All the Way to Heaven

Chapter 12

While I was finishing up with the good doctor, Isa was making arrangements to move me to the Lazzaro family home up in the hills outside Lucca, at least until my hands healed enough for me to use the crutches to get around. She also contacted Fabio on my behalf, explaining what had happened, then made a quick phone call to her husband, Gerardo, to work out transportation. They usually drove one car into town due to limited residential parking, stayed during the work week in their apartment across from Alla Dolce Vita, then headed back to the estate on the weekends.

I insisted again, once out of Dr. Chiseled's earshot—I had to stop thinking of him that way, lest I slip and call him that in front of someone. Dr. Lazzaro. Dr. Lazzaro. Dr. Lazzaro.—that I'd be fine staying at Alla Dolce Vita on my own. Isa, standing in front of me, one hand on her hip, the other waving her phone around in the air between us, said, "Tell me this, Ani. How are you going to pay for that room with no money, no credit cards, hm?"

"Hey. At least I have my license!" I held up my one pitiful piece of evidence that I, Anica Rachelle Tomlin, existed. Not that it would get me much here in Italy. As far as this country was concerned, my license meant about as much to them as my library card did. Isa ignored me.

"And what about food? Do you think Madalina has time to run up and down the stairs to serve you? For free?" She made a dismissive noise and thumbed in a text to someone on her phone. "You cannot stay here with no one to help you and Mama already prepares your room so it is already too late. Stop fighting me now. Say 'yes,' Ani. We are happy to share our home with you."

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. You're right. I'm completely at your mercy." We were waiting for her husband to arrive in their car, and I had taken advantage of the quiet reception room to make a few calls from my emergency list using Isa's phone. I'd contacted my bank and requested they send a new VISA card via certified mail to me here at Dr. Lazzaro's office, as there would always be someone here to sign for it. As soon as it arrived, I could pay for a replacement passport, since it would cost me more than the few euros Paulo had garnered for me from the bike shop. I could, of course, call my parents and have them wire me money today in order to expedite things, but with my broken leg and inability to get around anyway, I didn't feel like I needed to worry them needlessly. Truth be told, because of these people gathering forces around me, my emergency was turning out to be more of a change of plans than anything terribly tragic.

I didn't quite understand why Isa had apparently just dropped everything for me, why any of them had, so I asked.

Isa laughed her silvery laugh and dropped into a chair beside me. "I cannot speak for anyone else, but for me? I like you, Ani. I liked you as soon as I saw you last night, standing all alone in your window like a picolito kitten. And this morning, when I saw that you were awake, I was going to suggest you visit Madalina for breakfast, but you found her yourself, no? Madalina, she is exquisite in baking, yes?" She brought her fingers to her lips and made a kissing sound.

"Exquisite, yes," I agreed, my mouth watering at the memory of the breakfast that seemed so long ago. Was it possibly just this morning I'd sat across from Madalina, trying not to offend her... or be offended by her?

"Mama and Papa will be happy to see us arrive, Ani. For two reasons. One, they do not let me come home without a box of pasticcini from Madalina. And two, I am not the only Lazzaro who likes you." She leaned in close, glancing at the receptionist who was obviously listening to our conversation, but doing a fine job pretending not to. "Cosi likes you, too."

"Who?" I furrowed my brow, unable to keep up. "Wait. Who is Cosi?"

"Cosi. Cosimo. My uncle!" She tipped her head toward the door that led to the exam rooms. "Mama asks Cosi to come visit every week and he tells her no. But now? He makes plans to come because you will be there. You see?"