Dear Adam (37 page)

The next day she set off again with a full
tank of gas and hopeful spirits. It was a warm and sunny May
morning in beautiful Agrigento. No better setting existed for she
and Adam to meet for the first time. She put on a spring dress of
white eyelet with spaghetti straps and wore red wedge heels. She
curled her hair to fall in old-fashioned waves, painted her lips a
classic red, a look that Adam would like. Her phone was loaded with
Frank Sinatra tunes, which she played while she searched.

As she drove, she imagined what it would be
like to live here with Adam, remembering that he once said he
wanted to eventually split their time between Sicily and
California. She pictured a garden where Adam would grow vegetables,
perhaps a vineyard on the property so he could make wine. She
pictured rooms full of books everywhere, a real library. A large,
well-stocked kitchen. He loved shopping in open-air markets and
everything would be fresh, even fish he caught himself. They would
have feasts every day, sometimes simple, sometimes elaborate,
because they both loved good food. He would have his den where he
could write more novels and poetry, and she would have her own nook
as well where she could write too. And at night they would come
together in their special room …

A loud sound like a gunshot punctured Eden’s
daydream. She recoiled from surprise then realized what had
happened when her car started slowing down and thumping oddly over
the road. She had a flat tire. She pulled over to the dirt shoulder
and got out.

It was her right, rear tire, deflated, with
probably a hole. She looked up and down the two-lane road. She was
by herself. She opened her trunk and prayed that the cars in Italy
had the same implements as American ones. She poked around the base
of the trunk and rejoiced when she lifted the felt cover and found
not a spare, but an inflated full tire. And it came equipped with
tools. Getting a Hyundai instead of a Fiat seemed like a stroke of
good luck now.

She was pumping the jack with her foot when
she heard a car pull up right behind hers. It was a black
convertible, sleek and shiny. She recognized the trident on the
grill. A Maserati. It glimmered in the sun so much like a mirage,
hypnotizing her, that Eden’s foot missed the jack and hit the
ground instead. She had to grab the car door to keep from losing
her balance.

“
Why hello there,
stranger!”

Eden squinted at the man who got out of the
Maserati in his aviator shades. There was only one person with a
smile as white and dazzling as that.

“
Jack!” she exclaimed with
half-hearted cheer. “Fancy running into you here.”

He strode towards her, a gorgeous sun god of
muscle and tanned skin in a snug, light blue polo shirt and shorts.
He lowered his shades to reveal a flash of startling aquamarine
eyes. Eden looked away so that she wouldn’t start drooling. He had
the kind of beauty that made her feel self-conscious and
grubby.

“
I saw a beautiful woman in
distress on the side of the road and what amazing luck that she
turned out to be you.”

“
Why, thank you, Jack. Such
a gentleman. But actually,” Eden said as she finished pumping the
jack and picked up the wrench. “I got it.” From the corner of her
eye she saw his mouth drop then close abruptly as she started
twisting off the lug nuts. He looked her up and down in her dainty
white dress and heels, disbelieving.

“
You … know how to change a
tire?”

“
Yeah,” she shrugged as if
it were a matter of course. Auto Basics class, #27 on her
list.

He seemed uncertain now, no less gorgeous,
but standing as though deflated. He crossed his arms, watching her
pop off all the nuts with what appeared to be perplexed
fascination.

“
I thought you were staying
in Palermo, Jack,” she remarked as she lifted the tire off the
wheel. Jack snapped out of his trance and helped her carry it to
the side.

“
Yes, well, I thought I’d
drive around the country a bit, get some scenery and fresh air. How
about you? Where’s your friend at?”

“
Oh, he had to run some
errands so I decided to go adventuring on my own.”

Eden rolled the replacement tire and Jack
helped her lift it onto the wheel.

“
Gee, thanks for stopping
by. But you look like you have places to go. I don’t want to keep
you from your vacation plans.” She patted the tire. “I got this
covered.”

“
Plans?” he repeated. “No
plans. Adventuring, like you. Would you like me to tighten the nuts
for you?”

Eden stood up. “My teacher taught me a
trick.” She put one foot on the lug wrench with the socket securely
attached to one of the nuts and jumped on it. “That makes it really
tight without having to use any muscle.”

Jack didn’t bother closing his mouth as he
watched Eden bounce four more times to tighten each nut. “You’re
certainly a very ... resourceful woman, Eden.”

“
Thank you.” He helped her
put the flat tire and tools in the trunk. She closed it and faced
Jack in awkward silence.

He took a handkerchief from his pocket and
brushed her cheek with it, startling Eden.

“
Sorry, you had a bit of
dirt on you. I couldn’t resist.” He smiled again and offered her
his handkerchief. “For your hands.”

Eden looked down and grimaced. Her hands were
black. Miraculously, her dress remained white. She took the
handkerchief from Jack and vigorously wiped her hands with them.
When she was done, his handkerchief was a wrinkled, ugly-looking
mess.

“
Uh, sorry,” she said as
she held it in front of her. It definitely didn’t belong to the
immaculately groomed creature standing in front of her.

“
Keep it.”

“
Well, thanks for coming to
my rescue a second time,” she said when he didn’t make any motions
to leave.

“
Hardly a rescue," Jack
laughed. "Here’s a thought. Since we’re both adventuring, why don’t
we do it together? We can take my car.” Eden glanced at the
gleaming Maserati with envy. What she would give to be able to sit
behind its wheel.

“
That’s a wonderful idea,
but I’m going to have lunch with my friend. He’s waiting for me. In
fact, I think I heard my phone ring just now. That was probably
him, wondering where I am.”

Jack made even disappointment look
attractive. “This guy who’s got you running around Sicily, whoever
he is, is quite the lucky man.”

For once, Eden could tell Jack the full
truth. “He’s the reason why I’m here. I’m madly in love with
him.”

He stared at her intensely, as though taking
full measure of her.

“
That’s good to know,” he
mused. “Well, I’ll leave you to it then. Again, it’s been quite the
pleasure.”

“
Thanks, Jack!” She got
into her car and pulled out her phone, putting on a show of making
a phone call. She watched Jack drive off and waved goodbye as he
passed her. Only when the Maserati disappeared into the horizon did
she start her car and drive the opposite direction.

Since it was lunchtime, Eden hadn’t told Jack
a total lie. She had planned to go back to the downtown city proper
any way and walk around, maybe find another café from which to
watch out for Adam. She parked her car near the city center and
walked down a street full of shops and sidewalk eateries. It was
busy and vibrant, with a mixture of Italians and tourists from
other countries, judging from the range of different languages she
heard. She blended in at least, just another sightseeing tourist
among the many. She walked slowly, carefully looking at every man
to see if he seemed familiar in anyway.

“
How are you going to
recognize Adam?” Vivian had asked her before she left.

“
I’ll just know,” Eden had
replied with conviction, unable to explain this strong intuition of
hers. Just like she knew Jack couldn’t possibly be Adam in
disguise, which Vivian had excitedly proposed when she had learned
of the Rome incident.

“
What are the odds of you
running into a British man while in Italy?” Vivian had written in
her e-mail. “It’s like fate. Maybe it’s not a
coincidence.”

“
The voice,” Eden had
replied. “Not at all the same. And even if it they sounded similar,
I still would have no doubt.” Jack looked as if everything had
always come easily to him. He didn’t look like a man who had ever
struggled, ever suffered, ever been an outsider. These were the
very qualities Eden searched for when she looked into the faces of
the men she passed.

Adam had let her see his heart and soul. If
he was anywhere near her, she would feel an irresistible pull
towards him, a recognition from her depths that would signal she
had found the one she was seeking.

She spotted a pretty café with a red and
white awning and was about to cross the street when she saw a now
familiar figure down the sidewalk. It was Jack. She whirled around
and bumped into a man, who grunted at her carelessness.

“
Scuzi
!” she said as she stumbled away from him and dashed into the
nearest shop. She quickly dodged behind some shelves. She heard the
door open soon after and someone walk in. She heard footsteps come
closer and closer to her location and held her breath. They stopped
at her aisle. She looked up, dreading to see Jack, but it was only
the man she had bumped into outside. He looked at her then kept on
moving.

Eden waited some seconds, then slowly peeked
over the top. Through the front store window, she saw Jack, his
head craned as if searching for someone. He had the look of a man
who was on a serious hunt. To her relief, he kept going.

Jack Knightley was no ordinary flirt. He was
scouring the town for her, Eden was sure of it. But it wasn’t
because he found her beauty irresistible. Her internal alarm was
ringing violently now. Vivian was right. Today’s chance encounter,
and perhaps even the encounter at the airport, had not been a
coincidence at all.

Chapter 19

As soon as she felt enough time had passed,
Eden rose from crouching behind the shelves, looking all around
her. She was in a bookstore, she just realized. She ran her fingers
down the spines of the books. All in Italian, but it was still a
comforting, tactile pleasure. She began to wonder if they had an
English section then snapped out of her reverie. She had no time to
shop. She was about to walk out but thought better of it. What if
Jack was still looking for her outside? Better to stay in for a
while longer just to be safe.

Pleased with her smart thinking, Eden
exhaled. Her pulse quieted and she became relaxed. Being surrounded
by books always had a soothing effect on her.

“
Buon
giorno
,” piped the college-aged girl behind
the counter. She was sitting on a stool in front of even more
shelves with stacked books. “
Americana
?”

“
Yes.
Si
,” Eden replied cautiously, hoping
it was a good thing. One never knew. It always amazed her that
people could tell she was American without her saying anything. Was
it her clothes? Something about her attitude? “
Buon giorno
.”

“
Welcome,” the girl said.
She pointed to a bookshelf against the wall. “English.”

“
Gratzie
!” Eden beamed as she walked to the section. A thick stack of
rubber-banded books behind the girl, spines out and wrapped with a
white piece of paper, caught her eye. It was what was on the piece
of paper, in big, block letters written with a black marker, that
held her interest.

CAIN ROQUIER.

Where had she seen that before?

Puzzled, she began looking
through the English language books. Dan Brown, Stephenie Meyer,
Edgar Allan Poe, all put together. She couldn’t really expect it to
be otherwise, but the store had a paltry collection. She picked out
a James Patterson novel and was idly flipping through it when it
struck her. Cain Roquier was the villain in
The Angel’s Shadow
by Arturo Valiente,
the book she had reviewed and subsequently first brought her to
Adam’s attention.

She surveyed all the books behind the
counter. They were all similarly rubber-banded and had white paper
wrapping, each one with a name. These were all books ordered by
customers and on hold. Someone in Agrigento called Cain Roquier had
ordered 14 books. It couldn’t possibly be a random occurrence. She
could feel the certainty in her bones. It was Adam in a clever
disguise. Those were his books. This was his bookstore.

What a fool she had been. She had been
driving all over Agrigento when all she had to do was come to the
one place he was sure to visit. And by the quantity of books being
held for him, he would be coming in any day now, perhaps any
minute.

She took out her spiral notebook and quickly
wrote a note to Adam. Then pretending to be engrossed in James
Patterson, she waited until the girl left the counter and went to
the back. She looked around. The only other customer was the man
who came in after she did. He appeared to be deep into a paperback
book. Her heart beating fast, Eden quickly went behind the counter
and slipped her note inside the topmost book of Cain Roquier’s
stack, then left the store.

She walked across to the café and asked for a
table by the window. This was her new plan, to stake out the
bookstore from opening to closing hours. She knew from their
e-mails that Adam visited the bookstore at least once a week. He
hadn’t visited lately, so he was due. And she would be here waiting
for him when he did so.