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I felt disconcerted, so I made myself scarce for a couple of hours in the late afternoon, using a nearby gym to power myself into a better mood. Dean Vanessa’s awful news gave me pause for thought as I considered what was most important to me.
I vowed to make every moment of our lives together a festival of love, and while I ran, I awkwardly used my phone to make a restaurant booking nearby.
The Italian trainer who ran the gym was excellent, helping me stretch off before I began fast walking and then running on a treadmill.
When I finished, she was at a reception cum juice bar, smiling at her only customer at this time of the day.
“You came at the perfect time… Amy, right?”
“Yes, that’s me. I had a great session, thank you, and this is a lovely gym.”
“You live in a Penthouse around the corner.”
“My fiancee owns it.”
“The housekeeper spanks her young lover frequently.”
“Oh really?”
“You will hear her taming his hot blood. She keeps him in line, and he loves it. Marco, I believe his name is. He comes here infrequently when we have free use days.”
“He is in good shape.”
“He must be to satisfy Maria. She is a handful, or so I’ve heard.”
“My god… is this normal behavior in Italy?”
“There is much infidelity here; some is accepted in the marriage, some not. It’s not something I will ever put up with.”
She drew a finger across her neck, lolled her tongue out, and tilted her head sideways in a comedic rendering of someone with their throat slit. Nicolo Machiavelli would be proud of her.
She held her hand out to shake mine and grinned.
“I am Stanza. It’s nice to meet you, Amy.”
“Nice to meet you too… does your name mean ‘poetic verse’?”