Page 104 of Two Chances With You

“Ciao. Are you here to work out?”

“No. I came to the gym in the fond hope of running into you,” he says.

“I don’t have a lira to lend you.”

He laughs in amusement, perhaps because we both know perfectly well that that’s the last thing he’d ever need to have.

“All right then, all kidding aside, what can I do for you?”

“No, I’m the one who can do something foryou. I’ll swing by and pick you up at nine o’clock for a party, Step. You up for it?”

The idea of enjoying a get-together with old friends agrees with me. It’s been too long. I think about Pollo, and somehow it doesn’t hurt. A nice swim in a pool full of people is exactly what I need. Slaps on the back from people I haven’t seen in far too long a time. Hearing some good old stories about way back when from the truest friends there are.

“Why not?”

“Okay, then give me the address.” We say farewell. “See you at nine! Be ready to go.”

Chapter 42

I’m in the car with Balestri. He’s driving cheerfully and fast, and possibly not just because of the beer that I brought him. “Here we go. We’ve arrived.”

Via di Grottarossa. We get out. There are a few cars parked in front of the villa but none that I recognize. He buzzes at an intercom.CORSI.I don’t recognize that last name either. Guido looks at me curiously. He seems amused.

“Oh, Guido, you didn’t come to the wrong place, did you? I don’t see anyone’s motorcycle. And who’s Corsi? I’ve never heard the name.”

“This is the villa, trust me. There’s at least one person here that I’m certain you know.”

The gate buzzes and swings open. We go in. The villa is very nice with big windows covered by colorful awnings that look out on the vast garden. A half-empty swimming pool reposes not far away, waiting for the beginning of May, and close to the pool, there’s a tennis court, red clay, no less, and the net, stretched taut, seems to be standing guard.

A smiling butler awaits us at the door. He steps aside and lets us in. Then he shuts the door behind us.

Guido says hello to the butler. They seem to know each other. “Is Carola here?”

“Certainly, she’s in the other room. Come this way.” He leads us down a hallway with paintings illuminated by small spotlights and past an impeccable library, surrounded by antique books, softly colored Chinese vases, and crystal objects.

We arrive in a large drawing room. The butler steps aside. A young woman hurries to greet us. “Ciao.” She hugs Guido, giving him an affectionate peck on the cheek. This must be Carola.

She observes me attentively, as if evaluating me. She squints her eyes, narrowing them as if she can’t believe that I amme.

“But this is him? It’s really him?”

Guido smiles. “Yes, it’s him.”

“Yes, I actually think I’m really me. Usually people call me Stefano, Step to my friends. Could you tell me what’s going on here?”

And suddenly, through a door standing ajar, out of that drawing room filled with strangers, I hear a laugh.Herlaugh. The one I missed, the one I searched for, the one I’ve been dreaming of for a thousand nights. Babi.

She is sitting on a sofa in the middle of the drawing room, holding court, recounting an anecdote, and she laughs and the whole room laughs with her. While I, alone, remain silent. How many times in America, rummaging through my memories, have I dug down, all the way to the bottom, in search of that smile? And now, here it is, right in front of me.

And suddenly I find myself running headlong through a labyrinth made up of moments: our first meeting, our first kiss, our first time. And in a flash, I remember everything I never got a chance to tell her, everything that I’d so wanted her to know, the depth of my love. That’s what I’d have wished I could show her. I, a mere courtier allowed into the presence of her court, bowing down before her simplest smile, in the grandeur of her reign, I would have wanted to show her what I had to offer. On a silver platter, spreading my arms in an endless bow, displaying my gift before her, the feelings I had for her: a boundless love.

Here, my lady, you see, this is my love for you. Beyond the sea and all the way over the horizon. And even farther, Babi, beyond the sky and beyond the stars, and still farther, beyond the moon and beyond everything that is hidden and concealed. And even more. Because this is only the mere pittance that is given to us mere mortals to know. I love you beyond all that which we are not given to see, beyond all that which we are not given to know.

This is what I’d dreamed of telling you but I never got the chance. And now what? What could I say now to that young woman sitting on the sofa? I look at you, and you’re no longer there. What ever became of you? Where is the smile that left me shipwrecked, stranded, castaway, shorn of all certainty but so sure of happiness?

I’d like to run away, but there is no time, no more time. Here you are.

Babi slowly turns in my direction. “Step! I can’t believe it. What a surprise.” She leaps to her feet and runs to meet me. She hugs me, holding me tight and kissing me gently on the cheek.

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