“Two and a half hours.”
Good to know.
When we got to the car, I got in the backseat and demanded Paolo’s phone.
“Why?” he asked angrily.
“Because I need to tell Cat where we’re going.”
He was sullen as he gave me his phone… but he still gave it to me.
When I called, Cat answered sleepily – because it was still 6 o’clock in the fucking morning.
She also sounded apprehensive – probably because she thought it was Paolo calling her.
“…hello?”
“Hey, babe.”
“Hey!”she said brightly, now fully awake.“What’re YOU doing calling me?”
“I wanted to hear your beautiful voice.”
“Awwww…”
I could practically hear her blushing over the phone.
“And I wanted to tell you where to meet me today. We’re going to Ragusa.”
“Ragusa?”
“Yeah. I won’t be there for another two and a half hours, and I’ve still got to deal with Rocco. I might not be able to get away early. But whether I do or not, go ahead and get us a really nice hotel room. Like, agreatroom. Then text the details to Paolo, and he can tell me where to meet you.”
“Okay!”There was a pause for a few seconds – then she said,“Google Maps says Ragusa’s only an hour away from me.”
“Good – go back to sleep if you can. Get some rest, because I’m going to give you a good workout later on.”
She giggled.
Paolo rolled his eyes in the rearview mirror, which annoyed me.
“Alright, babe, I gotta go. I got Paolo listening in, and I don’t want him hearing all the stuff I’m going to do to you later.”
She giggled again.“Alright… I’ll see you soon.”
“See you soon.”
I hung up and handed the phone back to Paolo.
Neither of us said a word to each other the rest of the way.
58
Ihad to admit, Ragusa was pretty fucking spectacular.
We came in across a 200-foot-tall bridge that stretched for nearly a mile. A whole other town was down in the valley below.
Ragusa was a medieval walled fortress that rose up out of the steep hillside. The lower part of the town was newer (as in, built in the last 300 years); we were headed for the older part at the top.