Designs of the Heart by Renee Ryder

Author:Renee Ryder [Renee Ryder, Antonio Scotto di Carlo]
Language: ita
Format: epub
Publisher: Antonio Scotto Di Carlo
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

16. Hanging Clothes

When she put on a helmet and climbed onto a scooter for the first time in her life, sitting behind Nico on his Vespa and wearing the empty backpack that he’d passed to her, Hannah really started to feel like Anna.

The vehicle was blatantly outdated—she was no expert but could tell that after having seen scooters around Porto Loreno, some of which looked like small spaceships. Their helmets were open in the front, without visors, which didn’t seem to offer much safety. There was no trunk box nor handles at the sides of the flat seat, leaving her only Nico’s body to support herself with. Reluctant to wrap her arms around his waist, she tried gripping the sides of his T-shirt, careful to avoid pressing her chest against his back. As the scooter had no back footrests, she had to place her feet on the sides of the floorboard just behind his heels. And yet these discomforts only enhanced the pleasure of cutting through the streets in this new way, threading between the slow cars and traffic with the breeze on her face.

“Everything ok?” Nico asked her.

“What?”

“Everything ok?” he repeated, shouting.

“Yes, I’m fine!”

Understanding him while he was driving proved problematic from the outset. She could lean forward close to his ear and speak loudly, like in a nightclub, whereas his voice went forward and was lost on the wind.

They entered a small town and she began to have trouble staying on the seat. He went slowly like she’d asked, to the point that they barely needed to lean into the curves. But the continuous bouncing from the street, which seemed paved with river rocks, made her cling more tightly to his shirt so she wouldn’t slide off the back.

“How much longer to arrive?”

“Just outside of this town, there’s a street that goes up the hill. It’s five kilometers.”

“Okay. And what does that mean?”

“Huh?”

“I don’t know kil— know about kilometers.”

“Oh. It’s three miles. Give or take.”

“You know about miles?”

“I’m familiar with a marine mile. It’s just under a land mile. Why, are you uncomfortable? You want us to stop for a minute?”

“Actually, yes. I feel that I’m falling off.”

Nico pulled over as soon as he spotted an opening in the line of parking cars snaking along the narrow one-way street that wound along between the two rows of buildings. He stopped between a clothing store and a pharmacy.

She slipped down to the sidewalk, keeping to the edge so as not to block the flow of foot traffic. Then she released the chin strap and pulled off her helmet while he pushed down the kickstand.

“You look nice with the braid.”

“Thanks. I did it because I knew the helmet and the wind would do a mess to my hair.”

She stretched her legs, realizing that the refreshing wind they’d felt on the ride had only been made by the Vespa. Now she felt trapped under the smothering blanket of heat and humidity.

“What’s wrong?” Nico asked her from the scooter.

“The sett paving. I kept jumping on the seat, moving backwards.

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