Chapter 24: Seven Days

On the night of the anniversary I had the long table brought back into the dining room of the villa.

It sat fourteen, the same as before, and I filled every chair myself.

Pina sat on my left in her green dress, with her mother beside her and her grandmother beside her mother.

Her father sat at the far end and had already finished his bread.

Gaetano sat on my right.

Down the table were the Fenice chairman and his two sons, the old gate guard and his wife, and the cashier from the casino.

Two of the dockers' widows had come in from the Molo in their church clothes, holding their bags in their laps.

Ilaria stood at the sideboard in a black apron, carving a roast, with her hair tied back.

She had run the summit's catering for four months now, and she had not cried in front of anyone since June.

There was no champagne tower.

I had asked the housekeeper to put a bowl of lemons in the middle of the table instead.

When the plates were cleared I stood up and tapped my glass.

Every face at the table turned toward me.

"A year ago tonight," I said, "a man stood where I'm standing and told his friends a joke."

Nobody laughed. Pina's mother crossed herself.

"It was a bad joke, and it cost me a husband.

"I'd like to say thank you for it anyway."

The gate guard raised his eyebrows.

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