Kate had spent the rest of the week much the same as her first day. Breakfasts consisting of delicious crusty bread, creamy butter and salty-sweet prosciutto. Long days wandering down quiet laneways and cobblestone streets, most of which were always full of tourists or regular people just going about their days.
Kate was beginning to immerse herself in this wonderful culture. Their lives were so laid back and the people were actually content, not constantly searching for the next best thing. They worked purely to live and seemingly, they lived to eat. It was definitely not the mantra she, nor anyone else she knew for that matter, had lived by back home.
Kate had found herself a quiet little restaurant, nearby the hotel, where she had been having her dinner most nights. Tonight she ordered pasta carbonara. It was rich yet simple, made with egg yolk and pancetta, just the way her father liked it. Kate preferred the creamy carbonara made by the Italian restaurants back home and wasn’t really a fan of the somewhat dry authentic version, but for some reason, this was helping to ease the little bit of homesickness that had been slowly creeping up on her.
With all the walking she was doing, Kate was allowing herself a few extra carb-loaded treats. Okay, she was really living on a diet of pastries, bread and pasta, but she didn’t care. She was truly happy, and for the longest time, Kate had forgotten what that felt like.
Her life with Ryan had begun rather abruptly, she wasn’t ready for such a serious relationship at the time, but he was persistent. Somehow Ryan managed to convince Kate that he was perfect for her and falling for his charms, Kate allowed him to redirect her life. Taking over from her father at the firm was never her intention. In fact, Kate’s idea of practising law was representing people who truly needed her help. People without a six-figure salary or large bank balance. People who were being displaced and wrongfully evicted from their homes or terminated from their jobs. She wanted to actually help real people, who genuinely needed it. Tony was always happy for Kate to take on new clients, along with the firm's ever-growing list of corporate clientele, but deep down she knew that it would never be enough. Kate had allowed Ryan to get into her head and convince her otherwise. There she was, stuck doing a job she never wanted to do and almost marrying the man who had convinced her to do it.
Kate was enjoying her dinner and thinking about how incredibly lucky she was to even be here. She wondered how her sister was managing back home with their mother, Kate would have done anything just to be a fly on the wall the day they returned. She even wondered if Elise and Ryan were still together, but there were more important things to think about right now. One in particular that Kate had been putting off since the day she arrived. She pulled a small piece of crumpled paper out of her pocket and smoothed it out.
The conversation, or more accurately the lack of conversation between her and the attendant at the airport was still bothering Kate and she knew she had to do something about it. She felt every single drop of blood in her body rush to her cheeks, anytime someone approached her. Even if it was just to say hello or to take her order, more so when she had to ask someone for directions, which had happened a number of times already. On top of all this, the app she had been using to translate pretty much everything just wasn’t cutting it anymore, especially last night when it failed to tell her just what the hell pajata arrosto actually was.
Kate was convinced it was some kind of risotto dish so she ordered it anyway. When the plate was placed in front of her, she reluctantly picked up a a few pieces with her fork and examined them closely, it looked nothing like risotto, not even close. Kate asked the waiter if it was in fact what she had ordered and he nodded confidently. Not sure she actually wanted to know, but also not willing to test her limits, she decided to ask him, just to be safe.
"Sorry, what is this exactly?" Kate was always starting all her sentences with sorry these days, feeling she needed to apologise in advance for her ignorance. She pointed to the strange-looking piece of food on her fork, it was a tube of some kind, filled with a white curd-like substance. Could it be some kind of pasta? But it was too dense to be pasta, she thought, answering her own question.
“Intestino di vitello,” the waiter answered, interrupting her thoughts and smiling. Seemingly proud of the dish he had just placed in front of her.
Kate definitely didn’t need an app to tell her what that was. Her usual olive complexion had quickly taken on a pale green hue, much like that of the gelato she had enjoyed earlier in the week. The waiter’s smile vanished, the nauseated look on Kate’s face was more than enough for him. He immediately took away her fork, piled high with some kind of animal intestines, and removed the plate from underneath her nose. The waiter took them back to the kitchen and returned less than 10 minutes later with a simple spaghetti bolognese.
She thanked him, though still recovering from the queasiness in her stomach, and slowly began to eat. It was delicious, as everything else here tended to be. Part of her knew the pajata arrosto would have been just as delicious. Maybe she should have just been a little more adventurous? Maybe she should learn some freaking Italian so she doesn't continue to make stupid mistakes like this.
As Kate's thoughts tracked back to the piece of paper in front of her, she noticed she had long since finished eating her pasta. Kate had been sitting there running the fork she had in her hand through an empty plate. As she got up to pay for her meal, she made a quick mental note to call Nina on her way back to the hotel. Kate had been getting so lost in her thoughts the last few nights that she hadn’t actually called to check in at the office all week.
It was too late now, but tomorrow morning, Kate would call the number on the piece of paper she had ripped off the hotel notice board.