Page 35 of It's All Sun and Games

‘Yeah, gone are the days when families put pressure on their kids to marry,’ Rick adds, almost as though he’s ticking Liz off.

Suddenly I’m reminded of how all this came about. It was Andrea who kicked off the fake fiancée thing by misleading his parents about his relationship status. In fact, when you think about it, he probably needs a fake fiancée even more than I do.

‘Right, time to call it a night, I reckon,’ Rick says – although I suspect it is more of an instruction than a suggestion. ‘We’ve got our first meeting with Beppe Barone in the morning – over breakfast.’

He pulls himself to his feet then glances around at everyone, letting us know that we’re supposed to follow suit.

‘Andrea, are you still okay to translate for us during breakfast?’ Rick asks.

Caught off guard, Andrea looks to me for a moment, his expression silently pleading for assistance. Shit. There is no way I’m going to be able to find another translator before breakfast, is there?

‘Yes, of course,’ Andrea replies, probably realising the same thing.

‘Great, see you all bright and early in the morning,’ Rick chirps before making a move back towards the resort.

As the others make a move too, I hang back with Andrea so that we can talk, just the two of us.

Alone at last, I release a pent-up sigh, because I can’t quite believe we pulled that off as well as we did – not that it seems like it’s over yet, though.

I turn to Andrea, gratitude hopefully evident in my expression.

‘Thank you so much for doing this,’ I tell him, putting extra emphasis on the ‘thank you’ part.

‘Ah, it’s okay,’ Andrea replies with a shrug, a hint of amusement in his tone. ‘It was fun, if a little strange. I enjoyed it. Your colleagues are a lot of fun.’

‘No. No, they’re not,’ I add with a laugh. ‘So double thank you.’

I pause for a moment, considering what I’m about to say, but it’s the best idea I have, and it feels like the right thing to do.

‘I have an offer for you,’ I start.

‘Are we back on to The Godfather again?’ Andrea jokes, lightening the mood.

‘Not quite,’ I reply. ‘What I’m proposing is this: if you stick around for the week, help me charm my boss, and translate during the meetings, then I’ll pretend to be your fiancée at your family wedding. We can figure it out as we go – maybe even stage a break-up where we both come out on top in front of our respective sides. What do you say?’

A big grin spreads across Andrea’s face, his eyes lighting up with what looks like mischief.

‘That sounds like a great plan,’ he agrees enthusiastically. ‘Let’s do it.’

‘Great,’ I reply, suddenly a little freaked out by how I just put myself out there. I mean, he could have said no, and he probably should have said no, but hopefully this helps him out as much as it helps me.

It’s a genuine shame, when you have to pretend you have a significant other, just to be taken seriously. But here we are.

‘You’re welcome to stay with me, in my apartment,’ I tell him.

I know there’s only one bed, but we’re adults. We can figure it out.

‘That’s okay,’ he replies. ‘I’ll drive back to my parents’ place. It’s not far. I can be back first thing in the morning, don’t worry.’

‘Have you not been drinking?’ I reply.

Not that I’m desperate to get him to share a bed with me – not much, anyway. It’s hard not to say what I just said without sounding like a bit of a weirdo, though, isn’t it? I probably need to try to seem less keen for him to spend the night with me, even as friends, because I’m coming off as a little intense all of a sudden. We’ve got a great plan, and the last thing I need to do is scare him away by seeming like I’m trying to put the moves on him.

‘I have only been drinking lime and soda, all night, I promise, so I’m okay,’ he explains. ‘I’ll walk you back to your apartment, then head for the car park.’

‘Oh, okay, perfect,’ I reply, trying to play it cool. ‘Thank you.’

Once we’re back on our feet, Andrea – like the gentleman that he is – offers me his arm to link mine with.

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