Wags To Riches (37 page)

   “Adam – I don’t want to die!” I moan, squeezing my eyes tight shut and not daring to look. 

   “I don’t neither!” Adam says firmly, “I’m paying a lot of money for this hotel!”  I look at him and we both start to laugh.

   Eventually we pull up outside our hotel and I breathe a deep sigh of relief.  “Hurray!  We are both still alive!” I say before getting out of the car and back into the relentless heat.  The driver gets out, lifts the cases out of the car and then screeches off.

“Are you alright?” Adam asked as he picks up his bag and reaches for the case.

   “I am now I’ve got out of that taxi!” I reply as we walk into the hotel.  The reception area feels beautifully cool - all air-conditioned with gorgeous solid white marble tiles on the floor.  “Those tiles look lovely and cold” I say to Adam and slip off my shoes.  The floor feels like heaven to my hot, aching feet.  “Oh that’s good!” I say with relief as I stand on the wonderfully cold floor in front of the reception desk.  “Hey Adam,” I say laughing, “Do you think the staff would mind if I lay on this floor?”

   “Well
I
would because I have paid for a suite!” Adam replies smiling as he signs a couple of forms.  “Come on – let’s get upstairs and we can get changed.  I’m boiling.” 

We walk to the lift, me carrying my shoes in my hand – I can’t face putting them back on again.

   “Tim did warn me that summers in Rome can be incredibly hot” Adam says as the lift doors close.

   “Yes, I remember you saying” I say.  “I’m glad I packed loads of summery things to wear”.

   “You did pack some flat shoes didn’t you?” Adam asks, looking worried.

   “Yes of course!” I say.  “I’m not a complete ditz you know!”

   “Oh that’s good” Adam replies, “I was just going to say if you hadn’t, we could go in Prada and buy you some shoes, but if you’ve packed some...”

   “Oh – well I could always throw the others away” I say hastily and Adam laughs.  “What room are we in anyway?” I ask him, looking at the key ring attached to the room key that Adam was holding.  It’s a huge brass thing, shaped like a bow and arrow.

   “The Cupid suite” Adam replies, “Can’t you tell from the key ring?” he adds and I laugh.

The lift arrives at the top floor of the hotel and we make our way down the corridor to find our suite.  “This is ours” Adam says and opens the door.  “After you!” he says.  I step inside and my mouth falls open.  The room is absolutely beautiful.  The walls are a delicate pale blue colour with gilt-edged panelling and there is a huge chandelier hanging down from the ceiling.  A large statue of Cupid with his bow and arrow stands in one corner of the room and in another corner there is a little gilt edged marble topped table, on which stands a huge vase of flowers and an ice bucket with a bottle of champagne in.  There are two gilt edged, crimson padded armchairs near to the glass doors that lead to the balcony and in the centre of the room is a massive bed with a fabulously ornate gilt headboard and footboard.

   “Adam – this is fantastic!” I say, pressing my fingers to my lips, before walking across the room to open the bathroom door.  “Just look at this!” I gasp, trying to take in the marble floor, huge sunken bath and beautiful statue of Venus stood at the far side of the room, “It’s incredible!”

Adam walks into the bathroom behind me.  “Can we take that home for our bathroom?” I ask, pointing at the Venus statue.

   Adam laughs.  “Don’t think so Gail – I’m not carrying that through the bloody airport!”

   “Can you imagine the excess baggage charge?” I say laughing, as we walk back into the main room.

   “Ah!  Champagne!  Excellent!” Adam says, spotting the ice bucket on the table.  He goes over and lifts the bottle out of the bucket.  “I could do with a drink after that taxi ride here!  Yes,” he continues, wiping the bottle with a linen towel that was helpfully left next to the champagne, “I certainly don’t remember a death defying and frankly terrifying ride through the streets of Rome being on my holiday itinerary!”

   I burst out laughing.  “Mine neither!” I reply.  “I think everybody drives like that here though – did you actually see anyone driving slow?”

   “No - I know what you mean - I thought Tony was a nutter behind the wheel, but he’d fit in well here!” Adam says.  “Anyway, we made it here in one piece and that’s the important thing”.  He goes to open the champagne.  “Need to keep hold of this cork” he says, “I don’t want it to knock the head off that statue over there!” and he nods towards the Cupid in the corner.

   “Well – quite!” I say and smile as Adam opens the champagne and pours out two glasses, passing one to me.

   “To you Gail” he says, “Well done on passing your driving test!”

   “To you!” I say, “For all your help and also for whisking me away to Rome for the weekend!” I add grinning and we both take a drink.  “Mmmm, that tastes
marvellous” I say, smacking my lips appreciatively.  It tastes even better after my near death experience in that bloody taxi.

   “Let’s drink this on the balcony” Adam suggests, “It’s far too nice a day to sit in here”.

   “Yes lets!” I say enthusiastically and we step out of the doors onto the balcony.  I can’t help but gasp at the view.  Rome is spread out below - a heady mix of heat, traffic noise, gorgeous architecture and a surprising amount of trees reaching for the sky.  As I look round to the left, I can see the roof of the Vatican in the distance.  Wow.  I turn back to see Adam stood resting his forearms on the railing, also taking in the view.

   “Adam - this is amazing!” I say in wonder, going to stand next to him.

   “Yeah – it’s not bad is it?” Adam says casually and grins at me.

After changing and having lunch in a lovely bar just down the road from the hotel, we decide to go and have a look round the colosseum.  We stand at the side of the road and wonder how to get across to it, as the traffic seems to pay no attention to the crossing signs and just keeps moving.

   “Oooh quick!” Adam says, “there’s a nun there – let’s cross the road when she does!”

   “What?” I reply, looking at him baffled.

   “It’s something Tim said” Adam replies.  “When he and Gina came here a few years ago – they found that a lot of Italian drivers will only slow down for nuns so if you can, try and cross the road with one of them” and we hurry across the road, behind the nun, along with a lot of other people who seem to have had the same idea.  We make it finally across the road and
after queuing for a while, go inside the colosseum where we have to trudge up tons of steps.

   “I hope it’s worth it when we get to the top” I say, panting slightly.  Eventually the space opens out and I look round wide eyed in wonder.  It’s absolutely amazing.  You can see clearly what it must have been like to be there in ancient times.  “The noise must have been tremendous, with thousands of people all shouting and cheering” I say to Adam who nods in agreement in between taking photographs.

   Afterwards, we potter round the centre of Rome and it’s my turn to take loads of pictures, including a really nice one of Adam sat on the Spanish Steps, just before this giggling teenage girl who’s blushing furiously comes up to ask him for his autograph and if she could take a picture of him.

   “I’ll take it if you like” I offer.

   “Oh no - oh well - erm - that would be great” the girl says blushing even more deeply.  Adam puts his arm round her and I take the picture.

   “Thanks ever so much!” the girl says to us both.

   “No problem” Adam says.

   “Do you ever get used to that?” I ask him as we walk down the steps and go down the street opposite.

   Adam shrugs.  “I don’t mind that – it’s people throwing coins at me on the pitch I can’t stand” he says.  “That’s only happened once though” he says in response to my raised eyebrows, “And luckily none of them hit me.  Oh look – we’re outside Gucci” he says grinning, “Let’s go in and treat ourselves shall we?”

   After Adam has bought a gorgeous new handbag for me, which is very kind of him and a new belt and wallet for himself, we have a drink in a bar nearby and then saunter back to the hotel to drop off the shopping and get changed for dinner. 

   “I’m really tired,” I say yawning and flopping into one of the padded armchairs.  “It must be the early flight”.

   “I am as well Gailey to be honest,” Adam says.  “Shall we just grab some pizza or something and have an early night tonight?  We’ve still got Friday and Saturday night to paint the town red”.

   “Yeah let’s do that” I say so after dinner and several glasses of Chianti we head back to the hotel.  It’s still quite warm, so I turn up the air conditioning in the hotel room full blast before getting into bed.  The room soon feels really nice and cool and it isn’t long before we’re both asleep.  A few hours later however, we both wake up absolutely
dithering
with cold.

   “Jesus Christ!  It’s cold in here!” Adam shouts, jumping out of bed in just his pants and running over to the wardrobe.  He yanks open the door and starts rummaging through the hangers.  “Why is it so goddamn cold?”

   “I did turn the air conditioning up full before we went to bed” I admit, pulling on one of Adam’s sweaters whilst shivering violently.

   “Oh – now that would explain a lot!” Adam says, shaking his head at me and laughing.  He pulls a T-shirt and then a sweatshirt over his head.  “It does cool down a lot overnight you know!”

   “Well I know that
now
” I say defensively as I go to switch the air conditioning controls back to normal.  We both got back into bed, still shivering.

   “Bloody hell – I’m going to put the coats on the bed in a minute!” Adam says, his teeth still chattering slightly.  “Ooooh - come here!” he says as he puts his arms round me, “Let’s snuggle up together and try and get warm!”

   “Adam!  Your hands are freezing!” I squeal as he puts his cold hands on my back underneath my jumper.

   “Well – whose fault is that?” Adam says.  “Now stop moaning and give me a kiss”.

The next morning dawns warm and sunny and we decide to have breakfast on the balcony,  Adam rings room service and a nice elderly Italian waiter brings up a tray laden with croissants, coffee and fresh fruit. 

   “Thanks very much!” Adam says, taking the tray from him and resting it on the table.  “This looks lovely!” 

   “Doesn’t it?” I say, admiring the food before sitting down on the chair opposite him.  We sit and eat breakfast and just enjoy the spectacular view from the balcony.

   “What did you fancy doing today Gail?” Adam asks me, pouring us both some coffee.  “This is your little mini break, so you get to choose!”

   “Well,” I say, putting my hand over my eyes to shield them from the sun, “I think I would like to have a look round the Vatican today.  I’ve always wanted to see the Sistine Chapel”.

   “Okay” Adam says, “Well, once we’ve had breakfast, we’ll walk up there.  I think it’s about twenty – twenty five minutes’ walk from here”.

We arrive at the Vatican museum and wonder round for ages, marvelling at all the treasures and the beautifully painted walls and ceilings.  There’s so much to see, that I don’t know quite what to look at first.  We then join the queue to enter the Sistine chapel, which is down a very narrow corridor.  The heat, which has been steadily building all morning, is now really intense.  I can feel the sweat trickling down my back.  “I tell you something” I whisper to Adam, “I’m glad I wore a dress today and not jeans”.  I’d fallen in love with this dress as soon as I saw it – it’s made from white broderie anglaise fabric, it’s knee length and has little spaghetti shoulder straps. 

   “I’m glad you did” Adam replies, “I’m even gladder you didn’t wear heels as well – don’t want to listen to you moaning about your feet all the way round!”  I smack him playfully with the guidebook I’d bo
ught earlier and then fan my face with it in a futile attempt to cool down.

   “You all right?” Adam asks.

   “Yeah, I’m fine,” I say, smiling at him.  He looks gorgeous today.  Not that he doesn’t look gorgeous every day, but today he looks extra gorgeous.  He’s wearing baggy jeans, trainers and a loose-fitting, white, lightweight cotton collarless shirt which is shot through with tiny threads of shimmering silver.  He’s left the shirt untucked and also partially unbuttoned – so every so often as he moves, I get glimpses of his tanned, muscular torso underneath.  Pwhoar!  God he’s sexy!  Although I shouldn’t really have thoughts like this whilst we are waiting to go into a chapel should I?  Feeling guilty, I immediately start reading the guidebook in earnest.

   We shuffled down the hot and crowded corridor and eventually enter the Sistine Chapel.  It’s absolutely amazing but is even more crowded and hotter than the corridor outside.  Adam wanders over to look at a picture, but I stay where I am.  I feel a bit odd, a little light-headed.  Suddenly, I feel incredibly warm and unspeakably tired.  Little sparkly bi
ts of light start to appear at the edge of my vision.  I feel really woozy – it seems as though everything is slowing down.  “Adam” I call, “I think I’m going to…”  I can’t finish the sentence and the last thing I remember is blurrily seeing Adam running towards me.  Then suddenly I’m having a dream about being back at work and
Delightful
has been taken over by an Italian firm and then I start to wake up.  I think I’m at home in bed, but then I can hear the sound of concerned Italian voices around me.  That’s not right.  I slowly open my eyes, half expecting to be in our bedroom at home and instead, high above me, is a beautifully painted ceiling and looking at me are several Italian people, a couple of American tourists and a really worried looking Adam.