Unexpected

Chapter V

Right here, with my arms wrapped around her, this is where I am supposed to be. I have no doubts about it. But I do need to face the reality that she is leaving in 2 days. Tomorrow she will be at work but I have the evening, hopefully, and the morning of Saturday with her. I want to take her to La Tête de Chien and need to find a whole plan for Saturday morning. Need to find a place for breakfast and maybe I can organize it on the Monza and then we can dock and go to La Tête. I have been wanting to take her there since when we had dinner together, when things changed.

Right now, she's here in my arms and I can slowly drift off.

∞

Her alarm goes off at 6.30am. I must say that it is probably the most soothing wake up alarm I've ever heard. Mine is basic iPhone alarm but hers starts softly and increases volume as the song continues. I know the song it is playing but I can't recall the name. Mental note to ask her about it. We are spooning and she stirs from under my arms, always so gentle, and lifts the covers. She goes about her morning routine and I slowly start to open my eyes and see her getting ready, getting her dress on, stockings and heels, do her hair and make up, grab her coat and laptop. Thirty minutes have passed but only now she realizes I have been watching her.. She struts in her heels towards the bed and she leans in to kiss me 'Buongiorno tesoro'. Her speaking Italian and French do things to me, I can't deny.

'What time will you finish today?' - I ask her dreading the answer in anticipation.

'I'm not sure but the hotel is quite OK, so hopefully not late. What do you have in mind?'

I sit up on the bed. 'Well, I was thinking that maybe we could spend the evening and night on the sea.'

'What do you mean?' - She looks lost.

'Well, let's just say I have a boat and we can spend the night out there in the sea'

'You have a boat? Like a sailing boat, a dingy, an inflatable one, a...'

'A yacht. Her name is Monza.' - I burp.

'Why don't we just have dinner here and stay here and enjoy each other's company here?'

I get up the bed and walk towards her, while she's preparing her morning coffee. 'You know out there, on the sea, there are no photographers.'

'And you would be correct to say that, but I'm pretty sure there will be a few waiting for you to get on the yacht.' - she says. 

'What if I make sure there aren't any? I can do that.'

'Does that mean that you allow them to photograph you?' - She frowns her face.

'It comes with the territory' - I say making a sad face. It is probably one of the cons of the job. Your employers want you to be written about. Marketing is a giant, these days.

'Let me think about it, OK? I'm not loving the idea right now but give me some time to consider it, OK?' - She says while grabbing my face; she kisses me and goes out the door. She blows me a kiss before closing the door.

I have difficulty understanding her reluctance to be seen with me and I lay in bed wondering if I am doing anything wrong. My mum texts me around 9am asking if I want to go for breakfast with her. I meet her 40min later at the Fairmount Hotel for breakfast, Alessandra's hotel. It's unlikely she will see me as we will be down for breakfast and she will be working. 

When my mum asks what I have been doing the past days, I don't have the strength or will to lie to her. I tell her about Alessandra, what has been happening between us, without details, and how I feel a bit at loss on her refusal to be seen with me. All the women I dated before were happy to be on camera with me, some of them were quite eager to, actually. My mum, in her sublime wisdom, reminds me that old souls don't fall for fake Instagram posts and that kind of life doesn't interest them. She says that maybe I have found someone who seems me for me, rather than the Charles Leclerc with all the cars and yachts and luxurious life. She also reminds me that maybe she is safe guarding herself because she will leave tomorrow and perhaps she sees any further developments to be pointless in the grand spectrum of things.