TheRedeemer by Joseph Richards

Author:Joseph Richards [Richards, Joseph]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: gay fiction, love stories
Publisher: Beau to Beau Publishing
Published: 2013-02-13T06:00:00+00:00

Julie:

Dressed for the city in light linen trousers and an oatmeal-colored raw silk jacket, Matt walked into Versace's store on the Via Tornabouni, determined to buy one of the designer's vividly printed summer shirts he had seen in the display window. A salesman, who was wearing a model of the shirt he liked, directed him to the basement level where he found a selection displayed on a rack against the far wall. Draped on hangers, the silk shirts looked like one-of-a-kind works of art, which, once he saw the price tags, he decided they must be. Years before, he had paid as much for a Picasso lithograph. Keenly taken by one of the shirts, a riot of vivid primary colors in abstract patterns, he asked the salesman where he might try it on. In the changing room, he smiled as he looked at himself in the full length mirror. Wearing such an artistic manifesto to vibrancy, a veritable pallio racing banner, no one could really stay downcast. Later, walking along the Tornabuoni, he proudly gripped the handsome Versace shopping bag, amused by the knowledge that it contained a frivolous antidote to much of what ailed him.

"Buon giorno, signore." Matt recognized the elegant woman standing in his path as the one from the bumpy flight to Rome.

"I'm Julie Wittenburg," she said, extending her hand.

"Buon giorno, signora. Matt Sloan. It's good to see you again."

"Thank you. How good to see you, and may I say that you are looking very well. The Villa must be agreeing with you. Are you enjoying your stay?"

Smiling, she glanced at the Versace bag.

"Oh yes, the Villa has been like a spring tonic. I sleep soundly at night, get up early in the morning, walk around the village for awhile, and then catch a bus to the city." It was nearly noon, and on the spur of the moment, he said, "Would you like to join me for coffee or a drink somewhere?"

"That would be lovely, yes. Why don't we go through the alley to Doney’s? It's close by, next to Armani's Emporium. Do you know it?"

"No, but it sounds good...and convenient."

She looked at the Versace bag again and laughed.

Seated across from Julie under a large square umbrella, Matt looked around the piazza impressed with the stern gray facade of the Palacio Strozzi which towered over them like a stolid dam holding back the sky. He noticed that Julie hesitated when he had suggested sitting outside, and he guessed that she might not want to be seen in public having a drink alone with a single man. She was of an era when considerations of that nature were much more important than they are today. But from the flirtatious gleam in her eyes and the furtive glances she directed at the occupants of other tables, he also thought she might, in fact, fully enjoy being seen by one of her women friends.

"Tell me, Signora Wittenburg."

"Please, call me Julie."

"Tell me, Julie, how is your husband? I remember you told me on the plane that he was bedridden.

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