With the finished tiramisu in the refrigerator, I join Leo who is perched back up at the breakfast bar as Maria slides over an afternoon snack. A large platter containing salami, prosciutto, olives, sun-dried tomatoes, bread and oil, and cheeses is front and center. Little Leo looks like he hasn’t eaten for days as I watch him devour olive after olive like they will disappear at any moment. I scrunch my nose, not having acquired the taste for them myself.

Glancing back at the platter, I look over the food, which is all very Mediterranean and nothing like I have eaten before. In fact, the amount of food in this house is astounding. I have never eaten this well in my entire life. Back in Oklahoma, our dollars didn't stretch far. I was lucky that the manager of the diner let me take whatever was left over from the day. Sometimes I would save up my tips so I could rummage up some biscuits and gravy. But my meals at home were nothing like this.

“You know I have no idea what half of these things are, but let’s see if I can stomach them,” I say to Leo, who looks at me with his eyebrows raised.

“No, I haven’t eaten any of this before. I remember I tried olives once and I vomited, so here goes…” I say as I pinch my nose and quickly shove an olive into my mouth.

I hear a snort and realize that Leo is laughing at me, and that snort is the first sound from his mouth I have heard since I arrived. Although I am startled, I remain calm and decide to play along and see if I can get a full-blown laugh from him.

“Okay, I think I survived, but what is that?!” I ask in disgust as I point to a sundried tomato. It is the one thing on the platter that I have eaten before and didn’t actually mind, but he doesn’t know that.

“Eat! Eat!” Maria waves the kitchen cloth at me as she coos in her thick Italian accent, pushing the plate toward me. I swear I am going to put on weight while staying here. Already my jeans are feeling more snug than normal.

I grab a tomato and put it in my mouth, scrunching my nose up like it is the most disgusting thing I have ever tasted. “OMG, who eats this stuff?” I exaggerate, and I hear a giggle. It is small, but it is there, and so I join him and have a good laugh at myself.

Maria stands in shock at the sound coming from Leo, just as my eyes flick to a shadow behind me.