“No! No! No! This can’t be happening to me!” Victoria quickly stuffed her phone into her bag. Tossing euros onto the table, shoving her arms into her bright red leather jacket, she rushed towards the exit.
The lingering Pisans, enjoying a digestif following a typical Italian prolonged lunch, turned around and stared at Victoria as she passed their table.
“Molto triste.” They shook their heads sadly. “Stai bene?”
“Si, I’m okay, molto buono,” she said hurriedly. “Okay, it’s bad—not like all the other people who are suffering, but molto non buono for me.” Vicotria ducked out the exit and cut briskly around the corner. Her sleek, black suitcase wobbled over cobblestones behind her as she sped to the taxi stand.
On any other day, Victoria would have been sipping her cappuccino in the corner of her favorite café by the Tower, gazing wonderingly at it. Tilting, but never falling. She had come to see herself in its tenacious victory. No matter how hard life may hit her, she might get knocked back, but never knocked down.
She had worked hard for “her perfect life,” as everyone called it, and she was now reaping the rewards. Single, self-employed, independent, answerable to no one…okay, just her Travel Editor…with millions of social media fans around the world following her every virtual footstep.
But today, everything appeared to have been for nothing.
Victoria waved her arm and called out. “Scusi…scusi!” Weaving through the crowds, she managed to grab what looked like the last taxi.
“Aeroporto Galileo Galilei, per favore.” Slamming the car door, she said, “Quickly!”
“Si, signora. I drive fast.”
“Aeroporto. Veloce.”
Victoria turned with shock to the new occupant in the cab. “What? No. Wait!”
“Subito!” came the directive.
Victoria could feel her temperature rising. “This is my cab. You have to get out.”
The Intruder barely bothered to glance over, reverting eyes quickly to phone. “This is the only cab and I need to get to the airport.”
Typical ugly American. Victoria closed her eyes and fought to keep her temper in check. “This is my cab!”
“Aeroporto. Veloce, per favore!” he said again, ignoring her and her outrage.
“Si, signor.”
Victoria began to protest, and then realized it was futile. The taxi had already hurtled from 0 to 120 miles per hour. Italian drivers. “Fine. Only because I’m late and I have—”
“Me, too.” He didn’t let her finish and continued scrolling through notifications on his phone. How had he made her feel like she was the intrusion in his taxi? Dismissive. Selfish. Total slob. She had him figured—spoiled rich American on holiday in Italy, thinks he’s God’s gift to the world, with the eyes and the hair and the…the muscles. Honestly, did men really think that looks gave them license to act like total jerks?
“Not enough coffee for this,” Victoria sighed, pulling out her phone, seeing the words that had turned her carefree world upside down. President Trump BANS travel from Europe to the US for 30 days… What did this mean for her? Would this ruin her assignment? Her whole career?!
“You said something?”
Victoria glared at him and snuggled deeper into her side of the car, watching the views that had become so beloved to her. She had to leave today or she’d be stuck in Italy for who knew how long. Not that she minded… But Rachel’s wedding was in a week. Rachel had almost had a heart attack as it was.
“You’re leaving two weeks before my wedding?” Rachel, Angel-turned-Bridezilla, had wailed. “You’re my Maid of Honor! I will need so much last-minute stuff! What if something happens? What if you’re not back in time!”
Now, she might not get back at all. Victoria rolled her eyes only to find that the Intruder was watching her carefully.
“Look, I’ll cover the taxi costs since I barged into your taxi.”
“No, it’s my taxi, I’ll pay.” He wasn’t going to pay for her taxi. Her parents had always raised her to be independent and to take care of herself.
“I insist,” he said as the taxi pulled to the airport curb, and then, dropping what seemed an excess of euros, he leapt out before she could protest.
“Grazie, signora. Signore is very generous.” The taxi driver looked at Victoria, raising his eyebrows in gratitude to the gracious qualities of the Intruder. This only encouraged Victoria to hate him more, which made her unusually snarky with the baffled driver. This virus was infecting even her customary self-possession. No, if even she couldn’t keep her cool, the world was in big trouble. She held her head high, and with one more grazie headed into the fray.
Shirin Snyder is a blogger, editor, writer, social media strategist, and dedicated traveler. An army brat, born and raised in India, Shirin fell in love with books at age 3 when she discovered Grimm’s Fairy Tales and has never stopped reading. Shirin earned her Honours Degree in political science from Jesus and Mary College, University of New Delhi, India, with minors in English Literature, Philosophy, and History, reading hundreds of romantic comedy novels in the process (instead of studying, which she found vastly boring). She is the founder of theology blog TheologyMix.com. She is married to John I. Snyder, a pastor, church planter, and bestselling Amazon author.
