“I felt so at ease when I went up to her, like I’d known her my whole life,” said Carter, full of wonder. “And I could tell that she felt the same way, too. The way she smiled and told me her name after I introduced myself. The way she looked at me and touched my cheek on the spot where I had gotten kicked in the face. The way she laughed because I didn’t seem to care about it. And when she talked, her voice, it was like she was singing.You know?”

“I suppose,” said Rosa.

“Anyway,” Carter went on, “I could tell from her accent that she was a foreigner, so I asked her, and she told me she was from Italy. She was an exchange student at Salve Regina.”

“Hence your newfound fascination with Italian culture,” the professor noted. “What happened next?”

“We ended up walking a little ways up the side of the hill next to the field,” said Carter. “We sat down together to watch some of the other matches and just started talking. Actually, she did most of the talking, which was fine with me because I was happy just listening to her—even if her English was a little shaky.”

“What did you talk about?”

“The weather,” shrugged Carter. “Small talk. Then she asked about the rugby matches, so I tried to explain to her what was going on down on the field. After a while she started telling me about Italy, and how nice it was this time of year where she lived, and how I should come and visit it someday.”

“And where would that be?”

“A town called Roccasale,” the young man replied.

“Roccasale?” said the professor, suddenly turning to the young man, an eyebrow arched in curiosity.

“She said it’s a little town not far from someplace called Pescara, wherever that is,” said Carter. “Have you ever heard of it?”

Rosa stood there for a moment, rubbing his chin as he considered the question.

“Yes,” he said thoughtfully after a time. “I have heard of it.Very interesting.” Then, resuming his former impassive expression, he asked, “So, how long did this blissful interlude go on?”

“Not long,” said Carter miserably.“Our next match was about to start, so I had to leave her to go warm up with my teammates. Before I went back to the field, I told her it would be nice to see her after the match. She said she thought it would be nice, too, but friends were coming to pick her up because she had to get back to her dorm to get packed.Turns out she was flying home to Italy the very next day.”

“Ah,” sighed Rosa. “And so . . . ?”