Antonella replied with a roll of her eyes and a shake of her head.

Giorgio sat there for a moment, quietly contemplating the watch before tucking it back in its pouch.

“Well, then,” he said amiably, reaching out to pat Carter on the shoulder, “what can I say, after you’ve come all this way to bring it to me? Tu sei un bravo ragazzo.You’re a good boy. Mille grazie!”

Then Giorgio turned to Antonella and said something to her, of which Carter could not understand a single word. When she replied in kind, he realized that they were speaking in dialect to one another. It seemed to Carter that they were talking about him, but he could not be sure. Whatever the case, he had delivered the watch. Now it was time for him to move on, and so he began to get to his feet.

“Ma dove vai?” said Giorgio abruptly at seeing him stand. “Where are you going?”

Carter was taken aback and did not know what to say.

“Um, I just thought it was time for me to go,” he offered meekly. “You know, to find a hotel for the night.”

“A hotel?” Giorgio laughed aloud, throwing his hands up in the air, as if this was the most preposterous thing he had ever heard. “In Castelalto?”

Carter stood there stupidly, quite confused as to what he should do.

“Aspetta, Carter,” Giorgio reassured him once he had composed himself. “Calmati. Relax. Now tell me, are you planning to go back to America tonight?”

“No,” said Carter.

“Tomorrow?”

“Well, no, not exactly,” he admitted.

In truth, Carter had originally planned to stay in Italy at least another week. After his debacle of the previous evening—he was not at all anxious to discuss this—he was more than ready to go home a few days early. It was simply a matter of returning to Rome as soon as possible and exchanging his airline ticket.

“Bene!” exclaimed Giorgio with a big grin, before Carter could try to explain. “Then there is no hurry.”

With that, Giorgio slapped his hand down on the table, and stood.

“Venga,” he said, taking Carter by the arm and directing him toward the door. “Come. Let’s take a little walk.”

“Grazie, Signora,” Carter said over his shoulder to Antonella, who simply nodded in reply as she watched the two men leave.