An online novel by Gillette Edmunds

“They’re wearing the same clothes as yesterday,” Barbara said.

“Their clothes must have gone to Rome like yours,” Michael said.

“Should we say something to them?”

“Like what? We hate you?”

“There isn’t anything to say, is there?”

Charles and Sonya were well down the next block. Turning away from them, Barbara looked at the cars passing in the street.

“They’re not holding hands,” she said. “When Chuck and I were first in love, we used to hold hands a lot. We’d sit at a pizza parlor or somewhere with a bunch of friends from school and hold hands under the table. My girl friends would be talking to me but I wouldn’t be listening, just playing with his long fingers.”

She turned to Michael, who was still watching them down the street. “I’m glad they did not go to Rome together,” Barbara said. She punched Michael in the shoulder. “Hooray for that.”

“They’re too guilty,” Michael said and put his arm around Barbara.

“But we’re just embarrassed, embarrassed that they left us,” she said. “Isn’t that it? We’re too embarrassed to go to Rome?”

“I guess that’s the feeling,” Michael said. “We feel worthless because they walked out on us so easily and everyone on the tour knows about it. Something like that. It was childish of me to tell Mrs. Fisher about them. I hate acting impulsively. It embarrassed both of us.”