Page 151 of Play of Love
Lucy sighed on hearing that and looked from me to Gage.
"Tuscany is a big place, and we don't even know if their still there. Rossi is also a very common name." She commented.
That was the first thing I thought, but my excitement peaked at the thought of going to Tuscany. My mind raced over all the pictures I'd ever seen of it, and the movies I'd watched likeUnder the Tuscan Sun. Again I felt guilty for my excitement.
"I'm sure there's a way of looking for them." I offered. "We just have to try."
"Exactly," Gage added. "It's worth trying. We can get a list of phone contacts and just call around. I suggest we get the train there tomorrow and start cracking at it."
"Are you sure? This all sounds like too much. Maybe you and Evie should go home and I'll take over from here." Lucy looked worried. "This could all take days, weeks even. You already changed your busy schedules for me."
"Grams don't be ridiculous. There's no way we're going to leave you here." Gage smirked.
"Yes. I'm definitely staying. It's a win-win for me. Make you happy, and see the best of Italy. Lucy, we're going to Tuscany." I smiled wide. It was a simple attempt to make Lucy feel better. Lucy indulged me by returning the smile.
"I'll go plan out our route." Gage beamed.
"And, I'll look at hotels." Or villas. I'd look at everything. There was no harm looking.
* * *
Gage
* * *
Damn. What a long day.
The walking around reminded me of camping with the Scouts and going on one of their expeditions like trekking through some forest or hiking the Rockies. But unlike back then when I was eager to see how far I could hike, trying to catch rabbits, or foraging the forest, the worry of going back to Grams with nothing had played heavily on my mind. I swore she looked like she was about to wither away when she discovered that Rome had changed dramatically.
While I knew we still basically had nothing, I was grateful for the lead.
Now we had something concrete to work with. How we were going to work with the info we had was another matter entirely. Right now I was just thinking of gathering all the phone numbers listed in Tuscany that matched the sisters’ names.
It was a starting point and a far easier task than calling all the Angelo Romano's listed in Italy. That was actually my first plan, but the idea went out the window when I chanced a quick glance at the Yellow Pages Index on my phone and it produced over one million results. There was no harm in contacting a few Angelo Romanos, but I felt that looking for the sisters first in one focused area would narrow the search and hopefully lead us to the right Angelo. If that didn't work, they would have no choice but to then look at a wider search and just focus on Angelo.
I was trying to approach this all with a positive attitude, as if it was doable. At the same time, I tried to keep in mind the obstacles we could come across. Obvious obstacles, like the fact that the sisters could have moved from Tuscany long ago, and that both surnames were common whether it was Romano or Rossi. Those names could have also changed if the sisters remarried. My least favorite thought, however, was that they could have all died. I dared not mention that part, at all. It would have saddened Grams even more.
When Evie left us, I helped Grams get settled into her room and unpack what she needed for the night. I talked to her for a little while about what I had planned and left when I was sure she was comfortable and okay.
I then thought I'd go check on Evie. I knew she'd most probably get all worked up and would be thoroughly annoyed to see me, but I did it anyway. Her being here was a massive help. For that I was grateful.
I decided to go across the adjoining balcony from Grams’ room. I thought I'd find her at the desk tapping away at her computer, looking for hotels but instead I found her sitting on the floor on the balcony. She was writing something in a notebook and humming. Evie was so engrossed in what she was doing that she didn't even notice my presence. She hummed loudly as if she was going to sing, then stopped and wrote in her book. She was writing music.
Smiling to herself she gazed out to the beautiful city before us, stared at the array of lights and turned to focus back on what she was doing. That was when she saw me.
Just like I preempted annoyance filled her fine features and she drew her brows together. "Gage are you trying to give me a heart attack by sneaking up on me like that?"
I walked closer and leaned against the wall. "No, just checking on you."
"I'm fine. Just taking a break from hotel search." She answered dismissively, turning her face away from me and bending her head back down to focus on her book.
"I didn't know you could sing." I didn't know why but I found myself wanting to talk to her. She clearly seemed to prefer that I didn't, but that wasn't enough to stop me.
"I wasn't singing I was humming." She bit down hard on her lower lip and still didn't look up at me.
"Sounded like you could sing if you wanted to."
"I can, but I don't want to." There was that dismissive tone again, highlighted with an unwelcomed frankness. The wind picked up the ends of her ponytail and whipped it up. She smoothed it to the side so that all that luxurious hair would flow down her shoulders.
