Villa Mirabella by Peter Pezzelli

Author:Peter Pezzelli
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kensington Books
Published: 2010-04-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 20

“Looks like someone’s getting ready for a hot date tonight.”

It was early Friday evening and Jason was leaning against the frame of the open bathroom door, watching his father finish up shaving.

“Nope,” said Giulio with an air of nonchalance. “This one’s just lukewarm.”

His head tilted back at a slight angle, Giulio eyed himself in the mirror as he carefully dragged the razor across the last remaining patch of shaving cream on the skin just underneath his jawline. That accomplished, he swished the razor in the sink and put it aside. Gazing back into the mirror, he turned his head from side to side to assess the thoroughness of his work. Satisfied that it was up to standard, he threw some clean water onto his face and grabbed the hand towel hanging next to the sink.

Jason laughed to himself, for the scene brought him back to his childhood. How many times as a small boy had he stood in that same doorway, watching his father go through his morning ablutions? As with most little boys, the sight of his father shaving was a source of endless fascination. Standing off to the side, gazing up in wide-eyed curiosity, little Jason would study him with rapt attention, intrigued by every step of the ritual. The washing of the face with steaming hot water. The lathering of the shaving cream onto the skin. The precise tilt of the head in front of the mirror so as to be able to watch the first swipe of the razor as it cut a path through the cream like a plow clearing away a layer of freshly fallen snow. The razor itself, of course, was an object of particular fascination, and despite ample warnings not to play with it, Jason had more than once nicked his face trying to imitate his father.

“So, who is she?” Jason asked. “Anybody I know?”

“No,” answered his father, running the towel over his face. “Just a friend who I’ve owed a dinner to for a while.”

“Ah, a lasagna lady, I take it,” Jason snickered.

Giulio gave a grunt in reply before he tossed the towel aside and opened a bottle of aftershave. He shook a small amount into his hands and rubbed his palms together.

“As a matter of fact,” he mused as he briskly patted his face, “now that I think of it, it seems to me that she might have a daughter your age. I’ll set something up for you if you’re interested.”

Jason put up his hands in a defensive gesture. “No, thanks, Dad. That really won’t be necessary.”

“Just trying to help,” said his father. “It wouldn’t hurt to meet someone, you know, maybe think about settling down someday.”

Jason would have liked to tell his father that once, not so long ago, he had given very serious consideration to settling down, but that was something about which he was still trying to avoid thinking, never mind discussing.

“Someday—maybe,” he said. “Just not tonight.”

“Why not tonight?” said Giulio on his way out of the bathroom.

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