That Feeling Inside
Ella followed Bart and Mary through the busy airport, all of them walking at a brisk pace and trying not to look directly at anyone. At least she didn’t have her heavy bags to worry about. Always thinking ahead, Bart had arranged for all of their checked baggage to be taken to a hotel near the airport so that they could get a rental car and head straight to Verona. With any luck, they’d be back at that hotel later that night--all four of them. Then, they’d be close to the airport so they could figure out what their next move was. They wouldn’t be able to stay in Italy long with Rome’s dad looking for him.
They’d landed in Milan, so it would take a couple of hours to get to Verona. It was late afternoon, and traffic should be light. She checked the time and tried to settle down.
“I’ll go get the keys to the car. You two wait here,” Bart said. Mary nodded, and Ella tried to smile. But as she stood waiting for Bart to get the car, and the minutes ticked by, she couldn’t help but tap her foot nervously.
“I know it’s easy for me to say, but try to stay calm,” Mary said, flashing her a sympathetic smile.
“You’re right. It is easy for you to say.” Mary rolled her eyes at her, and Ella tried to be nicer. A thought had been weighing on her mind, though, ever since she’d awoken on the plane. “Didn’t Bart say that the Verona’s have an apartment in Milan?” Mary nodded her head. “Maybe we should check the apartment first.”
Mary shrugged. “He did say they have one, but he seems to think they’d want to keep Rome out in the middle of nowhere, which is where their family home is. It’s not even technically in Verona, just in the countryside nearby”
It seemed to her as if Mary was siding with Bart for no apparent reason, and she didn’t understand why. “Has he checked his messages? Maybe Antonio called. We don’t even know for sure if Antonio saw Rome at his house in Verona.”
“He said he checked and had a message from Antonio to call him but hadn’t been able to reach him yet.”
Mary’s voice was much calmer than Ella’s, and she knew she needed to take some deep breaths or something, but the longer she thought about it, the more she concentrated on trying to reach out to Rome, to find him, the more unsettled she became. Deep in her gut, she was beginning to feel like something was wrong. Until she saw Rome for herself, she wasn’t going to be able to calm herself.
After what seemed like two lifetimes, Bart came back from the car rental counter, keys in one hand, a few papers in the other. Unable to control herself, Ella blurted out, “We should check his apartment building first.”
Raising an eyebrow, Bart looked up from the paperwork for the car. “Why do you say that?”
“Because… we’re already here. What if he’s here? We’ll be driving for hours for no reason.”
“I really don’t think they’d be keeping him here,” Bart said with a shrug.
“Let’s check.”
“I don’t even know the address.”
“Surely, you can get it. You're resourceful.”
Bart opened his mouth to argue, but his phone rang. “Hold that thought,” he said, handing Mary the papers and pulling his phone out of his jeans pocket. “It’s Antonio.”
“Thank God,” Ella said, crossing her fingers that it would be good news.
“Hello?” She watched intently as Bart spoke to Antonio, doing her best to figure out what Antonio must be saying. “You saw him there. Yeah. So… did you give him the message? Are you sure? Okay. We’ll drive out there then. But… do you happen to know the address of his dad’s apartment here in Milan? Okay--can you text that to me? Thanks, man. Yeah, we do need to get together while we’re here.” He rolled his eyes at that, as if to let the women know he was humoring his friend. “Let me spring Rome first. We’ll get back to you. Bye.”
“So… what did he say?” Ella begged, jumping up and down.
“He said he saw Rome in the window at the house in Verona and shouted the message to him just as his dad’s men were coming after him--Antonio. So Rome is in Verona.”
“He was in Verona,” Ella countered. “If his dad knows that people are trying to contact him there, maybe he isn’t now. Does he have the address in Milan?”
“He does. He’s going to text it to me. But I have no idea how we’d get up there and get Rome out if he is there. It’s on the seventh floor. If what you’re saying is right, then that means there will be guards there, too.”
“Listen, Bart,” Ella said, resting her hand on his arm, “I know you think he’s still in Verona, and I want to believe he is in the place where it’ll be the easiest to get him out, too. But in my heart, I have a feeling that’s not where he is at all. I think he’s here. It’s like I can feel him close by. Please, let’s go to the apartment first. If he’s there, I’ll figure out how to get to him, okay?”
Bart opened his mouth as if he might protest, but then he closed it abruptly. “Fine. You win. Let’s go to the apartment.”
Ella squeezed his arm. “Thank you, Bart.” She wanted to be happy because she knew Rome had to be at the apartment, but she was also worried. She had a feeling something wasn’t right. She needed to get to him--sooner rather than later.
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