Christmas in Venice

By Maria Grazia Swan

Amanda finds she has to do more than pet-sitting over the Christmas holidays when Matilda the tortoise goes missing. Soon the whole neighborhood rush to help, but no one with more enthusiasm than the mysterious body guard of the recluse romance writer next door.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Maria Grazia Swan
• Release date: Nov 28, 2016
• ISBN: 9781370500642

Maria Grazia Swan

Best selling author Maria Grazia Swan was born in Italy, but this rolling stone has definitely gathered no moss. She lived in Belgium, France, Germany, in beautiful Orange County, California where she raised her family, and is currently at home in Phoenix, Arizona--but stay tuned for weekly updates of Where in the World is Maria Grazia Swan?As a young girl, her vivid imagination predestined her to be a writer. She won her first literary award at the age of fourteen while living in Belgium. As a young woman Maria returned to Italy to design for--ooh-la-la--haute couture. Once in the U.S. and after years of concentrating on family, she tackled real estate. These days her time is devoted to her deepest passions: writing and helping people find happiness.Maria loves travel, opera, good books, hiking, and intelligent movies (if she can find one, that is). When asked about her idea of a perfect evening, she favors stimulating conversation, Northern Italian food and perfectly chilled Prosecco--but then, who doesn't?And then there is her latest attempt at conquering the world of readers-who-love-Italy-and-anything- Italian. Yes, she has a new series out thanks to Gemma Halliday Publishing. The Lella York’s series has released 2 books to date;Murder under the Italian Moon and the newest addition, Death Under the Venice Moon

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CHRISTMAS IN VENICE

the Smashwords edition

Maria Grazia Swan

All rights reserved

Copyright 2016 Maria Grazia Swan

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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imaginations or are used fictitiously.

Christmas in Venice

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Christmas in Venice

Daily routine evening:

Put Sam, the Golden Retriever, in his kennel—check.

Make sure kitties, Cheech and Chong, have food, water and a clean litter box—check.

Very important! Regarding gorgeous Matilda the tortoise—it’s mating season, and she cannot be allowed to dig herself out of the yard… again—check.

Amanda smiled at the thought of Matilda digging an escape tunnel to go look for love at the dizzying speed of zero point one seven miles per hour.

Not on my watch.

No mere tortoise would be allowed to soil the solid reputation she’d built as a pet sitter, not even one as cute as Matilda.

Patricia Miller, Matilda’s owner, was one of Amanda’s consistent repeat customers. Mostly due to the traveling schedule she kept. The position became available after Matilda’s daring escape and walkabout that resulted in the firing of Amanda’s predecessor. That was ten months ago, but Patricia still talked about it. It happened in the middle of the day, and, in the end, the blame didn’t lie with Matilda’s penchant for digging as much as the sitter’s negligence.

The sitter had left the side gate open to go chat with a neighbor then accepted the invitation to a cup of tea. By the time she came back, Matilda was halfway across the road and heading for the park. In such a close-knit neighborhood, everybody knew your name and your business, and the ones who didn’t learned quickly enough when the UPS truck had to slam on its brakes to avoid running over your giant turtle.

The truck had swerved and hit the fire hydrant instead. The thundering hydrant water had slammed into the school bus coming from the opposite direction. The poor driver, old man Joe, had lost control of the bus, flew through the side wall of Mrs. Smith’s house, and wound up just feet from the bed where Mrs. Smith and Pastor Jones were reenacting Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, with the snake, minus the apple.

In spite of all the commotion, Matilda had made it safely to the park. The school bus had been empty at the time, and no one was hurt—well, not physically at least. Pastor Jones was transferred. Mr. Smith filed for divorce. And Patricia Miller? She sold her house and moved to a different side of town.

The new neighborhood was even swankier than the first one, but according to Patricia, the people weren’t that friendly. No one spoke to her. While many of the neighbors earned a comfortable living with various artistic pursuits, Patricia made a killing thanks to batteries. Car batteries. A new concept she invented, designed, and trademarked on her own. She used the slogan: The battery with a longer life span than Matilda. It appeared in marketing materials next to Matilda’s pic.

Patricia was often on talk shows, spoke at colleges and trade schools, and because she was away from home so frequently she hired Amanda to stay with her pets. What began as a way for Amanda to earn some extra change when she was in high school and college had become a full time job after her mother passed away. The fifth anniversary of her mother’s death was coming up, and Amanda was on schedule to keep the promise she made. Using Facebook and some old letters discovered in shoeboxes brimming with mementos and photos of her mother’s childhood in Italy, Amanda had tracked down her mother’s cousin from