Read Online Italian for Beginners by Kristin Harmel - Free Book Online Page B

him. Did he check his e-mail at home, too? Maybe he had read the e-mail at work and was at war with his own emotions
     about how to respond.
    “You look deep in thought.” Kris popped her head up over my cubicle wall with a grin.
    I cleared my throat. “No. Just busy with some e-mails,” I said innocently.
    “On your AOL page?” she asked with a smile, nodding at my screen.
    I reddened, which was evidently all the answer she needed.
    “So who are you waiting for an e-mail from?”
    I glanced nervously at the screen. “No one,” I said quickly.
    She raised an eyebrow. “No one?” she repeated. “Interesting, considering you’ve checked your e-mail, like, a hundred times
     today, and you seem to be breaking out in a cold sweat.”
    I could feel the blood rise to my cheeks.
    “And now you’re blushing,” she continued smoothly, “which pretty much confirms my suspicion that it’s a guy. I’m hoping it’s
     not the married restaurant dude.”
    I shook my head. “Definitely not.”
    She was silent, staring me down. “Then who?” she finally asked. “You have
another
new guy?”
    “Well,” I said. “He’s not exactly new.…”
    Just then, my computer made a little clicking noise, alerting me to a new message. My breath caught in my throat as I turned
     to look and saw the familiar e-mail address I’d been waiting to hear from all day: Francesco [email protected] .
    Francesco had written back.
    Ignoring Kris, I turned quickly to my computer and clicked on the message. My heart was pounding. In a second, the e-mail
     popped up on the screen. I read it hungrily.
    Bella!
    Greetings from Italia! I think to you still. You are written in my memory. Please, you must come back to Italia to see me.
     My heart longs for you.
    Love and kisses,
    Francesco
    I read and reread the e-mail breathlessly. I could hardly believe that he had written me back, but to tell me I was written
     in his memory? That his heart longed for me? I felt a little woozy.
    “Who’s this Francesco?” Kris cut into my thoughts, sounding amused. She had come up behind me and was reading over my shoulder.
    “No one,” I mumbled, hastily closing the message and blinking a few times to steady myself.
    “No one?” she repeated. “Come on, Cat.”
    And so, after a brief pause, I told her the whole story, beginning with the day I first saw him at a nightclub in Rome and
     ending with my eventual e-mail to him last night. When I finished, she was staring at me with her jaw hanging open.
    “How come you’ve never mentioned him before?” she asked.
    I shrugged. “I don’t know. He was in the past, you know?”
    “Well, he’s not in the past anymore,” Kris said. “So?” She paused and looked at me closely. “What are you going to do?”
    “Do?” I asked.
    She rolled her eyes. “The man of your dreams, apparently, has just invited you to Italy. Don’t tell me you’re not going to
     go.”
    My face turned even hotter. “I can’t go to Italy!”
    “Why not?”
    I didn’t have a good answer for that. “I d-d-don’t know,” I stammered finally. “I mean, it’s just impractical. I can’t afford
     it. I have work to do.”
    “You haven’t taken a vacation day in years!” she said. “You could probably vanish for a month with all the time you have saved
     up.”
    I cleared my throat. “Nine weeks, actually,” I said.
    Kris widened her eyes. “Seriously, girl? What are you waiting for?”
    I shrugged uncomfortably. “What if my dad needs something? Or maybe Becky will need some help getting settled in the new apartment
     she and Jay are moving to. Or what if one of my clients needs me?”
    “Cat,” Kris said slowly, as if talking to someone whose comprehension skills were delayed. “You have a hot man in Italy who
     wants you to come visit him. Isn’t it time you put yourself first for once in your life?”
    “But I—” I began to say. Kris cut me off.
    “Seriously, Cat,” she said. She sounded stern now.