Page 199 of Marcello

So as difficult as it was, I gave him a wink and closed the door.

I grinned as I walked down the hallway.

Laura Amato, an inexperienced girl, had snuck out of her house that night…

But Giulietta – a confident, experienced woman – was going to be the one who returned home.

PART IV

GIULIETTA

61

Of course, I didn’t exactly feel like a confident, experienced woman as I stood outside the hotel in the early morning darkness and looked at the deserted street for a taxi.

I had to go back in to the front desk, who told me they would call one for me.

The entire time I waited outside, I seesawed between elation and fear.

Half the time, my brain replayed everything that had just happened – every glorious physical sensation, every glimpse of Romeo, every word he’d said.

The other half, I fretted about the time.

What if I get home late?!

What if I get CAUGHT?!

I’ll never see Romeo again!

I calmed down by reminding myself that the day shift didn’t come on until sunrise, and that didn’t happen until around six thirty. Eugenio had just been paranoid, which was why he wanted me back so early.

It was all going to be okay.

…right?

RIGHT?

The taxi arrived a few minutes later, and relief washed over me –

Until I got in the back and the driver asked me where I wanted to go.

Oh shit…

I couldn’t give him my address, because then he’d drop me off at the front gate – which would be a disaster.

“I… I don’t know, exactly,” I mumbled.

He looked at me in the rearview mirror with one raised eyebrow. “You don’t know where you want to go?”

“I want to go home, but I have to sneak in the back way, and I don’t know what street it is.”

He chuckled and said, “Give me the address.”

“But – ”

“Give me the address and we’ll look at the map.”

I told him and he plugged it into his phone, which was apparently connected to his taxi.