4
Emily: so how’s it going
Katy: fine. sign contract tomorrow. italy is amazing
Emily: told you it would be great. have some fun
Free from all the problems waiting for her back home, Katy walked along the streets soaking in the sights, sounds, and unique smells of the village in springtime. With Mist accompanying her from the palazzo, she decided to use the other woman as a tour guide of sorts. When she’d asked for a bit of space, Mist had nodded agreeably and followed at a discreet distance.
Katy wasn’t crazy or stupid, and knowing she was a female alone in a strange place, she felt much safer knowing Mist was watching over her. She had even asked Mist to let her know if any of the places she wanted to visit were unsafe. Mist readily agreed, even going into the shops with her, then melting into the background. Katy was free to roam, unafraid of getting lost or being pestered by strangers.
The sun had gone down hours ago, but still she didn’t want to stop. This was exactly what she needed after the insanity of the last 24 hours. By this time yesterday she had buzzed Bosszilla that she had an emergency and was leaving for a few days then blew out the door without waiting for a response, broken more than a few polite driving rules to get home and then nagged her Uber driver to go faster in her mad dash to the airport. The first-class seat made the flight tolerable, despite her frazzled mental state, but the hours of quiet gave her mind too much time to make up dozens of scenarios and come up with even more questions. The whole airport experience was both bizarre and embarrassing and the uncomfortable drive to the sprawling estate seemed to take hours.
After all of that, postponing the whole ‘you have to be there to sign these papers’ event that started this crazy train was just about enough to send Katy into a full-blown mental meltdown. Now, however, she was much more relaxed. The past few hours had been perfect. A bit of window shopping. A bit of sightseeing. She actually felt like she was on vacation.
Katy enjoyed every moment exploring, stockpiling memories, taking pictures with her phone, tasting the food from local street vendors. She wanted to experience everything, all at once. She smiled, happy to be in the one place she had always dreamed of visiting.
Catching Mist’s eye, she motioned with her head toward a nightclub. Mist would either smile and nod that it was a good place to go, or frown and shake her head no. So far, Mist had only said no twice. Katy was not surprised; the places had even looked a bit sketchy. This one, however, looked very upscale. Discoteca Reale. Katy used her phone to look up the translation: Club Royal. Nice.
After a nod from Mist, Katy stepped eagerly through the doors of the nightclub, glad she had taken the time to shower and change into one of Emily’s little black dresses and a comfortable pair of heels before leaving the palazzo.
The music was upbeat, loud, and the people inside were smiling and dancing. She caught a glimpse of Mist melting into the crowd as she made her way to the ladies’ room. Normally she would have felt suffocated, but here in Italy, she was grateful for the other woman’s unobtrusive presence.
As she opened the door, cool air and modern decor greeted her, a comfortable looking sofa, coffee table, and magazines in one corner, with plenty of stalls farther in to accommodate the largest of crowds. Katy freshened up, even going so far as to let her long hair down. She was in Italy, after all.
When she finished up, she headed out to find a corner table where she could watch the dance floor without attracting too much attention. She wanted to get a feel for the place before she did anything crazy, like dance in front of a roomful of people who were all so much sexier than she was. Her dancing was pathetic. She looked like a stiff robot every time she tried, while Emily, the wild child had joined the hip-hop dance team. Katy had been drawn to the controlled beauty of ballet. Too many years on pointe made her amazingly graceful, but horribly unprepared for clubbing.
Thinking of Emily, Katy took out her phone and dialed her sister, surprised when she answered on the first ring.
“Hey! You must be psychic. I was just about to call you,” Emily chirped happily. “Wow, it’s loud. Are you at a club?”
“Yes.”
“Fantastic. How did it go? Any problems? Everything go okay? Did you sign the contract yet? Have you seen the pool?”
Katy scrunched up her nose as she listened to her sister’s endless questions. Finally she interrupted with a laugh, “Slow down! Let me talk!”
“Sorry,” Emily said contritely. “To be honest I was a little nervous about sending you out there in my place. But everything here is on schedule. I should be there in three days.”
“I thought it was two? What the hell happened now?” Emily could not do this to her. Not again.
“The most bizarre thing. I made it to Anchorage. Flight was supposed to be a hop over the pole to London. Twelve-hour layover and I would have been there with bells on.”
“Em. What. Happened?”
“This amazingly hot pilot comes out of the cockpit and tells the plane we’re being diverted to Inverness, as in Scotland, because of—well, actually, I’m not sure why. Anyway, there’s no flight out of here for a couple days. Something to do with the weather.”
“What the hell, Em?” How the hell did her sister always get into these situations?
“Don’t get mad. It wasn’t my fault this time.”
Katy rubbed her temple with her free hand. “It never is.”
“Well, it sounds like things are going well in Italy. You’re there. You’re at a club. Did you wear the little black dress I packed?”
“Yes. But… yeah. Well, about things going well, not so much.” Katy paused, thinking about the luggage. And the toy. The humiliation. Thinking about it now made her fidget on her chair. “You owe me big-time. I can’t believe you packed a vibrator! That’s probably why they postponed the contract signing until tomorrow.” She practically shouted to hear herself over the pounding music.
A loud peel of laughter forced Katy to hold the phone away from her ear until the sound faded.