“Oh, no, thank you. I’m meeting Allegra and my mother here.” I turned to the older couple. I pegged them for their midseventies. “I’m not sure if we officially met? I’m Fran.”

We shook hands. “I’m Mary and this is my husband, Ray. We were just at the Trevi Fountain and met a few others from our group there, too. It’s a good day to get in all of our exploring.”

“It’s a good thing we trained for this before we came,” Ray said. “We made sure to hit the gym and walk a few miles per day. I refused to be the one lagging behind.”

“You’ll do better than me,” I confided. “And my mother said the same thing. She began using those Jane Fonda DVDs that had been collecting dust.”

“Oh, those are very in right now,” Mary said seriously. “They call it vintage. Or retro. Makes me laugh that all the old stuff is now popular. My granddaughter saw The Book Club and had the nerve to ask who that cool actress was and was she in any other movies. But she did know about Fifty Shades of Grey.”

Enzo cocked his head. “What’s that?”

Mary and I shared a look and burst into laughter. “A popular book. It was actually very good.”

“Would I like it?” Enzo asked.

Ray reached out and patted his arm. “It’s not for us. But it’s nice to see female writers finally getting the recognition they deserve.”

Mary and Ray shared an intimate look and I choked back a laugh. Another surprise. How long had it been since I saw a longtime married couple actually still in love? Enzo seemed to be thinking the same thing, since he glanced at me with a twinkle in his eye and winked. I studied his face again, fascinated by my reaction to him. His nose was too blunt. His features were craggy and rough, and he was just my height. I had only dated tall men. Maybe I’d been too narrow-minded and shallow. It wasn’t as if I was beautiful either. I was more used to men being attracted to my position of authority than my looks. Now here I was judging my tour guide for not matching the image in my head of the hot Italians with their practiced, sexy moves and dark, handsome faces.

We chatted for a while longer before Mary and Ray declared they were off to a late lunch. “Thank you for helping us out today,” Mary said to Enzo. “I think we would have been overwhelmed alone.”