Page 105 of Wicked

She welcomes us with hugs, and inside, she makes us strong coffee. We eat biscotti as I pace and look around the living room. It’s a classy traditional villa, and she’s been making fresh bread and pasta.

Her English is better than I remember, and she tells me she studied art in Rome, where she met Dante’s grandfather.

After Dante and Nonna catch up on recent events, she asks me about my own life. Finally, she gets around to my novel, and I remind myself to push on with it at all costs.

“So, Raven?” she asks, “Are you on schedule, and if so, when can we read it?”

“Now I am,” I say. “And I think I’ll be finished with the final draft in a week. I’m currently elevating the ending and strengthening the female characters.”

“Good for you,” Dante’s grandmother says as Dante rubs his jaw and watches us talk.

“You hear that, Tito?” he says. “Men will be screwed, Tito. So very screwed.”

We all laugh, and I take in the photos on the Tuscan villa walls. Nonna and Dante’s eyes meet, and I look back at his Nonna. “What?”

“Dante has never brought a woman here. Ever.”

My eyes meet Dante’s, and I raise a brow. “He’s probably just shy.”

Nonna laughs, and I join in. As Dante rubs Tito’s chin, he shakes his head. “See what I have to put up with, Tito? You should return to New York with me. We need to stick together.”

I lean into another old photo and my lips turn up in a smile. It’s two people madly in love and they’re in a sports car in Rome. In fact, it looks like the same black Ferrari we just drove down in. “Is this you and your husband?”

Nonna walks over, and she rests a hand on me. “Yes, and way back. Good times. He was a little like Dante, he was.”

I glance over at Dante, and he shakes his head. “Oh, yes?” I ask, “Stubborn, playful, and grumpy?”

Nonna laughs, and Dante does not. “Not quiet. Gio was a freethinker, perhaps like you. He was not interested in fitting in for no good reason. Gio wanted to follow his own path, some may say.”

“I get that,” I say before pausing. “I’m a little odd myself.”

Dante’s grandmother smiles, and she squeezes my cheek. “We like odd, we do. In fact, the world needs more odd, and alsomore interesting. There is way too much plainness, and way too much fitting in, simply because it’s done without thinking. We are not sheep, you know.”

We all nod in agreement, and then Nonna holds her coffee cup high.

“To colorful characters…”

“And mavericks…” Dante says.

All eyes are on me. I need to move fast. “And… rogues,” I say.

We all laugh, and then Dante’s grandmother reaches for my hand. I like her a lot, and I can tell she is gentle.

Also not snooty, like Dante’s scary mother. She is more like my mom was, uncomplicated and warm.

“You’re a good woman, Raven. And in an old nation with much weighing it down, it's good to have a breath of fresh air. With you both here, it makes my heart strong again.”

I smile at Dante’s sweet grandmother, then Dante’s own eyes meet mine. They hold for some time, and neither of us look away.

I stare down, and I know I’m feeling too much. I don’t even know Dante, and this could end anytime.

It’s just happening way too fast. Way too fast to feel safe. His pull on my heart is too strong. This… is getting out of hand.

“You know, Tito spent time with your grandfather in the day.”

“Really?” Dante asks.

“Indeed, he usually lives around the village. I’m unsure who he actually belongs to.”

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