Autumn Love In Italy

By Judy Swinson

Midwestern nurse Annie dreams of finding the type of love you read about in romance novels. Having been burned in the past, she is no stranger to heartache and remains guarded. But that doesn't stop her kind and compassionate heart from holding onto hope for something beautiful amidst the trauma she sees every day in the emergency room. When an opportunity lands her in Italy, Annie learns to live in the moment and

adventure paves the way to the kind of love she's been waiting for.

Italian waiter Luca has grown up feeling like a piece is missing from his life.  Found in a church, abandoned as a small boy, he has grown up desperate to please the family that raised him. This handsome hard worker, with a kind heart catches Annie's eye, when she dines in a favorite Florence pub. She could be the one to finally make him feel complete, but he holds back, uncertain of who he is and where this attraction could lead. Known across the city for his good looks and magical pizza skills, he's quite the catch. But he only has eyes for one tourist in particular. 

As the seasons change, Annie and Luca fall deeper for each other, and their love becomes the ultimate journey as distance, language barriers and hurdle after hurdle threaten to tear their newfound love apart.  One thing is certain, the language of love goes beyond words.    

• Language: English
• Publisher: Judy swinson swinson
• Release date: Oct 18, 2018
• ISBN: 9781540192363

Book preview

Prologue

As I gathered the groceries from the back seat of my car, the dark clouds open up and the rain becomes like pellets against my face. I run toward the steps of my house, juggling the groceries on my hip. I fumble to find the house key in my pocket as the carton of eggs fall out of the bag and splatter on the steps. I scream inside my head, just something else to add to the end of my horrendous day at the hospital. Just as I turn the key and push the door open with my knee, a familiar nose comes around the corner of the door and helps me push it open as I enter .

Hi Cosmo, how’s my boy? Did you have a better day than your Mom did? Cosmo, the big yellow lab, just wags his tail and follows me to the kitchen with the now very soggy bag of groceries. I retrieve the messy eggs from the steps, kick off my heels, and slump in the big easy chair.

Cosmo curls up at my feet as he stretches his neck up to place his head in my lap. He watches me with those soft milk chocolate colored eyes as I reach down to scratch behind his ears. I must have dozed off because the next thing I know there is a phone in the distance that just keeps ringing and ringing.

"Annie, how are you? I know you are going through a rough spot and under a lot of pressure with all the changes at the hospital; change in management, new vice president you report to and the new branding campaign you are responsible to get completed , but I have important things to talk to you about that will make

your

day

."

My sister is talking a mile a minute so I patiently wait for her to take a breath so I can speak. She is very dramatic and you can’t get a word in edge wise. She should have been an actress.

"Annie, I have three important questions to

ask

you

."

"Okay, go

for

it

."

Question 1. Do you have a passport?

Yes

Question 2. Do you have a carry on suitcase?

Yes

"Question 3. Do you have any vacation time left this year? And can you get off work in September, say the

second

week

?"

"Possibly, but what’s going on Francesca? It’s not even

July

yet

."

"We’re going to Italy!!! You and me, Sis you know I have always wanted to go to Italy ever since I saw the movie Under the Tuscan Sun and you know I originated in Italy, you know conceived there and then born here in America after my Dad took that position in New York. So that makes me really Italian, but you know all that. Oh and they have such dreamy Italian men there, maybe you can find one and then you can get

over

Ryan

."

Francesca, slow it down. Do you think you could slow down a minute and stop rambling? Ryan is out of the picture and has been for months. Ryan, the ex-boyfriend she refers to is the doctor I dated since last Christmas, until just a few weeks ago, when he decided a monogamous relationship just wasn’t for him so he moved on to one of those cute little new student nurses that came on board in June after she received the results of her state boards.

"Yea, but you are still hung up

on

him

."

How much is this trip going to cost me? I edge into the one way conversation.

Oh don’t worry about expenses, except your plane ticket and personal money for spending. The magazine wants me to do an article on why the Italian food here in the states is so different than the Italian food in Italy, so they are sending me to interview two Italian Chefs, one in Rome and one in Florence. We are going to Rome, Florence and then Venice while we are there.

Nice, why Venice?

Venice is just a little side trip, but I want to ride in a gondola while we are there, maybe have one of those men in the striped shirts and black hats sing to us as he paddles through the canals. I’m just so excited. Check your vacation schedule at work and I will talk to you in a few days, Arrivederci.

Ah ah, Francesca. But she was

already

gone

.

1

Annie

Ilove my sister, she is gorgeous. Auburn hair, big brown eyes with long eye lashes, voluptuous body and lives in the moment. She has a column in one of the top Italian Cuisine Magazines that is published in the United States. She’s on the A list, invited to all the parties with a number of celebrities. She’s a big flirt, but then again she is gorgeous. She has lots of dates, but she hasn’t met anyone she has become serious about. Her motto is I’m young and have a good job, and no one is going to tie me down or tell me what to do . I think she must have gotten that from the fact our Mom never worked or seemed to be anything other than a wife and mother. Our Dad was the one who ruled the roost and Mom was the old fashioned stay at home mom, where she cooked, cleaned and raised the family. Not sure how we managed to go to college and become self-supporting professional business minded women. We are both Registered Nurses. Francesca is the smart one, she got her RN degree in only 2 years and I don’t mean an associate. I mean Bachelor’s degree that normally takes 3 to 4 years. Me, it took me the full four years for my Bachelor’s. After working in healthcare for a year, Francesca just didn’t think it was something she wanted to do for the rest of her life. She said she didn’t get to spend time with her patients, it was mostly paperwork .

I personally think it was because she was addicted to the hospital soap operas on television thinking she would meet Dr. Tall, Dark and Handsome and he would sweep her off

her

feet

.

After taking a position in a small hospital in the Blue Ridge mountain region of Virginia, she became disenchanted when she realized most of the physicians were on the door step of Medicare. One day out of the blue when her shift ended, she marched into Human Resources turned in her hospital identification badge, her keys and informed the receptionist she quit and she was going shopping and then she walked out the door never to look back or have regrets. She does a lot of shopping and she’s impulsive. The next time I talked with her she told me she had sent a resume to a cooking magazine on the east coast for an internship. She got hired at the Italian Fare Cooking Magazine in Virginia Beach, Virginia. She has been there for two years now, and was recently promoted to one of the editors for the Interview with a Chef column. She loves it, writes a food column and interviews chefs all over the east coast at the five star restaurants. High end cuisine, restaurants that have linen tablecloths with napkins and real china and crystal. Not anything I can afford. She always has a date with someone new. But she doesn’t get serious. Francesca’s fun even