Bare feet on the carpet, she picked her clothes off the floor and folded them onto a chair. Then did the same with Luke’s, a moment to check his jeans, then shirt. In the outer pockets of his leather jacket, she found his sunglasses and an old-fashioned-looking tin of tobacco. A surprise—she had never seen him smoke. In his wallet, a driver’s license, credit card, Metro card, twenty-seven American dollars, thirty-two euros. She closed the wallet and slipped it back into his jacket, the whole time watching him, making sure he was asleep.

She noted his short black boots, one near the front door, the other upside down a few feet away. She was arranging them neatly at the edge of the bed when she spotted his backpack under it. A moment to slip it out, another moment to make sure Luke had not awakened. Backpack under her arm, she tiptoed to the bathroom and shut the door behind her.

Inside the backpack, a laptop and notepad. Crumpled between them, a slightly yellowed paper, which she eased out and unfolded.

Cool light filtered in through the window, just enough for her to read the handwritten page, her Italian rusty but good enough, the whole time her heart beating fast.

48

Alex was already out of bed, the sheet wrapped around her. “Checkout time is noon,” she said. “Get up. You don’t want to get charged for another day.”

She headed for the shower, and I told her to hold on, that I’d join her.

Jets of hot water pounded against her forehead while I kneaded her neck. A hangover from that “damn grappa.” She shampooed her hair, and I helped her rinse the suds. I could have stayed in the shower all day, but she was out quickly, toweling off, telling me not to look at her, that she must look awful, which wasn’t true. With her hair wet and face clean of makeup, she looked eighteen and beautiful.

I leaned in to kiss her, and she handed me a towel, told me to cover up. I watched her drag a comb through her hair, dab her lips with gloss, tug on rumpled clothes, all in a hurry. I kept trying to stop her, slow her down or bring her back to bed, but every time I tried, she’d push me away. “Don’t you need to get to the library, more of your secret mission?” she said, flashing her first smile of the day, a mischievous one.

“Oh sure, top secret stuff.” I tried pulling her close for a kiss, and when she stopped me, I asked if she was sorry this had happened.

A moment of uncomfortable silence, Alex drawing her still-wet hair into a ponytail. “No,” she finally said, “it was just…unexpected. I need to get…used to it.”

“How about getting used to it tonight?”

Another hesitation, then looking away, she said, “Okay.”

I took hold of her shoulders and turned her to face me. “You sure you’re all right?”