Read Online Margherita's Notebook by Elisabetta Flumeri, Gabriella Giacometti - Free Book Online

Rome . . .”
    â€œCan’t Italo mind his business for once?” she said curtly.
    Matteo stopped short, still holding the forks and knives. “So, it’s true.” It wasn’t a question, it was a statement. “Francesco didn’t come with you.”
    â€œFrancesco jerk cheater!” Valastro screeched.
    Margherita rolled her eyes and sighed in resignation. “Hasn’t anyone ever heard of privacy around here?”
    â€œPrivacy in Roccafitta? You must be kidding?” There was an expression of disgust on Armando’s face. “Even I’ve never been able to avoid Italo’s radar.”
    â€œTo be honest, it seems to me that the real informer here comes from the city,” Matteo replied, nodding toward Valastro who, from his perch, let out an earshattering whistle.
    Margherita looked at the mynah, then at Matteo, and her face was overcome with an indecipherable expression somewhere between laughter and dismay. In the end she chose to smile.
    Matteo smiled, too, rather relieved. Then, as Margherita gently turned the fish-and-vegetable rolls in the pan, he started in again.
    â€œSo are you going to tell me what happened?”
    Margherita looked him straight in the eye, though her hands didn’t stop moving over the stove.
    â€œDo you really want to know?”
    He wrapped an arm around her shoulders tenderly. “Am I or am I not your best friend?”
    She turned off the heat, and as she served cream of broad beans and radicchio, ricotta fritters, and fusilli with black cabbage, all the dishes she’d made to accompany the fish rolls, she started to explain. “All right, then, you win. This is how it went. Did I tell you about the debt collection call center where I started working at the beginning of the year?”
    â€œYes, of course you did, and I didn’t think it was the right job for you.”
    â€œYou’re right, it wasn’t,” Margherita said. “After just two months’ time, first I was outsourced—”
    â€œWhat does that mean?” Armando broke in.
    â€œIt means, Dad, that they send you to one of their branches, they give you what’s called a co.co.co.”
    â€œA coco what ?”
    â€œA contract for coordinated and continuing collaboration,” Matteo explained.
    â€œYes,but now they call it a co.co.pro, which means contract for doing project work—”
    â€œFine,” Armando interrupted with frustration in his voice, “I get it. Actually, I don’t get it at all, but let’s leave all the acronyms to the birds!”
    â€œWhat it means is that they can fire you whenever they choose to, and my boss obviously couldn’t wait . . . he couldn’t stand me. So I ended up jobless. I tried everything, but because of the recession I was getting nowhere. Then Francesco asked his boss if he could give me a hand, so I was interviewed for a job as promoter.”
    It was obvious from the expression on his face that Armando was getting more and more confused. Margherita explained, “A promoter is someone who promotes a product in supermarkets.”
    â€œWell, it beats debt collection,” Matteo remarked.
    â€œToo bad they didn’t even give me a chance to try it, and you know why? Just because I wanted know more about the mozzarella I was supposed to promote!”
    Matteo looked at her in disbelief. “So what does this have to do with your coming here?”
    â€œFrancesco got mad at me because his boss had gotten me the interview, and because we needed the money. He accused me of being incapable of holding down a job. Then we got the eviction notice, and right after that Meg showed up—”
    â€œWho’s Meg?” Matteo asked, even more confused.
    â€œMeg is Francesco’s English teacher.”
    Matteo raised his arms in the air. “I give up!”
    â€œI mean, I thought she was his English teacher,”