Hazel was amazed that she had held off until today to call Liz. Despite Indigo’s surprise (Really? More like disastrous announcement!) yesterday, they had accomplished a ton. They were a good team. She'd been crappy company though. Her head was spinning with anxiety about everything; the money, her feelings for Dean, her job, Samuel. She'd said hardly a word to anyone and had even snapped at Dean, which was the last thing she ever wanted to do. Hopefully, he wouldn't hold it against her.

At least today was Friday; just one more day to get through. Then she would declare Saturday a free day and she could spend quality time with Dean and make it up to him. But first she had to sort out this money situation. Indigo and Stefano had gone out on a grocery run after breakfast this morning and Dean wasn't due for another half hour. Now was the perfect time to make the call.

“I was going to call you later,” Liz answered. "I spoke to the Board."

“Forget about that for a minute, Liz. Sorry, but something has come up. Do you think the company would forward me an advance?”

Liz sighed a huge ominous sigh which echoed through the phone. “You really don't get it, do you, Hay? Things are a lot more complicated than you think, okay?”

“Okay.” What did that mean? They wouldn't give her an advance? They'd done it before. Liz knew she was good for it. She hated being in debt.

“I’m in the office now, so I need to be quick. I found some stuff out and it’s not good. I need to talk to you about it in person.”

“In person? Why?" How would that work? Was Liz expecting her to fly back to Jax? She realized with a sinking feeling she didn't even have the money for a plane ticket. "I can't come over Liz. I'm totally broke. It's Indigo, again, she's messed..."

“Ssssh! Just listen. I can’t talk.” Hazel heard voices in the background. Wait! Did Liz say she was already in the office? What was she doing in the office at 5:00am? “I have a meeting in Florence on Monday. I wasn’t supposed to leave until tomorrow, but I’m leaving today. I switched my flight to Pisa. Can you meet for lunch tomorrow? It’ll be quick, I have a client dinner tomorrow night, but I need to see you.”

Liz traveled often to meet clients in Europe, but hadn't mentioned coming to Italy. “You’re coming here? What’s going on Liz? What did they say when you showed them all that stuff? They fired him right? I thought you'd need me to take over the project when I got back? Why can’t you tell me now?” She sounded frantic even to herself, but this wasn't the way things were supposed to be going. Everything was falling apart.

Hazel heard a door slam in the background and the other voices faded. “Did you keep the printed emails?” Liz whispered urgently. “Tell me you have the print outs.”

“Of course I have the print outs. Are you okay?” What the hell was going on?

“I’m fine, Hay. I’ll text you my arrival details. See you tomorrow.” She hung up.

This couldn't be good. Liz sounded like some secret spy agent, all frantic whispers and slamming doors. And why was she asking if she still had the printouts? As she reshuffled her weekend schedule in her mind, she realized she would have to cancel her date with Dean. That was such bad timing considering she'd been such a bitch yesterday. She'd explain it all to him when he got here though. He'd understand. Maybe he'd even want to come to Pisa with her and meet Liz. The thought of having him with her, holding her hand, made her jumping heart rate slow considerably.

Her phone rang in her hand and made her jump.

“Hazel?”

“Dean?” Hazel laughed out loud in relief. “Why are you calling me? Won’t you be here in, like, two minutes? You missing me?”

“Hazel, I’m sorry, but I won’t be able to work today.” His voice was unusually quiet. Plus, it was missing that gentle lilt that his voice took on only when he was talking to her.

“Are you okay? Are you ill?”

“Yeah, no, I’m fine. I have some stuff to think about and I need to have a clear head. You tend to muddle it a little.” She could hear the smile in his voice but she wasn’t smiling. She'd upset him with her moodiness. She wasn't surprised, she'd been unlikeable, back to her pre-Dean, controlling, and ultra-focused self. Maybe he'd realized she wasn't who he thought she was. There was no way she was good enough for him.

“I’m sorry I was moody yesterday. I just have a lot on my mind." She realized she sounded a little desperate so she put a smile into her voice. "I was looking forward to seeing you today. Promise I won’t be grumpy.”

“I can’t. Sorry, Hazel. I’ll see you Monday though, okay? Stefano has enough to be getting on with and he’ll manage fine without me.” He hadn't even heard her. It was like his head was somewhere else completely. And what did he mean, Monday? They lived five hundred feet away from each other for goodness’ sake.

“Monday? Won't I see you in town this weekend?”

“No, I think I'll stay in for a few days. Like I said, I have stuff to figure out. It turns out my manager might come over. He wants to talk about a few things with the movies. It looks like it could be good news, so…” Ahhah! So here was the explanation for the distance. Dean was preparing to go back to his job. He was preparing to say goodbye.

“So, you’ll be heading back to LA then. That's what you're telling me.” A statement, not a question. You'd think if he only had a few days he'd want to spend the time with her. Hazel’s heart sank.

“I don’t know what’s going on yet, Hazel, okay? That’s why I need a few days. But I’ll be there first thing Monday morning. I’ll even get up early.” He laughed at his joke but it sounded hollow and insincere.

“Okay,” Hazel swallowed a lump in her throat. This was turning into a crappier day than yesterday. “I have stuff to do too. I needed to cancel our date for tomorrow, anyway.”

“Okay then,” Dean didn’t sound too convinced, “that works out fine. See you Monday.”

So Dean was having second thoughts about their relationship, which they hadn’t even labelled as such, and something was going on with her job that was making her hands shake. Or maybe it was thinking about not seeing Dean for three days that was making her hands shake.

I mean what did she expect? She'd always known he'd be going back to LA. Her stupid daydreams about taking over hotels and staying in Borgotaro had been just that, stupid. What made her imagine, even for an instant, that they could continue this... thing, beyond the summer. She was a boring, corporate hack from Jacksonville and he was a big-time movie star, even if he didn't seem that way to her. Standing alone in the kitchen, she burst into tears.