Deep Sea

Chapter 5 - A night at the Casino

They brought the glasses closer and made them touch. Diana took a sip, set the glass down, and wiped her lips with a napkin. That evening she was wearing intensely colored lipstick, almost purple, her eyes were double-layered with blue to underline the black of her irises and contrast with the tan of her face. She was dressed in dark, with a wide neckline, a pendant around her neck. He sat opposite her, at the round table with a candle in the middle, on the restaurant terrace a stone's throw from the sea. There are few occupied seats and in the background only the slight buzz of the other diners, the clatter of cutlery, and the lapping of the waves on the cobbled beach.

- You're cancer, right? -

Emidio nodded.

- Did you know that Scorpios get along very well with Cancers? -

- I just hope you don't have a poisoned tip.-

Diana smiled.

- You are stupendous.-

- You too.-

Diana lowered her eyelids and her gaze became hypnotic.Emidio finished his glass of wine and poured more.

- Is this why you accepted my invitation? - asked the young manager - Why do you like me? -

- And also because we had left a discussion pending, if I'm not mistaken, the last time we saw each other.-- How strange, right? Months go by without seeing each other and then suddenly it's as if we couldn't do without our old friendship.-- I would say something more than a friendship! - Diana rested her elbows on the table, crossing her hands and resting her chin on them. Emidio felt he was getting excited and turned his gaze towards the room as if to look for the waiter and urge the arrival of the first course.- You are referring to our working relationships, I imagine...-- And what else? But you didn't invite me here to talk about work, I hope.-- Of course not, and then it's better not to talk about our affairs in public.-A waiter in a black and burgundy uniform arrived with two oval aluminum trays on which were placed square-shaped ceramic plates from which thick smoke and an inviting aroma rose. Diana sat back in her chair and looked cynically at the dish being served to her. When the waiter left, he sighed, adjusting his napkin on his lap.- They want to be refined and risk making themselves look like rude people. Better a housewife service for the restaurants in these parts.-- I find it an excellent service and I assure you that the cuisine is worth the price.-- Well, we'll see...- she exclaimed, sceptically, and prepared to taste the marinara risotto. - Not bad. Another reason to trust you?-- Here, well done, trust me and tell me...-- Oh, Emidio, it's a story that makes me feel bad, if you don't mind I'll tell you about it as soon as I finish eating.-And they ate the whole fish dinner. They appreciated the dishes always served on impressive plates, they enjoyed two bottles of Collio wines and at the end of the meal they felt sated and satisfied.- I didn't imagine that there were restaurants of this type in Portorož. I thought it was a purely tourist place, full of wild Germans and screaming Italians.-- It is, in the morning - explained Emidio, who was now a regular in those parts - in the evening you dress elegantly and go to the Casino. A completely different atmosphere, as you can see, display of wealth and some unclear business...-Diana gave him a penetrating look. They were walking along the seafront, illuminated by a round white moon, by the orange lights of the street lamps and by the headlights of the large cars that continually passed on the road.- What did you tell your husband about this evening? - he asked her.- He's not in Trieste. He returned to Catania to his mother. He does it at least once a month. Also to see his students. You know he didn't want to leave the chair...--What's wrong between you?-The woman lowered her eyes and turned towards the sea to look at the lights at the other end of the bay.- Maybe because it's an aquarium, but I already knew this... the problem is that it has become impossible. Even before the transfer... - the friend saw her eyes shining - Manfredi doesn't love me. Not anymore. In Catania he had another woman. I had him follow me. A twenty-four year old slut. It's a good battle, right Emidio? How can a forty-six woman compete with someone twenty years younger?- And you told him that you knew? -The woman shook her head, she was about to cry, but she stopped herself.- I started teasing him. If he came home tired and disinterested, I would invent things to encourage him... and I succeeded. I once asked him what he would like me to do, something he had never dared to ask me. And he told me that one of his fantasies was to see me fucking another man.-Emidio refrained from making any comment. He looked at her only with slight detachment.- You too have seen how this excites him. It seems that it has become his only source of pleasure. Since we came to Trieste he hasn't been seen with that Francesca again. I think she expected something more from him, and instead he left her... good for her! Here there are other things that worry him... work, for example.-- Yes, I know - Emidio nodded, sinking his hands into his pockets and also observing the lights that reflected at the bottom of the placid expanse of water- It has become intractable since the newspapers and demonstrators brought up the permits for the clinic.-Diana wiped away a non-existent tear and approached her friend, placing her hands on his hips.- For him I'm just an object of property. Now his pleasure in seeing me with other men makes him asphyxiating. In Catania it wasn't like that, maybe he really loved that little whore, I don't care, I don't think he ever had too many scruples, even in his profession. Now, however, a newspaper article or a bad mood on my part sends him into crisis, and I no longer know what to do.-