He would arrive earlier. That was the plan. He would check into the hotel and wait for her. He offered to meet her at the airport but she said if he waited at the hotel she would be fine. He would have already been in an airport for way too long after his flight from Massachusetts. And she was right. He had a seven-hour flight from Cambridge to New York City and from there it was eight hours to Florence.
However, waiting in the hotel was just as excruciating for him. He knew that he would have to wait even longer to see her and he wasn't really sure what to do with his time. He glanced at his Mickey Mouse watch. Her flight was supposed to arrive at 6:30 and it was 7:00 now. She would be here any minute. He hoped so. It had been a month since they first met and last saw each other. A long month, indeed. He looked around at the hotel room, but it only made him more nervous. They had put him up in the biggest suite at the hotel but the biggest suite only contained one king sized bed. He turned away from its flowing canopy curtains and looked to the coffee table in front of the couch where he sat. He had placed a bottle of wine and two glasses to go with it. He wondered if she would think that was strange. He had broken a sweat now so he slipped off his tweed suit jacket and began to pace. He couldn't watch tv to calm his nerves; it was in Italian and he certainly would not understand a word. His Italian was terrible and so was his French. He was incredibly thankful that she was fluent in Italian, French, but most importantly, English.
There was a knock on the door. He jumped a bit and tried not to jog to answer it. He turned the knob and there she was. She looked the same only she was wearing different clothes- a pair of jeans and a white button up top. She smiled widely and she was just as beautiful as he had remembered her to be.
"Robert," she chuckled as if he were an old friend. She pulled him in for a hug and he willingly accepted.
"Sophie," he said. "It's so good to see you." He didn't want to, but he let go of her to help her with her luggage. He carried all three bags in and set them on the bed.
"It's good to see you too," she said with a grin. "I missed you." As she looked around the room, Robert waited for her reaction to the bed. "It's beautiful!" She walked to the window and opened it to step onto the balcony. He followed her.
"You like it?" Robert asked, though he already knew the answer. He was somewhat relaxed now. He had played the situation out to be a much more awkward scene, but he should have known better. Nothing had ever been outstandingly awkward between him and Sophie.
"I love it! Thank you so much for inviting me." She smiled again and he smiled back.
"How have you been?" he asked, reaching out to the scar on her neck left by the Opus Dei monk. She put her hand over his.
"Fine. It has healed mostly. And you?" Sophie removed his hand from her neck but continued to hold it tightly.
"Great. Really great," he said, but what he really meant was that he was great now. He was worried, however, that his hand was shaking. Or was it too sweaty? It had been so long since he had begun a lasting relationship with a woman that he was back to thoughts that one would have had in Middle School. Not that he had those thoughts at 13 because he was always the one in the library with his nose in history textbooks or biographies on Leonardo da Vinci or Galileo. Girls didn't come into his life until much later.
Neither of them spoke a word, but stared at each other with smiles on their faces. Robert didn't know what to do next. He wondered if telling her about the wine would lead her to believe that he had intentions for the evening.
"So Robert, no interesting historical facts to tell me? No puzzles we can solve?" she asked playfully with a giggle. If he hadn't been so nervous he would have realized she was flirting.
"No. I'm not that boring," he answered, feeling like a fool. She laughed and squeezed his hand.
"I know, I know."
"We never really got to know each other…" he began.
"And yet we did. I trust you," she interrupted. He smiled and was happy she had finished his sentence. He wouldn't have known what to say next. Her smile faded. "You have not told anyone?"
"No, no. Of course not," he assured her. She nodded and looked into the room. Her smile reappeared.
"Oh, come here," she said with excitement as she led him back into the hotel room. The bed did not faze her as she walked over to her bags resting on its golden comforter. She rummaged through her olive green suitcases until she pulled out a tiny paperback book. "I brought this for you. Voila!" She handed it to him and he smiled as he read the title.
Puzzles, Labyrinthes, et Codes
"Il est en francais, mais, tu es un homme intelligent, non?" she giggled biting her lip. He wanted so badly to thank her with a kiss but couldn't bring himself to do it, which was no surprise considering he was still hung up about the wine. He smiled again.
"Thank you, Sophie. Maybe we can do some together?" He regretted the words instantly. Robert thought he sounded like a teenager.
"Oui, bien sur." She didn't seem to mind. As he stood there flipping through the pages of the book, Sophie walked over to the couch where she sat to remove her black high-heeled pumps. As she curled her legs beneath her, she teased, "Robert, you bought wine? Why didn't you offer me any?" He sighed in relief that she had brought it up and not him. "If you're saving it… that's ok too."
"No, no. I'm sorry. I just completely forgot. Here." He walked over to the couch and poured a glass. He handed it to her and poured his own. Then he sat down at the opposite end of the love seat to take a sip.
"Mmm, c'est pas mauvais. Good job, Robert," she teased. He smiled and worried that he was blushing. I'm worse than some of the giggling freshman in my symbology class, he thought. He prayed that Sophie would not notice. "So what are we going to do this week? Where will we go?"
"I don't know. I figured we could play it by ear. We've been running around a lot and I thought this would be some nice time off."
"Oui, bonne idee. But what is 'play it by ear'?" She blushed slightly and Robert could tell she probably hated to have things explained to her. She seemed embarrassed that she did not know already.
"It means decide as it comes. We can decide what to do day by day," he explained. He felt more comfortable explaining because he was expressing fact rather than emotion; something he couldn't be judged on and that wouldn't ruin his chances with Sophie.
"Ah, c'est vrai? C'est bizarre! Les personnes des Etats-Unis sont tres interessants. Je sais souvent…"
"You know I have know idea what you're saying," Robert pointed out. She laughed.
"I'm sorry. I'll try to speak in English." They both looked down at their wine glasses. I shouldn't have said that, he thought. "I'm happy I'm here," she stated, looking back up to him.
"I'm happy you're here too," he said with a smile. She began to move closer to him on the couch but then the phone rang. Robert jumped up to answer it. "Hello?"
It turned out to be his publisher telling him that the bookstore he was going to give a reading and book signing in that night had been robbed. They would have to reschedule. He hung up the phone.
"Don't tell me someone else died," Sophie said, rolling her eyes.
"No, no. I was going to have a book signing in a bookstore tonight but it was robbed… so I'm free," he told her as he walked back over to the couch.
"That's terrible," she said with a huge grin. He returned her smile.
"Would you like to go out for dinner?"