stefano caught her hand and kissed the tips of her fingers. “I haven't said that I want that. One person at least should be close by my side.”

Carlina smiled. “She is.”

He returned her smile.

Treasure this moment. Hold onto it and keep it close to your heart.
Carlina's heartbeat quickened as she looked into his eyes that usually seemed so cool and detached.

“Carlina!” Benedetta appeared out of nowhere and put her hands onto her hips, her red mouth turned down at the corners.

Stefano dropped Carlina's hand and laid back with a sigh. “I knew it wouldn't last.”

“What's the matter?” Carlina heard the sharp note in her voice and reined in her bad temper. Her gentle aunt didn't deserve to be snapped at. “Has something happened?”

“I haven't seen Ernesto since we arrived. Do you have any idea where he could be?”

“Ernesto?” Carlina looked around the overcrowded beach. “Maybe he met some friends and went to play beach volleyball with them? You know that he usually sees the same people every year when we come here.”

Benedetta frowned. “Yes, I know that. They're playing over there.” She pointed up the beach, where the rows of red striped umbrellas changed into rows of blue striped umbrellas, indicating that a different club had authority over that stretch of the beach. “But he's not with them. I checked.”

“No doubt you'll see him for dinner, Benedetta.” Carlina smiled up at her overprotective aunt. “Give him a little breathing space. He's an adult now, you know.”

Benedetta sighed. “Yes, I know, but he was acting strange these last weeks. So excited to come here, and now, he's vanished without a word. That's not like him, you know. I tried to call him, too, but he's switched off his
telefonino
.”

“He might be swimming. You know that he swims like a dolphin. So don't worry. Enjoy the sun and your time with Leo, and tonight, ask him where he was. No doubt it's something perfectly respectable, and he just forgot to say where he went.”

Benedetta shook her head, muttered something to herself, and left them with her hand shadowing her eyes, scanning the crowds while looking for her son.

“She won't relax until she's got him next to her lounger, building a sand castle.” Stefano finished his beer and leaned back.

“You're nasty.” Carlina scooped up a bit of sand and trickled it onto his flat stomach.

“Stop that!” He brushed the sand from his stomach. “And no, I'm not nasty. I just pity Ernesto from the bottom of my heart. He's the only young male inside a house of women, and that position certainly isn't very enviable.”

“He'll be fine,” Carlina said. “After all, he still has me, and I'll always be there to help him.”

Stefano sighed. “That's exactly what I'm afraid of.”

Chapter 2

The next morning, Aunt Violetta appeared at breakfast with a lift in her whole demeanor. Her bright eyes scanned the room with the perception of a general overseeing his troops, and she maneuvered her wheelchair with such speed that several people had to jump out of her way. When she had secured a place next to Carlina, she waved to the young waitress.