Katerina frowned. “I really don’t think I could hire you on right now. This is my busy season, but I have to save up everything I earn for when things slow down in the winter.”
I shook my head. “Don’t worry, Kat, I know you can’t hire me on. I have a different idea.”
“What is it? Have you been offered a job somewhere else?”
“If it’s at one of the restaurants in the square, I wouldn’t bother,” Massimo added. “You can come work for me and I’ll give you real hours. Whatever you need.”
I reached for my wine, took another gulp, and turned my attention to Gianluca.
“Actually…I was thinking I could purchase the bed and breakfast and fix it up.”
THE THREE OF them stared at me as if I’d gone mad.
“What do you mean you want to buy it?” Katerina asked.
Gianluca cut her off. “It’s not for sale.”
Massimo leaned forward and propped his hand on Gianluca’s shoulder. “Let’s hear her out. For the right price, anything is possible…”
“No. Absolutely not.”
“You haven’t even heard what she has to say yet!” Katerina said, defusing the intense stare-down developing across the table.
“It doesn’t matter.”
Massimo grunted. “It might matter. We aren’t all living like you, Luca.”
Gianluca shot him a sharp glare. “You have more than you need with the farm and restaurant. That inn belonged to Nonna and it’s been in the family for centuries. We aren’t going to sell it to the first tourist who throws us an offer.”
“So to honor our heritage, we let it rot instead?” blustered Massimo.
Once the dust had settled on his words, three sets of eyes turned to me expectantly.
“If you aren’t prepared to sell it outright, I have a compromise I think we can all support.”
Katerina and Massimo whipped their attention to Gianluca. He didn’t make a move to reply right away; I could tell he wanted to put an end to the entire conversation, but eventually, he nodded, giving me the okay to proceed.
“Right, well like Massimo mentioned, it’s a shame that such a beautiful place has fallen into a state of disrepair. I haven’t seen anyone in or out of the building since the day I arrived. It’s got such a lovely spot in the square and I know the views would draw people in. So, I’d like to help restore the place to its former beauty and reopen it for business.”
Gianluca assessed me as I spoke, suspicious of my intentions.
“What would you get out of it?”
I smiled. “Well, for starters, I’d get the satisfaction of seeing the place up and running again. Second, I could finance the renovation in exchange for a small stake.” He opened his mouth to protest, but I continued on. “So there’s no risk for either of you. When it’s ready to open, you’d have an employee with a vested interest in its success!”
He reached for his glass of wine and downed the rest of it.
Massimo laughed. “How long have you been thinking of this?”
“Oh, not long. An hour, maybe two.”
Gianluca laughed then, this rich, deep chuckle that swelled a sense of pride inside me. I liked the sound; I wanted him to laugh more, even if it was at my expense.
“You’ve dreamt this up over the course of an hour or two?” he demanded. “And you expect me to hand over the keys to my family’s business?”
I rolled my eyes. “That seems a bit dramatic. As of right now, I’d say you’re doing more harm to the family business by letting it completely go to waste. All I’m asking is for you to let me into an empty building, as a partner, to see what we can make of it.”
“The answer is no. Drop it.”
Massimo held up his hands. “Now, now. Let’s pour some more wine and talk this over.”
Gianluca stood from the table so fast he nearly toppled it over. “This is insane. We don’t even know this…this girl!”
Those words. That was the moment I knew I wouldn’t back down. That exact moment when he pointed to me over the table and couldn’t even remember my name. That’s when I knew I wouldn’t give up until he gave me what I wanted.
“Katerina, thanks for dinner,” he said, already en route to the door. “Gigi—”
“MY NAME ISN’T GIGI, YOU INSUFFERABLE GIT.”
My shouting stopped him dead in his tracks. He turned over his shoulder, narrowed his dark eyes on me, and for the first time, it felt like he really saw me.
“It’s Georgie,” I said, more calm now that I’d gulped in a few breaths of air. “My name is Georgie.”
He narrowed his eyes on me for only a moment and then pulled open the front door with enough force to rattle its hinges. He disappeared into the night, the door slammed closed behind him, and the three of us sat in silence for a few seconds, trying to make sense of what had just transpired.
I cringed, thinking of how much Katerina and Massimo must hate me now that I’d antagonized Gianluca like that. I started to think up some way to apologize for my outburst, but then Massimo started clapping and laughing. It was a small, quiet chuckle at first, but then it grew and picked up steam. Katerina joined in, and then I was helpless to the sound of it.
“You called him a git,” Massimo laughed, wiping tears from his eyes.
“Right, well, the man deserved it.”
He held up his hands. “I won’t argue that. It’s high time someone knocked some sense into the bloke. I’ve tried to do it for the last five years and I’ve never been able to get a rise like that out of him.”