Anna from Ukraine Ch. 08

"But I do know how to peel a shrimp!"

"Of course you do, beautiful," Valentina smiled. "But didn't I promise you the princess treatment?"

Anna sighed and guessed it was just the Valentina way. Ever since she'd arrived at the airport in Pisa five days ago, every minute had been like a dream. First day, visiting Valentina's friends who operated a small vineyard in the Tuscan countryside. Then by car to the hypnotizingly beautiful hillside town of Siena, where of course Valentina knew the owner of a local pizzeria who made Anna the most mindblowing Quattro Formaggi she'd ever had. She'd hardly had time to flush it down with a bottle of local red wine before they were off to a cocktail party, where Anna found herself sipping fragolino until the early morning, enjoying the spectacular view of the valley and the attention heaped upon her by Valentina's friends. The days flew by like that, until two days ago they had finally arrived in Follonica, a small, lazy seaside resort catering mostly to Italian tourists. Valentina owned a bungalow here. It was mid-October and the season was practically over, so most places were less than half-empty and the atmosphere laidback, everything happening in slow-motion.

Yesterday they were walking on the beach when Valentina pointed to a small wooden cabin some 100 meters in the distance.

"Let's see if Giovanni is at home."

Giovanni, it turned out, was a retired fish merchant in his early 70s, but apparently still capable of getting hold of the goods, as demonstrated by the delicious meal he made them. Downing another glass of white whine poured her by the friendly old Tuscan, the Ukrainian tried her best to catch the drift of the two Italians' conversation. It was not easy - Giovanni seemed to be speaking some kind of local dialect - but Anna listened attentively. As another mug of wine was placed on the table, it struck Anna that life really couldn't get any better than this. And - just a moment later - that it was past 8 pm and she hadn't been thinking about Mona the whole day.

That night, with Valentina gently snoring next to her, Anna coudn't sleep, despite being exhausted after a day of walking and an evening of love-making. The Ukrainian wanted to phone Mona, but that was not an option: her girlfriend had an important run tomorrow and needed to sleep.

When Valentina had invited her to Tuscany, the Ukrainian had not said yes right away. True, she and Mona had an open relationship and in the past Anna had spent weekends at Julia's, her Polish lover's place. It never filled her with guilt because Julia was just that - her lover. Just like Kristine was Mona's. With Valentina it was different. It is true that whenever they met with people, the Italian took care to underline that Anna was "una mia amica" and not her girlfriend. But for some reason people still seemed to assume she was and treated her accordingly. At the cocktail party in Siena, Anna heard from everybody that they'd never seen Valentina this much in love. And then there was the fact that the Italian had broken up with Marta only a few days after she and Anna's first night together. Valentina, of course, tried to explain it away: "Marta wanted kids." "It wasn't working between us." Then almost immediately the invitation to spend a week with her in Tuscany. It so happened that Mona had track