One Day You'll Find Me

Chapter Fourteen

I sat up abruptly just after dawn. Rosina groaned and turned in her bed as I leapt upon it. Dragging the blankets away from her, I slid down under them as well. She ignored me. So I took to poking her shoulder until she opened her eyes, then I grasped her hands excitedly. I had the best idea. My friend sleepily listened to my plan, and agreed with me. It had to be done.

***

The first thing we did was go see our fisherman. Antonio was surprised to see us, but he seemed to be in a pleasant enough mood. We'd come on a mission, and we needed him to answer a question. Our whole plan was based around it. So we outright asked it.

"Do you still love Caprice?"

He was so shocked, he didn't say anything.

"She doesn't know we're asking, by the way," Ros hurried to tell him.

We told him about our plan, and started persuading him by saying 'What do you have to lose?'. Antonio still hadn't said anything. Finally, he faced us and leaned forward to rest his arms on his knees. Then he spoke.

"Alright. I have feelings for her. And it is true, I lose nothing if agree to your plan. I certain she hates me, but if you want to play matchmaker, I willing."

Huge smiles broke over our faces. We began to discuss and finalize details of the plan. I opted for making the date tonight. There was no point wasting time. Rosina and I had only four days left in Venice.

Caprice we had to handle differently. If we told her what was going on, she'd blatantly refuse it. I felt for Antonio if she didn't love him; that'd be awful. But, what's there to lose by trying? If she hated him before, she'd continue to hate him after. So we told her to put on the dress we bought her. We were going to treat her to dinner. What she didn't know was that a certain man would be taking our place...

The three of us waltzed into the restaurant and sat down at a window table. This way, Ros and I would be able to watch after we ditched. I glanced around the restaurant, looking for him. He was sitting at the bar, on the farthest seat from us. I didn't want to leave too early, nor too late. I found the happy medium with one drink. Politely excusing myself, I stood up and went to the bathroom. As I passed Antonio, I coughed to get his attention back on the ball. Shortly, Rosina did the same, and nodded to give the go-ahead. He waited half a minute, gathering his courage. Then he moved. Walking over to the table, he sat down opposite a very surprised and confused Caprice.

Eventually, we had to leave the Ladies', and when we did, we received such a look from her that we ran out of the restaurant to avoid any possible confrontation. We ran all the way to Carlo's, and sank into chairs, laughing and breathing so hard the noise we made brought Carlo out from the back. A big grin broke out over his face when he saw us. Curious as to what was going on, he pulled up a chair and sat ready to listen. But we were speaking over one another and laughing mid-sentence. I'm surprised he understood us at all. We told the story haphazardly, jumping from one bit to another. When Carlo realised the connection between Antonio and Caprice, he slammed his palm on the table, startling us.

"Ah yes!" he cried. "That how I heard of your Caprice before! Caprice! Ah!"

He explained. "She used to come in here and talk to me about it all. I devastated as her when Antonio not return when job finish. When Ettore died... may he rest in peace. It was so horrible! I as angry as Caprice when Antonio eventually come. She slowly stop coming here, and I not seen her in years."

Incredible. All three of the friends we'd managed to make here were connected. That was so weird.

Finally we got to our plan. He laughed when he realised why we were out of breath. He thought our idea was a stroke of genius.