Rian mopped up the remaining chocolate syrup on her plate with the last waffle bit on her now-empty plate. “Having an accent can be an asset, though, right?”

Carla smirked as she chewed on her food and then swallowed. “Especially with the guys!” She drank some juice again, while pointing with her fork playfully at Rian’s plate. “You are a good eater!”

“I was starving!” Rian laughed as she drew her cappuccino up to her lips. Guys, huh? So she and her friends must be straight?

Carla smiled as she speared a forkful of fruit. “Well, I’m hungry, too. And the food here is fantastico, so I think I will eat a lot while we are here!”

After she swallowed, she sat back. “I work for one of the fashion designers. The accent thing works in that setting sometimes.”

“I’m sure you have no problems yourself getting their attention, though,” Carla winked. “Even without an accent.”

Rian smiled back. “I don’t notice, anymore.”

“What?? How can you not notice?” Carla was shaking her head. She scooped up a chunk of the fluffy, cheesy omelet she’d had prepared by the cheerful man in the floppy top hat.

“I’m in a relationship.” Rian shrugged, and drank the last drops of her cappuccino. Where’s Jade? She must be really out of it!

Rian didn’t add to that, and Carla saw that Rian was anxiously fidgeting with her phone. She decided to switch topics.

“Well, when my friends get here you’ll see that their accents will be stronger than mine. And sometimes, when we’re together, we jabber in Italian. It can be quite rude of us. So let me apologize in advance!”

Rian smiled. “Speaking of apologizing … I hope you don’t mind that I text my girlfriend. I’m not sure what’s happened to her.”

Carla swiped her mouth to wipe off stray bits of food on her lips. Girlfriend, huh? How sexy!

“Please go ahead. I won’t bother to text my friends because they will get here soon enough!”

Rian finished texting Jade, noting that Carla didn’t noticeably react to what she’d just said. “So tell me about them.”

Carla set her cappuccino cup down. “My friends, well most of them, also work in New York. One works in the Italian consulate and another works in the UN. They’ve only been here for six months and they are still getting used to life here. One is visiting from Milano, so we all decided to take a few days off and come over with her.”