By the end of August, Libby and Luca had been seeing each other for over six weeks. They had finally slept together, and Libby had been overwhelmed at the strength of her feelings for him when it happened. Making him wait had certainly paid off; he had driven her wild with lust. She had felt like a goddess being worshipped, and since then barely a night had gone past when they hadn’t made love. They had also established a great friendship. He had helped her discover more and more hidden treasures in the local area, and they never seemed to run out of conversation, both enjoying finding out more and more about each other and their very different lives to date.
On one of their double days off Luca told her that he had planned a surprise. ‘You need to pack a small bag with enough clothes for two nights,’ he said.
‘Where are we going?’ Libby asked. ‘How exciting!’
‘I’m not telling you!’ he laughed. He clearly enjoyed keeping her in suspense and refused to say a word.
They drove along the coast towards Ravello, turning up into the hills and following a winding road that led away from the sea. She couldn’t imagine what he had planned.
‘No one has ever taken me away on a surprise like this before,’ said Libby. ‘It’s so fun not knowing where we are going.’
After about twenty-five minutes, they pulled into the driveway of a luxury five-star hotel.
‘No!’ gasped Libby. ‘We aren’t staying here?’ She looked at Luca, who was grinning at her and nodding his head.
‘We are. I’ve booked us into a suite for two nights!’
‘Oh my god, this place is ridiculous!’ Libby squealed with delight as she leapt out of the car and ran over to the side of the car park to look at the view. It was even more magnificent than the view from Ravello.
‘It is run by my cousin. They had a last-minute cancellation, so he’s given it to me as a very special favour. Just wait till you see the pool!’ laughed Luca. He took her hand and led her down a series of steps, past the reception and out to the swimming pool. It was an infinity pool that seemed to topple off the edge of the cliff, with a truly breathtaking panorama of the Amalfi coastline down below.
‘Wow.’ Libby was lost for words. She grabbed Luca and pulled him towards her, kissing him and muttering, ‘Thank you, thank you, thank you! I don’t know how I can thank you enough – this place is incredible.’
‘Don’t worry,’ said Luca, leaning to whisper in her ear. ‘I’ll show you exactly how you can thank me as soon as we get into our room.’ She felt shivers of anticipation run down her spine at the thought.
The rooms were just as you would expect from a five-star hotel. There were only twelve of them and each one was decorated differently. Theirs was named ‘Bali’ and was decked out in Balinese wooden furniture and brightly coloured cushions. Libby had never felt so spoilt. The hotel was full of couples on honeymoon, and Libby felt just as deliriously happy as any one of them. They spent the two nights entwined in each other’s arms, tearing themselves from bed to spend blissful sun-drenched hours by the pool, eating the delicious food provided by the restaurant under a canopy of stars, and taking walks around the surrounding countryside. Libby felt herself falling head over heels for Luca; he was surpassing her expectations in every way and, though she knew they were living in a fantasy bubble, that this hedonistic holiday romance was far removed from the reality of a real, day-to-day existence back in the real world, a proper relationship, she was so glad she had given him a chance.
On their subsequent days off they had visited Amalfi and many other beautiful towns and villages. They had also spent a day walking around the ruins of Pompeii, the fulfilment of a long-held ambition for Libby. She had been reading about the ancient city in a book from the hostel’s library, and had been astonished to learn all about the ancient civilisation that had inhabited the ghostly town. Her imagination was carried away by the stories. She couldn’t believe that the people who lived there hadn’t even known that Vesuvius was a volcano, that it had been dormant for nearly two thousand years until that fateful day. It was amazing to think that the city and all its secrets had lain buried until the late eighteenth century. It felt strange to be walking the streets where so many people had lost their lives. She was intrigued by the plaster casts on display. During the excavation, archaeologists had poured plaster into the cavities left by human remains, creating exact moulds of the people of Pompeii as they had met their sorrowful end: mid-flight, covering their mouths with their hands and hugging their children close to them, trying to protect them from the falling ash. It was a truly sobering sight and she was glad that she had finally visited the ruins for herself.
Luca and Libby had also explored the islands of Capri and Ischia, taking day trips with Gian Matteo and various other friends; swimming in the Grotta Azzurra and visiting Ischia’s hot springs. Her summer of love had certainly been epic, and her eyes filled with tears whenever she thought of it all coming to an end. There were only a few weeks left before her flight home on 23rd September. This left her just about a week to get settled back into her flat and mentally prepared to start her training contract on 1st October. It seemed another world away.
One morning Floriana came bustling down to the reception desk in a fluster. ‘Cara, Andrea just phoned, she has got a vomiting bug. Dio mio! Do you think you can be an angel and do some cleaning today while I man the desk? My back just isn’t good enough to be bending over and doing that sort of work. Gabi is coming in to cover her from tomorrow, but she isn’t around today.’ Gabriella was a young girl who cleaned on Andrea’s days off.
‘Poor Andrea. Of course I can! I’m more than happy to do the cleaning. Just tell me what you want me to do.’
Floriana thanked her and set her off with various tasks. She had to gather the laundry and bundle it up ready for collection, unpack the fresh delivery when it arrived, sweep and mop and dust the hostel and finally clean the bathrooms. It was tiring yet satisfying work.
Libby had left the toilets, her least favourite job, till last. Eventually she reached the last one. She dumped her bucket of cleaning products on the floor and began scrubbing away. ‘Damn!’ she said, accidentally knocking a box of tampons off the back of the loo. They rolled all over the floor, scattering this way and that. Libby chased after them, scooping them up in her gloved hand and shoving them back into the box. Suddenly a thought occurred to her. It seemed an awfully long time since she had had to buy any tampons. As she finished cleaning the bathroom, she tried to calculate when her last period had been. She knew it had been during the first week that she and Luca had been dating. This meant that her period should have arrived over a week ago… she was at least a week late.
She raced back to her room, dumping the cleaning products, mop and broom in the cleaning cupboard en route. She grabbed her diary to check her dates. Her heart was beating so fast she could feel it pulsing against her chest. She skimmed through the pages of her diary. She was right. She felt a sheen of sweat break out across her brow. She was never, ever late. She and Luca had slept together so many times; maybe one of those times the condom had slipped off, or broken, and they hadn’t noticed? She felt her blood run cold. She had to get her hands on a pregnancy test, but in this small village, how the hell would she get away with it without anyone seeing? Thinking quickly, she decided to get a taxi to Amalfi in her lunch break. She would go for a walk and book it to meet her up the road; then she would jump in and keep it on the meter as she ran into the pharmacy.
Her plan came off unhindered and, by the end of her lunch break, she was back in the hostel, the paper bag with enclosed pregnancy tests concealed safely in her room. Her mind was completely unfocused as she took to the reception desk, relieving Floriana.
‘Are you all right, cara?’ Floriana asked. ‘You look rather pale.’
‘Oh, I’m fine thanks! Probably just got a little head rush from bending over so much this morning.’ Libby laughed it off. She took refuge behind the desk, going about her duties with one eye firmly fixed on the clock, sipping water and counting down the hours until Giulia arrived to take over.
Eventually she came through the door. As soon as they had done the usual cursory handover, Libby legged it back upstairs. She took the twin-pack of pregnancy tests into the bathroom and read the instructions several times, making sure she had translated them correctly. It was pretty clear: pee on the stick for five seconds, replace the cap and wait three minutes.
She followed the instructions and within moments was waiting nervously for the results. She couldn’t bear to look at the window which would soon reveal her fate, so she covered it with the box. Her heart was still thumping like crazy as she prayed fervently for it to show a single line rather than a cross. Surely the fates wouldn’t be so cruel. She didn’t want a baby now; it was the last thing on earth she needed. She crossed her fingers and stared at her watch as the three minutes came to an end. Terrified, she kicked the box out of the way to reveal the test.
There was a big blue cross in the results window. Frantically she grabbed the paper, surely it couldn’t be… The instructions said ‘+ = pregnant’. It was there as clear as day. She unwrapped the second test and peed on it once again, grateful for all the water she had drunk that afternoon. It must be a false alarm. She stared at the results window this time, willing it to have a single line. But sure enough, a second cross appeared, faint at first but getting darker and darker. She wanted to scream in horror. The result was clear: she was pregnant. What the hell was she going to do?