Chapter 5
Vernazza unfolded like a miracle.
The train shot in and out of tunnels. The Mediterranean flashed into being and disappeared again like a strobe light. Inside, the car echoed with rattles, metallic wheezes, and dozens of conversations. Most were Italian, adding layers upon Cinque Terre layers. But there was a cosmopolitan air that somehow even San Francisco and Boston lacked. German ground past French and wound around something that she guessed was middle European. For a few, the ride was mundane; for most, it was adventure.
It wasn’t rebirth. She definitely wasn’t there. The Fairy Godmother’s wand-bop on the nose was still totally MIA. But there was a…lightness. Yes, a lightness that hadn’t been with her in a long time. Perhaps even lighter than when she’d believed herself sa
