Lost in Rome (13 page)

Salvatore asked Gianna, “Did you get the sample of the menu I left for you?”

“Yes. Thanks. I have just a few changes.” Gianna went to the front of the store by the register to get the sample menu. She handed it to Salvatore.

He said, “I take it to the printer.”

“Okay. Thanks,” Gianna said.

I asked, “So you deliver everything?”

“I have a truck. I deliver anything anywhere. I used to run a restaurant myself, but I like to be out in the city. Not all day in the kitchen. So now I am silent partner. My brother and grandnephew, they run the restaurant. I do the accounting books at night, and all day I ride around and deliver stuff. Lots of sunshine.”

“Which restaurant?” Gianna asked.

“Pizzeria de Roma. You know it. It is in the piazza by the Fontana del Cuore.”

“Yeah,” I said very casually. “I've seen it.”

“I go now,” Salvatore said. “
Ciao!
” he cried with his standard level of pep.

“
Ciao
,” we echoed with much less excitement.

Once he was gone, I said, “He's Lorenzo's
great-uncle
.”

“Seems that way,” Rico said.

AJ asked, “Do you think he knows what Lorenzo did to the sauce and that he stole the matchmaker notes?”

“I don't know, but maybe Lorenzo will need to explain it to him when we give him a dose of his own medicine.”

“Now?” Gianna asked.

“Tomorrow.”

“What exactly is this master plan?” AJ asked.

I supplied the deets.

“I like the way your mind works,” Rico said.

The next morning it was time to put my plan into motion. We walked through the piazza, past the Fontana del Cuore, and hid behind a statue near Pizzeria de Roma. Lorenzo's scooter wasn't out front. We waited for him to arrive and unlock the doors.

For this plan to work, Gianna was going to distract Lorenzo.

“Are you ready?” I asked her.

She chewed on her nails.

“Just like we practiced,” Rico said. “You can do it.”

Vroom!

“There he is,” I said.

He parked his scooter, tucked his helmet under his arm, and headed for the door with keys in his hand.

“Now?” Gianna asked.

“Wait—wait—”

Lorenzo unlocked the doors and was just about to step inside when I said, “Now!”

Gianna walked toward Pizzeria de Roma with a hair flip, like we'd discussed, but—

Oh no!

The heel of her sandal caught between two cobblestones, and she fell.

Epic fail.

“Ah!” she called out, getting Lorenzo's attention.

“Ouch.” AJ winced. “That's gonna leave a mark.”

“Not exactly like we rehearsed, huh?” Rico asked us.

“But it'll work,” I said.

“Mamma mia!”
Lorenzo left the door and hurried over to her. He bent down with his back to the door.

Gianna said, “I'm okay.”

“Let me get you some ice,” Lorenzo offered.

“Wait,” she said to him. “Look at it. Do you think it needs a bandage, too?” She was improvising. I was proud of the improvement in her skills.

Perfect.

I tiptoed to the door and slid in, totally unnoticed.

I went down the hallway and entered the small office. I reached into my pocket and took out a paper bag filled with itching powder—something that Rico got from a guy who owned a joke shop.

I found the crisply ironed white uniform hanging on the back of the door and sprinkled the shirt and pants generously, especially in the butt region, if you know what I mean.

I went back to the front door and cracked it open to see if the coast was clear. Gianna still had Lorenzo perfectly distracted.

I dashed back behind the statue.

“Mission complete,” I said to the guys.

“Roger that,” AJ said.

Rico looked at us. “FBI? Secret agents?”

“I always wanted to write a story about a secret agent. Now I know how it feels.”

Rico said, “Somehow I think secret agents are in a little more danger.”

“Well,” I said, “I just meant in general.”

We watched as Gianna began to hobble to us with a napkin on her knee.

“Do you want me to bring you back to Amore?” Lorenzo asked her.

“No, thanks. I'll be okay.”

“I'll see you tonight.” He sounded genuinely sweet. “At the Festa.”

She waved and he went inside.

When she was safely behind the statue, I asked, “Are you okay?”

She tossed the napkin in a nearby trash can and flipped her hair. “
Perfetto
.”

She'd faked that fall?

Her skills had improved more than I'd thought.

“What do we do now?” AJ asked.

“Look through the windows and wait for the show,” I said. “Then we complete phase two.”

“There's a phase two?” Gianna asked.

“There's always a phase two,” I assured her.

Lights inside Pizzeria de Roma came on, the hostess arrived, and just a short while later, customers walked in.

Through the windows we saw Lorenzo walk down the hall in his jeans and oxford shirt. A minute later he walked by wearing his white uniform.

“It won't be long now,” I said.

Lorenzo walked to a table and talked to the customers. He rubbed at his collar.

More customers sat, and Lorenzo moved throughout the pizzeria. He began rubbing his shoulders, then his stomach, and finally his butt. And his butt some more.

We all laughed.

“It's perfect!” Rico said.

“Oh, I just don't want it to end,” AJ said.

I looked at them. “Okay. It's time. I'm going back in.”

“Good luck,” they called to me as I scurried in, flew past the hostess, saying, “Sorry, I have to use the restroom,” zipped down the hall and into the office, snatched Lorenzo's clothes off the floor, and ran back out.

I paused to see if the hostess was standing guard at the door, but she wasn't even there. She was in the dining room with her mouth hanging open, watching Lorenzo's spectacle. He wiggled and wriggled and danced from table to table, scratching every part of his body.

I laughed the entire way back to the statue.

AJ and Rico were rolling on the ground. “Itching powder is just so classic,” Rico cried.

“You took his clothes?!” Gianna asked, surprised and maybe even angry.

I nodded while I laughed.

A second later Lorenzo hopped down the hallway toward the office.

“Oh, how I wish we could see what was happening now,” I said.

Another minute later Lorenzo came out wrapped in a tablecloth toga. He got on his Vespa and took off with white flaps of cloth waving behind him like a cape.

Gianna braided my hair for the Festa. It was like a craft for her; she had a knack for it. I wore a supercute dress that I'd been saving for something special.

Gianna studied me in the mirror. “This is weird, but I think you look more grown-up than you did a week ago.”

“Thanks.” I looked at myself. She was right.

“What I want to know,” Gianna said, “is which one do you like?”

“Which what?”

“Which guy? Rico or AJ?”

I hadn't thought about it that way. But I guess I wasn't thinking about
like
liking either of them. They were very different. And both of them were cute and fun to hang around with. “I don't know,” I said.

“I think you like them both.” She twirled a tendril of my hair that fell outside the braid.

“Which one should I like?”

“Isn't that
your
area of expertise? I do braids; you handle the romantic pairing.” She turned to her own hair and began twisting it this way and that, sticking pins here and there.

“Are you totally bummed about Lorenzo?” I asked.

“Yeah, I am. He was really sweet to me,” she said. “I guess some people are good at acting.”

•  •  •

The piazza was decorated with streamers and lights. Each corner had live music of a different kind—violins, a mariachi band, steel drums, and a traditional rock band. Everywhere people danced in the street. It was like they'd never heard live music or danced before, and never would again.

Rico got us four Aranciatas and wedged through the crowd, looking for a place where we could stand. He took my hand and pulled me behind him through the crowd.

Did you hear the part where I said he was holding my hand?

Let me tell you what it was like. His skin was rougher and cool. I liked it—
like
liked it.

Rico and AJ turned out to be good dancers. The three of us clapped and sang in the night air.

I thought about how cool it was that in just a few days I'd made two great new friends. They were new friends, right? I was continually nagged by the thought that I'd met Rico before.

The night was fun, exciting, loud, and totally awesome sauce, except for Gianna. She wasn't joining in with us. When we took a short break to replenish our Aranciatas, I asked her, “What's up with you?”

“I'm feeling like that was pretty mean to do to Lorenzo. He's not even here. He probably can't get out of the shower.”

“If I didn't think that he sabotaged the sauce and stole the notes, I might feel a little bad for him,” I said. “But remember, he's messing with Aunt Maria. With Amore Pizzeria!”

Rico said, “No one messes with Maria.”

AJ, Rico, and I tapped our soda bottles together.

“Yup,” AJ said. “No one.”

Gianna tapped her bottle to ours.

The next morning Aunt Maria took Meataball to get his claws trimmed, and I went to Amore. I was greeted by a handful of notes for the Pizzeria Matchmaker. The sound of Vito pounding chicken with a wooden mallet echoed off the exposed brick walls. The scraping work had been completed, and honestly, the place looked incredible. It was old-world and traditional, yet felt romantic and homey at the same time.