Thinking back, Giancarlo himself was not sure if he had truly understood her meaning. There was, however, one thing of which he was quite certain: He had cooked far too much capellini for one person. Looking at it all, he realized that there was more than enough in the pan for two. He would only end up throwing most of it away—and that was the pity of it.

CHAPTER 30

CHAPTER 30

Carter had just stowed his bag and settled into his seat when the train gave a lurch and slowly began to pull out of Rome’s Termini Station. He had never before traveled by train, and he was intrigued to see how well he liked this new experience. Turning to the window, he gazed out at the double lines of track that seemed to crisscross haphazardly before branching off in all directions. Closing his eyes for a few moments, he listened to the ringing of the train bell and the metallic scraping of the wheels beneath the car as it changed from one track to another. Before long the train had cleared the station and was clattering along down the rails. As it accelerated, the wheels beneath the car made a rhythmic clack-claclack-claclack sound, which Carter found somehow soothing. Unlike with air travel, when every bump caused his heart to skip a beat, he was unperturbed by the movement of the carriage, which rocked gently back and forth like a cradle. It was so different, so less stressful than flying, he reflected, and before he had gone five kilometers from Rome, Carter had already fallen in love with train travel.

Like all things of human invention, of course, this one was not perfect. It was midmorning, and as far as he could see, the second-class car in which he sat was filled to capacity, save for the seat directly opposite him. Indeed, after boarding the train, Carter had been forced to lug his duffel bag through three cars, squeezing through the aisles past other passengers searching in the opposite direction, before he had found an open seat. It had been warm and a bit stuffy inside the train, and by the time he sat down, the back of his neck was damp with sweat. All the same, Carter had felt no reason to complain. After all, buying his ticket and stepping onto the train had been such a simple, straightforward exercise next to the gauntlet one was required to run before boarding a commercial airliner. It had, by comparison, almost been a pleasure.