Chapter 70

Alessandro.

Much to Alessandro’s pleasure, despite no obligation, Rosalia has continued to visit him every week.

He now knows that she’s got no other reason to come and see him other than the fact that she wants to.

Alessandro tries to show her his appreciation by being sat at his chair ahead of time. For this, he’s bribed a guard to accompany him down to the visiting room before everyone else. His old ways haven’t entirely died.

He always asks about her week and about her children. Even if he’s never met the boys, he feels that he knows them very well. Rosalia works in a café and she tells him about her days, the good and the bad customers, the ones who complain about small things, and the ones who leave big tips. She also tells him about the waiter with wandering hands and how she keeps him in check every time he tries to make a pass at her.

Alessandro tells her that, if he had the man in front of him, nobody would be able to take him out of his hands alive.

“That’s why you’re still in jail, love,” she tells him with a kind smile.

Then, he tells her about all the wonderful things he’s learned in the plumbing course that week. Stopcocks, U-bends, toilets and sinks—nothing holds any mystery for him now.

“When you come out of here, you must drop by my flat and fix my leaky tap and my blocked sink.”

Alessandro has never imagined going to Rosalia’s house as a visiting plumber-friend. For the last few months, he’s been harboring very different dreams. Dreams in which her taps and sinks are also his own. Dreams in which they live together, they sleep together, they have a family together. Alessandro has fallen in love with her. He can’t believe that there was a time when he thought she was ugly. He still prefers curvy women, and Rosalia still has a long way to go to become curvy by any standard. But Alessandro likes her anyway.

Sometimes, when she’s sitting in that chair with one arm wrapped around her waist and the other playing with her hair, he feels like shattering the glass between them with a punch and kissing her.

Of course, he has never told her any of that. With being in jail and having all his possessions confiscated by the authorities, he has nothing to offer her. It wouldn’t be fair to ask her to wait until he’s come out of jail and can start to rebuild his life from scratch.

“But even if you don’t want to fix my taps and sinks, you’ll still be welcome to visit me. In fact, by then, you will owe me so many visits that you might as well move in and live with me,” she continues jokingly.

Alessandro’s heart makes a somersault. He hopes that she’s not entirely joking. He hopes that there’s a little bit of truth in her words—even if not quite an invitation, they could at least contain a wish. That’s enough to encourage him.

“I would like that very much,” he says seriously.

She freezes.

“Which part—the fixing my taps or the moving in with me?” she asks.

“Both. I would like to marry you,” he says. “I would like your taps to be my taps and your sinks to be my sinks,” Alessandro adds as an explanation, in case he hadn’t made himself clear.

“This is the most unusual proposal I’ve ever heard,” she says with a smile.

“It’s a plumber’s proposal,” he says with a self-conscious grin. “But I’m not a plumber yet. Right now, I’m an inmate so I can’t offer you anything and I’m not expecting you to wait for me. If you find someone else you want to marry before, I will understand. And I promise I won’t kill him, even if I will surely want to. But if you’re still on your own when I come out of here, then I hope you will marry me. You can be sure that I’ll do all I can to leave this place as soon as possible.”

Rosalia looks at him with a tenderness that makes Alessandro’s insides rearrange.

“I don’t want to marry again while the boys are still young, but by the time you come out of here, things will be very different. No promises, but I will consider your offer then,” she says.

“Thank you.”

Then she places her palm against the glass. He does the same from his side and they’re palm against palm, with only the glass between them. Even if he can’t feel the warmth of her hand through the cold glass, Alessandro can feel it in his heart.