CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
ZAC
Coming out of the gate and into the airport in Florence, Italy, Zac was a little taken aback. This airport was smaller than he expected. Actually, he didn't know what to expect. He had been in all types of airports, big and small. He guessed that since Charles de Gaulle was so impressive he expected the same out of this one.
Tuscany. Well, Florence, technically, but Florence is in the region that is Tuscany, so either way. He had been to Italy a couple of times--Venice and Rome. But never Tuscany. Aside from just being away from everyday life, he always loved seeing new places so he was excited for this little adventure. He was absolutely stoked for Ireland for more reasons than one.
Zac wanted to rent a car. He thought it might be fun. Mel was dead set against it so now they sat in the back of a mini van cab that would take them to their hotel.
"Why don't we just stay in the house?" Zac had asked Mel.
"Because this isn't Cabo," she answered. "This flight was practically triple the time it took to get to Cabo and I'm exhausted and grimy and I desperately just need to shower and go to bed."
Zac decided he couldn't argue with that logic so they rode in silence as they pulled up to the hotel. According to their bodies, it was near nine in the evening on Sunday. According to Florence, it was nearing four in
the morning on Monday. The sun would be up soon. Had they really traveled over 24 hours? Well counting the three hours in Atlanta and the three extra hours in Paris, he guessed so. He didn't even want to think
about that.
After paying the driver and helping Mel get her luggage out of the cab, they looked up at the hotel for a second. Plaza Hotel Lucchesi. Zac had to hand it to Mel, she traveled in style.
"Isn't this a little much?" Zac asked.
"Trust me, this is one of the more modest hotels," she answered.
When they entered the lobby, it looked like your typical American luxury hotel. Nothing terribly fancy or European about it. Red furniture, red rugs on waxed hardwood floors. Large wooden front desk. "Did we
just walk into The Shining?" he whispered.
"Oh my god, shut UP," she hissed back.
"God, you're so mean."
"Stop being a moron!"
At the front desk, the clerks barely spoke English. Zac was sure check-in would take hours.
"Reservation for Banks," Mel said.
The clerk looked her up in his computer. "Ah. You are late, yes?"
"Um, yes. We had some...unforeseen delays," she answered.
Zac shifted his weight and Mel shot him a Look. He knew what it meant. He vowed silently that he would be on his best behavior. Sometimes he had a short temper if he felt like someone was being unnecessarily
rude. He knew Mel was familiar with this.
"Okay..." the clerk said as he reviewed her reservation on the computer. "So you want two rooms?"
"Yes," Mel answered.
"No," Zac blurted.
Mel whipped her head around at Zac. "What are you doing? I reserved two rooms."
Zac leaned over and murmured, "I'm not leaving you in a room alone in a foreign country."
Mel laughed lightly. "Well I appreciate the sentiment but I promise I'll be fine."
"One room," Zac told the clerk.
"No. Two rooms. They're right next to each other.," Mel argued.
"Actually they are two floors," the clerk corrected her.
"Two different floors?" she clarified.
"Yes."
"One room, two beds," Zac said. "That's it."
The clerk frowned. "I am sorry, we no have two beds."
Zac raised his eyebrows in disbelief. "Come again?"
"You no want to share bed with your wife?"
Beside him, Mel sighed, exasperated. "How come every time I go somewhere with a man people assume we're married?"
Zac shrugged.
"So...you no married?" The clerk asked.
Zac and Mel both shook their heads.
The clerk smiled, apologetically. "I see. Ah, Plaza Lucchesi no have two bed. Ah, people come to Plaza Lucchesi for...romance. Love."
Zac wasn't liking where this was going. "So...this is some kind of honeymoon hotel," he guessed.
The clerk smiled and nodded. "Yes."
Zac slowly cut a look to kill at Mel. "Really."
Mel shrugged. "I reserved two rooms."
"Not to worry," the clerk said. "We have grand bed. Grand king bed. Plenty big."
"I'll just sleep on the floor," Zac said.
"Don't be stupid," Mel responded to him. "He said it was a grand king. We can sleep under separate blankets. It'll be fine. Unless you'd rather go back to the original plan."
Zac could have definitely used the privacy. And he might have considered the original plan had they been neighbors. But he just didn't feel comfortable leaving her alone so far from home. He knew she could
defend herself, but still. Call it chivalry or whatever you wanted, but he wasn't having it on his conscience.
"We'll take it," he said to the clerk. "One room with the big--grand, king...bed..."
The clerk smiled again. "No problem. We have very good room for you. Very grand."
Zac rubbed his hand over his entire face. At this point it would have been "grand" to just sleep on one of these couches in the lobby.
________________________________________________
MEL
Mel woke up wrapped in Taylor's arms. Without opening her eyes, she smiled. He was so warm and cozy. She couldn't have been happier in any other moment. And had he been working out? She wanted to
giggle at the thought. Was he trying to impress her?
Slowly she opened her eyes. Daylight flooded the room. The other end of the bed seemed miles away. Her heart began to pound. Tay murmured something incoherent in his sleep in Mel's ear. His voice--was he sick?
Mel's eyes shot open. The room was unfamiliar. Very elaborately decorated, almost Victorian. She glanced down at the arms wrapped around her shoulders and waist. Those were not--
"OH MY GOD!" Mel practically ripped herself out of Zac's arms and darted across the bed, far away from him.
Zac rolled over on his back and rubbed his eyes sleepily. "What?"
Mel threw a pillow at his face. "Zac, wake up! What the hell were you thinking?"
"What the--thinking? I was fucking sleeping. I was comfortable."
"Well you were awfully comfortable with ME!"
More awake, he raised his head up and looked at the nearly untouched portions of the bed and noticed the ruffled covers in the middle. Still rubbing his eyes and sitting up, he said, "I must have thought you were
Kate."
Mel was flabbergasted. "That's a pretty major mistake to make!"
"Your hair is almost the same damn color, I was exhausted. It was dark, jeez. Yu act like I have some kind of disease or something."
"Zac, you're like my brother!" Mel shuddered.
"I'm too hot to be your brother."
She looked at him in complete confusion. "What does that even MEAN?"
He chuckled and shook his head. "I have no idea. Stop spazzing."
"Imagine waking up, being spooned by Ike or Tay."
Zac curled his lip up in disgust.
"Exactly," Mel said. "Nobody finds out about this."
"Dude, I wasn't even awake."
"I'll be so glad when we get to that house tonight. With separate bedrooms and bathrooms."
"I can't disagree there," he said.
The next two hours consisted of showers, coffee, room service, and packing. Fed and caffeinated, Mel felt human but the jet lag still had her dragging. She checked the time. Two in the afternoon. Her body knew it should be seven hours earlier.
Zac and Mel trudged to the lobby to check out and then waited with their luggage for the car that would pick them up.
When they stepped out of the front doors of the hotel, Mel drew in a small breath. Why hadn't she noticed this last night? They stood on a street and directly across the street was a railing that looked right into the
river that separated them from the old-world looking buildings on the other side. The sky was crisp and blue and the light-colored, red-roofed buildings created a dramatic contrast that was pleasing to the eye.
She couldn't shake the cozy feeling the whole scene gave her. "Why don't I live here?" she asked in awe.
"You said the same thing when we visited New York 12 years ago," Zac said.
"I know..."
"You have a house here. You technically live here."
Zac was right. He was absolutely right. It was more like a vacation home, but nonetheless. She looked over at him. "Don't tempt me."
"Hey, I'm just saying. You don't have to sell."
"I have to sell. I have to get rid of everything Bradshaw."
"But it's not Bradshaw anymore. It's yours."
Mel was stunned at that statement. He had a point. A very valid one. She wondered why Jason couldn't have that kind of logic in Cabo. Then she wouldn't have sold that one...No. That Cabo house had to go. Especially after the things that went on in there the last time she was there.
She narrowed her eyes at Zac in thought. "You raise an interesting point...we'll just have to see the house first."
The ride to the house kept Mel plenty occupied. She must have gotten on Zac's last nerve, constantly pulling at him and pointing. The Tuscany countryside was beautiful, green and lush. She was glad they were moving
away from the city where all the houses seemed to stack one on top of the other. She didn't figure Bernice Bradshaw would vacation in such conditions.
After awhile they finally pulled up to...well she guessed she suspected a small one-story like the one in Cabo but she was kind of surprised by the elegant three-story villa that stood in front of her.
"Um, do you have the right address?" Mel asked the driver.
"Yes, yes, is correct," the driver said in a rushed tone.
Detecting his annoyance, Mel and Zac hurried out of the cab and collected their luggage. Mel paid him and he sped away, leaving them standing in front of this over-sized house. Villa, if you will. The villa was yellow with brick-colored roofing. It stood tall at three stories with a bay window shaped side that extended all the way up the right side of the house. The yard looked like a grid, sectioned off by red brick pathways. Lush trees surrounded the outside of the yard and hedges surrounded the house. Everything was perfectly manicured.
"Who in the hell keeps up with a property like this if nobody's here? Bernice is dead."
"I'm sure she had some kind of arrangement," Zac said. "It's a good question to ask the realtor."
"Among other ones," Mel said.
They walked up the walkway and up to the door, which was covered by a square, stone awning that housed a balcony over top of it for the second floor, reminiscent of her own house in Tulsa. She fished the key out of her purse and unlocked the door, hearing the loud creaking echoing into the foyer.
Immediately they saw white sheets covering everything. Every bit of furniture was covered. "Jesus, how long has it been since someone's been in here?" Zac said.
"You got me," Mel said, looking all around her. The house was beautiful, but the only thing on her mind at the moment was how much work it was going to take to uncover everything, and if she wanted to do it at all.
However...
As if reading her mind, Zac said, "You know you're going to want to look under every single sheet in this house."
Mel sighed. "You know me too well. I think you might be right. Maybe it all stays covered because nobody is here that often."
"It's a shame to let a house like this go to waste."
"Isn't it, though?"
As they walked further into the house, they realized that they had only been in the parlor. The rest of the house was much, much larger than it looked on the outside. The ceilings seemed to run for miles, the windows were large and grand, the ceilings boasted intricate designs and carvings and the fireplaces just as much elaborate. And the staircase...as she walked around the corner, she spied the oversized polished oak staircase with the red carpet wrapping around in stages as it went to the next floor. This house laughed at her Tulsa home. "Bernice Bradshaw," Mel said under her breath. "How on Earth did you end up with this?"
Mel felt as if she'd stepped into another time. If the Vanderbilts were Italian, this would be their life, right here in this house. It was spectacular. She was absolutely in heaven.
Zac's voice interrupted her thoughts. "And you're going to sell this house?"
Mel stepped back into reality and blinked her eyes as if adjusting back to it. "Um...what do you think?"
Zac laughed in disbelief. "You're asking me what I think? What I think is this house has you written all over it."
Mel turned and looked at him. "I think you might be right. But I'm still talking to the realtor tomorrow. I don't even know if this place has running water or electricity."
"They knew you were coming, right?"
"Yes."
"Then surely it's been taken care of." Searching the walls for a switch, Zac found a button and pressed it. Nothing happened. "We should probably find the breaker boxes around here."
"Is the electricity the same in foreign countries as it is back home?" Mel asked.
Zac looked at her as if she were a complete moron. "It's electricity. Pretty sure there's only one way to do it."
"You don't know that."
He raised his eyebrows. "Pretty sure."
He turned to walk off and Mel followed, sticking her tongue out at the back of his head. "I saw that," he said.
That was when Mel passed the mirror he'd seen her through. "Go to hell," she said.
"After you!"
She followed him through the house and out one of the many doors leading outside. When Zac stepped out the door, he immediately stopped, causing Mel to run into his back. "Zac, what the hell?"
He stepped out of the way and Mel's breath caught in her throat. There was no backyard. Not a single blade of grass. Just a stone patio that covered the area where the backyard would have been, with a fountain in the
middle that desperately needed to be cleaned. Beyond the fountain was a railing that separated man from the deathly drop-off below it. And beyond the railing was the view...nothing but rolling hills and blue sky. It was
absolutely gorgeous. "How did we miss this?" she said.
"Couldn't see anything past all those trees," Zac answered.
After another moment of exploration, they managed to rummage around and find the breaker box. Zac found a flashlight on his phone and shined it on the box after opening the small door. It took him a moment to figure out what was going on, but soon he was flipping breakers and closing up the box.
Mel followed Zac back inside and he turned on the first light he could find. "And God said let there be light," Zac said in a grand voice. "And there was light. And it was good."
Mel rolled her eyes and then widened them at him. "Let's go turn on every single light in the house!"
Zac grinned and they took off running. Mel had no idea where this burst of childish energy had come from all of a sudden but she didn't care. She was in Italy. In a gorgeous three story villa with a view to die for, tucked away in a teeny tiny corner of the world. She could do whatever she wanted. It belonged to her.
The rest of the day was spent turning lights back off, uncovering furniture and exploring the house from top to bottom. By the time they were pleased with the way the over-sized villa was starting to look like home, they realized they were both starved. "My stomach is in desperate need for authentic Italian pasta," Zac said. "I think it's time we go see what Tuscany is all about."
An hour later, they walked the streets of Florence, trying to pick the perfect restaurant. They wanted to go to all of them and that made choosing difficult. As they walked, Mel felt like she was in a movie. In a different time, in a different world--as an entirely different person. She looked over at Zac and sighed quietly. She enjoyed his company, but she wished he were Taylor. She never realized how much she missed him until she wasn't near him. It was a little harder to miss him when he was half an hour away than it was being on a completely different continent as him.
Zac caught her looking at him and he smiled. She could see in his eyes that he felt the same way she did. Instinctively he put his arm around her shoulders. "I know," he said. "We're both missing someone. It's hard not to in a place like this. But let's try not to focus on it, okay? Try not to let it bring us down. Let's remember what we came out for tonight. We're going to stuff our faces full of carbed-up pasta, drink ourselves stupid on wine and eat cannolis and tiramisu until we explode. Okay?"
Mel smiled. She was starved, after all. "That sounds like an awesome plan."
"Yeah, I thought it would," he said, playfully hooking his elbow around her neck.
She giggled and said, "Okay, I give up. At this point I don't really give a fuck where we go, I just need to eat."
A couple of hours later, by the time dessert rolled around, Mel and Zac were cackling like high school kids, enjoying their second bottle of wine. "The first one got soaked up by all the pasta," Mel had said. "The second one will get soaked up by cannolis. We'll be fine."
At this time, Mel was howling and saying, "Oh my god, I am sooo glad we're not driving!"
Zac's response was a couple of goofy faces and some sound effects and Mel howled louder. They got looks from a few late night diners in the restaurant but they didn't care. Their entire dinner was spent taking
pictures and video of everything from each other, to the food, to the restaurant and everything else in between. They even took pictures with the waiter.
Once they had had their fill, a cab took them back to the villa. They were lucky to have made it up the stairs, much less into their bedrooms. They laughed all the way up the stairs and even harder at the fact that they
could hear themselves echoing on the staircase. They stopped mid-climb to yell obscenities for their own amusement to hear their voices bounce off the walls and then suddenly their night was over when Zac ran to the bathroom and began to throw up the contents of his stomach. Mel was so glad she could hold her own as well as she could.
Taking some time to make sure Zac was okay, Mel stood in the bathroom with him as he threw up, thankful that his hair was already pulled back because even in her drunkenness she did not want to witness the scene unfolding in the toilet. She fetched him water and toothpaste and put a cold cloth on his head when he'd finally exhausted himself and sat himself on the cold bathroom tile.
"Your turn?" He said, wearily, still trying to crack jokes.
"Um, no," Mel said, shaking her head. "Are you finished?"
He nodded. "I think so."
"We should get you to bed."
"Give me a minute," he said. "Standing sounds a little scary at the moment. The room is still spinning a little."
Finally, Zac allowed Mel to help him to bed and then she went into her own room and climbed in her own bed. The bedrooms were enormous. Much like the rest of the house, this bedroom ate her Tulsa bedroom for lunch.
Mel's bedroom finally stopped spinning as she drifted off to sleep.
______________________________________________
ZAC
Coming out of the gate and into the airport in Florence, Italy, Zac was a little taken aback. This airport was smaller than he expected. Actually, he didn't know what to expect. He had been in all types of airports, big and small. He guessed that since Charles de Gaulle was so impressive he expected the same out of this one.
Tuscany. Well, Florence, technically, but Florence is in the region that is Tuscany, so either way. He had been to Italy a couple of times--Venice and Rome. But never Tuscany. Aside from just being away from everyday life, he always loved seeing new places so he was excited for this little adventure. He was absolutely stoked for Ireland for more reasons than one.
Zac wanted to rent a car. He thought it might be fun. Mel was dead set against it so now they sat in the back of a mini van cab that would take them to their hotel.
"Why don't we just stay in the house?" Zac had asked Mel.
"Because this isn't Cabo," she answered. "This flight was practically triple the time it took to get to Cabo and I'm exhausted and grimy and I desperately just need to shower and go to bed."
Zac decided he couldn't argue with that logic so they rode in silence as they pulled up to the hotel. According to their bodies, it was near nine in the evening on Sunday. According to Florence, it was nearing four in
the morning on Monday. The sun would be up soon. Had they really traveled over 24 hours? Well counting the three hours in Atlanta and the three extra hours in Paris, he guessed so. He didn't even want to think
about that.
After paying the driver and helping Mel get her luggage out of the cab, they looked up at the hotel for a second. Plaza Hotel Lucchesi. Zac had to hand it to Mel, she traveled in style.
"Isn't this a little much?" Zac asked.
"Trust me, this is one of the more modest hotels," she answered.
When they entered the lobby, it looked like your typical American luxury hotel. Nothing terribly fancy or European about it. Red furniture, red rugs on waxed hardwood floors. Large wooden front desk. "Did we
just walk into The Shining?" he whispered.
"Oh my god, shut UP," she hissed back.
"God, you're so mean."
"Stop being a moron!"
At the front desk, the clerks barely spoke English. Zac was sure check-in would take hours.
"Reservation for Banks," Mel said.
The clerk looked her up in his computer. "Ah. You are late, yes?"
"Um, yes. We had some...unforeseen delays," she answered.
Zac shifted his weight and Mel shot him a Look. He knew what it meant. He vowed silently that he would be on his best behavior. Sometimes he had a short temper if he felt like someone was being unnecessarily
rude. He knew Mel was familiar with this.
"Okay..." the clerk said as he reviewed her reservation on the computer. "So you want two rooms?"
"Yes," Mel answered.
"No," Zac blurted.
Mel whipped her head around at Zac. "What are you doing? I reserved two rooms."
Zac leaned over and murmured, "I'm not leaving you in a room alone in a foreign country."
Mel laughed lightly. "Well I appreciate the sentiment but I promise I'll be fine."
"One room," Zac told the clerk.
"No. Two rooms. They're right next to each other.," Mel argued.
"Actually they are two floors," the clerk corrected her.
"Two different floors?" she clarified.
"Yes."
"One room, two beds," Zac said. "That's it."
The clerk frowned. "I am sorry, we no have two beds."
Zac raised his eyebrows in disbelief. "Come again?"
"You no want to share bed with your wife?"
Beside him, Mel sighed, exasperated. "How come every time I go somewhere with a man people assume we're married?"
Zac shrugged.
"So...you no married?" The clerk asked.
Zac and Mel both shook their heads.
The clerk smiled, apologetically. "I see. Ah, Plaza Lucchesi no have two bed. Ah, people come to Plaza Lucchesi for...romance. Love."
Zac wasn't liking where this was going. "So...this is some kind of honeymoon hotel," he guessed.
The clerk smiled and nodded. "Yes."
Zac slowly cut a look to kill at Mel. "Really."
Mel shrugged. "I reserved two rooms."
"Not to worry," the clerk said. "We have grand bed. Grand king bed. Plenty big."
"I'll just sleep on the floor," Zac said.
"Don't be stupid," Mel responded to him. "He said it was a grand king. We can sleep under separate blankets. It'll be fine. Unless you'd rather go back to the original plan."
Zac could have definitely used the privacy. And he might have considered the original plan had they been neighbors. But he just didn't feel comfortable leaving her alone so far from home. He knew she could
defend herself, but still. Call it chivalry or whatever you wanted, but he wasn't having it on his conscience.
"We'll take it," he said to the clerk. "One room with the big--grand, king...bed..."
The clerk smiled again. "No problem. We have very good room for you. Very grand."
Zac rubbed his hand over his entire face. At this point it would have been "grand" to just sleep on one of these couches in the lobby.
________________________________________________
MEL
Mel woke up wrapped in Taylor's arms. Without opening her eyes, she smiled. He was so warm and cozy. She couldn't have been happier in any other moment. And had he been working out? She wanted to
giggle at the thought. Was he trying to impress her?
Slowly she opened her eyes. Daylight flooded the room. The other end of the bed seemed miles away. Her heart began to pound. Tay murmured something incoherent in his sleep in Mel's ear. His voice--was he sick?
Mel's eyes shot open. The room was unfamiliar. Very elaborately decorated, almost Victorian. She glanced down at the arms wrapped around her shoulders and waist. Those were not--
"OH MY GOD!" Mel practically ripped herself out of Zac's arms and darted across the bed, far away from him.
Zac rolled over on his back and rubbed his eyes sleepily. "What?"
Mel threw a pillow at his face. "Zac, wake up! What the hell were you thinking?"
"What the--thinking? I was fucking sleeping. I was comfortable."
"Well you were awfully comfortable with ME!"
More awake, he raised his head up and looked at the nearly untouched portions of the bed and noticed the ruffled covers in the middle. Still rubbing his eyes and sitting up, he said, "I must have thought you were
Kate."
Mel was flabbergasted. "That's a pretty major mistake to make!"
"Your hair is almost the same damn color, I was exhausted. It was dark, jeez. Yu act like I have some kind of disease or something."
"Zac, you're like my brother!" Mel shuddered.
"I'm too hot to be your brother."
She looked at him in complete confusion. "What does that even MEAN?"
He chuckled and shook his head. "I have no idea. Stop spazzing."
"Imagine waking up, being spooned by Ike or Tay."
Zac curled his lip up in disgust.
"Exactly," Mel said. "Nobody finds out about this."
"Dude, I wasn't even awake."
"I'll be so glad when we get to that house tonight. With separate bedrooms and bathrooms."
"I can't disagree there," he said.
The next two hours consisted of showers, coffee, room service, and packing. Fed and caffeinated, Mel felt human but the jet lag still had her dragging. She checked the time. Two in the afternoon. Her body knew it should be seven hours earlier.
Zac and Mel trudged to the lobby to check out and then waited with their luggage for the car that would pick them up.
When they stepped out of the front doors of the hotel, Mel drew in a small breath. Why hadn't she noticed this last night? They stood on a street and directly across the street was a railing that looked right into the
river that separated them from the old-world looking buildings on the other side. The sky was crisp and blue and the light-colored, red-roofed buildings created a dramatic contrast that was pleasing to the eye.
She couldn't shake the cozy feeling the whole scene gave her. "Why don't I live here?" she asked in awe.
"You said the same thing when we visited New York 12 years ago," Zac said.
"I know..."
"You have a house here. You technically live here."
Zac was right. He was absolutely right. It was more like a vacation home, but nonetheless. She looked over at him. "Don't tempt me."
"Hey, I'm just saying. You don't have to sell."
"I have to sell. I have to get rid of everything Bradshaw."
"But it's not Bradshaw anymore. It's yours."
Mel was stunned at that statement. He had a point. A very valid one. She wondered why Jason couldn't have that kind of logic in Cabo. Then she wouldn't have sold that one...No. That Cabo house had to go. Especially after the things that went on in there the last time she was there.
She narrowed her eyes at Zac in thought. "You raise an interesting point...we'll just have to see the house first."
The ride to the house kept Mel plenty occupied. She must have gotten on Zac's last nerve, constantly pulling at him and pointing. The Tuscany countryside was beautiful, green and lush. She was glad they were moving
away from the city where all the houses seemed to stack one on top of the other. She didn't figure Bernice Bradshaw would vacation in such conditions.
After awhile they finally pulled up to...well she guessed she suspected a small one-story like the one in Cabo but she was kind of surprised by the elegant three-story villa that stood in front of her.
"Um, do you have the right address?" Mel asked the driver.
"Yes, yes, is correct," the driver said in a rushed tone.
Detecting his annoyance, Mel and Zac hurried out of the cab and collected their luggage. Mel paid him and he sped away, leaving them standing in front of this over-sized house. Villa, if you will. The villa was yellow with brick-colored roofing. It stood tall at three stories with a bay window shaped side that extended all the way up the right side of the house. The yard looked like a grid, sectioned off by red brick pathways. Lush trees surrounded the outside of the yard and hedges surrounded the house. Everything was perfectly manicured.
"Who in the hell keeps up with a property like this if nobody's here? Bernice is dead."
"I'm sure she had some kind of arrangement," Zac said. "It's a good question to ask the realtor."
"Among other ones," Mel said.
They walked up the walkway and up to the door, which was covered by a square, stone awning that housed a balcony over top of it for the second floor, reminiscent of her own house in Tulsa. She fished the key out of her purse and unlocked the door, hearing the loud creaking echoing into the foyer.
Immediately they saw white sheets covering everything. Every bit of furniture was covered. "Jesus, how long has it been since someone's been in here?" Zac said.
"You got me," Mel said, looking all around her. The house was beautiful, but the only thing on her mind at the moment was how much work it was going to take to uncover everything, and if she wanted to do it at all.
However...
As if reading her mind, Zac said, "You know you're going to want to look under every single sheet in this house."
Mel sighed. "You know me too well. I think you might be right. Maybe it all stays covered because nobody is here that often."
"It's a shame to let a house like this go to waste."
"Isn't it, though?"
As they walked further into the house, they realized that they had only been in the parlor. The rest of the house was much, much larger than it looked on the outside. The ceilings seemed to run for miles, the windows were large and grand, the ceilings boasted intricate designs and carvings and the fireplaces just as much elaborate. And the staircase...as she walked around the corner, she spied the oversized polished oak staircase with the red carpet wrapping around in stages as it went to the next floor. This house laughed at her Tulsa home. "Bernice Bradshaw," Mel said under her breath. "How on Earth did you end up with this?"
Mel felt as if she'd stepped into another time. If the Vanderbilts were Italian, this would be their life, right here in this house. It was spectacular. She was absolutely in heaven.
Zac's voice interrupted her thoughts. "And you're going to sell this house?"
Mel stepped back into reality and blinked her eyes as if adjusting back to it. "Um...what do you think?"
Zac laughed in disbelief. "You're asking me what I think? What I think is this house has you written all over it."
Mel turned and looked at him. "I think you might be right. But I'm still talking to the realtor tomorrow. I don't even know if this place has running water or electricity."
"They knew you were coming, right?"
"Yes."
"Then surely it's been taken care of." Searching the walls for a switch, Zac found a button and pressed it. Nothing happened. "We should probably find the breaker boxes around here."
"Is the electricity the same in foreign countries as it is back home?" Mel asked.
Zac looked at her as if she were a complete moron. "It's electricity. Pretty sure there's only one way to do it."
"You don't know that."
He raised his eyebrows. "Pretty sure."
He turned to walk off and Mel followed, sticking her tongue out at the back of his head. "I saw that," he said.
That was when Mel passed the mirror he'd seen her through. "Go to hell," she said.
"After you!"
She followed him through the house and out one of the many doors leading outside. When Zac stepped out the door, he immediately stopped, causing Mel to run into his back. "Zac, what the hell?"
He stepped out of the way and Mel's breath caught in her throat. There was no backyard. Not a single blade of grass. Just a stone patio that covered the area where the backyard would have been, with a fountain in the
middle that desperately needed to be cleaned. Beyond the fountain was a railing that separated man from the deathly drop-off below it. And beyond the railing was the view...nothing but rolling hills and blue sky. It was
absolutely gorgeous. "How did we miss this?" she said.
"Couldn't see anything past all those trees," Zac answered.
After another moment of exploration, they managed to rummage around and find the breaker box. Zac found a flashlight on his phone and shined it on the box after opening the small door. It took him a moment to figure out what was going on, but soon he was flipping breakers and closing up the box.
Mel followed Zac back inside and he turned on the first light he could find. "And God said let there be light," Zac said in a grand voice. "And there was light. And it was good."
Mel rolled her eyes and then widened them at him. "Let's go turn on every single light in the house!"
Zac grinned and they took off running. Mel had no idea where this burst of childish energy had come from all of a sudden but she didn't care. She was in Italy. In a gorgeous three story villa with a view to die for, tucked away in a teeny tiny corner of the world. She could do whatever she wanted. It belonged to her.
The rest of the day was spent turning lights back off, uncovering furniture and exploring the house from top to bottom. By the time they were pleased with the way the over-sized villa was starting to look like home, they realized they were both starved. "My stomach is in desperate need for authentic Italian pasta," Zac said. "I think it's time we go see what Tuscany is all about."
An hour later, they walked the streets of Florence, trying to pick the perfect restaurant. They wanted to go to all of them and that made choosing difficult. As they walked, Mel felt like she was in a movie. In a different time, in a different world--as an entirely different person. She looked over at Zac and sighed quietly. She enjoyed his company, but she wished he were Taylor. She never realized how much she missed him until she wasn't near him. It was a little harder to miss him when he was half an hour away than it was being on a completely different continent as him.
Zac caught her looking at him and he smiled. She could see in his eyes that he felt the same way she did. Instinctively he put his arm around her shoulders. "I know," he said. "We're both missing someone. It's hard not to in a place like this. But let's try not to focus on it, okay? Try not to let it bring us down. Let's remember what we came out for tonight. We're going to stuff our faces full of carbed-up pasta, drink ourselves stupid on wine and eat cannolis and tiramisu until we explode. Okay?"
Mel smiled. She was starved, after all. "That sounds like an awesome plan."
"Yeah, I thought it would," he said, playfully hooking his elbow around her neck.
She giggled and said, "Okay, I give up. At this point I don't really give a fuck where we go, I just need to eat."
A couple of hours later, by the time dessert rolled around, Mel and Zac were cackling like high school kids, enjoying their second bottle of wine. "The first one got soaked up by all the pasta," Mel had said. "The second one will get soaked up by cannolis. We'll be fine."
At this time, Mel was howling and saying, "Oh my god, I am sooo glad we're not driving!"
Zac's response was a couple of goofy faces and some sound effects and Mel howled louder. They got looks from a few late night diners in the restaurant but they didn't care. Their entire dinner was spent taking
pictures and video of everything from each other, to the food, to the restaurant and everything else in between. They even took pictures with the waiter.
Once they had had their fill, a cab took them back to the villa. They were lucky to have made it up the stairs, much less into their bedrooms. They laughed all the way up the stairs and even harder at the fact that they
could hear themselves echoing on the staircase. They stopped mid-climb to yell obscenities for their own amusement to hear their voices bounce off the walls and then suddenly their night was over when Zac ran to the bathroom and began to throw up the contents of his stomach. Mel was so glad she could hold her own as well as she could.
Taking some time to make sure Zac was okay, Mel stood in the bathroom with him as he threw up, thankful that his hair was already pulled back because even in her drunkenness she did not want to witness the scene unfolding in the toilet. She fetched him water and toothpaste and put a cold cloth on his head when he'd finally exhausted himself and sat himself on the cold bathroom tile.
"Your turn?" He said, wearily, still trying to crack jokes.
"Um, no," Mel said, shaking her head. "Are you finished?"
He nodded. "I think so."
"We should get you to bed."
"Give me a minute," he said. "Standing sounds a little scary at the moment. The room is still spinning a little."
Finally, Zac allowed Mel to help him to bed and then she went into her own room and climbed in her own bed. The bedrooms were enormous. Much like the rest of the house, this bedroom ate her Tulsa bedroom for lunch.
Mel's bedroom finally stopped spinning as she drifted off to sleep.
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