Rendezvous in Rome Read Free Page B

invited us to dinner at his mother’s. But we are free tomorrow, right, you guys?” she said, giving Nancy, Claudia, and George a pleading look.
    Nancy could see that the others didn’t want to stand in the way of Bess’s romance, either. “Right,” she confirmed. “Dancing sounds great.”
    â€œPerfetto . Then it is a date,” Massimo said, his smiling eyes trained on Bess.
    â€œMassimo,” a low female voice called. Nancy turned and saw a stunning girl with deep green eyes and black hair. She wore a long simple dress splashed with red flowers. She was very petite, only about five feet tall.
    â€œKarine,” Massimo said, surprise in his voice. “Um, meet Nancy, Bess, and George. This is Karine Azar. You already know Claudia.”
    Karine smiled and waved at the girls. Casually she went over and sat on Massimo’s stool.
    â€œAzar?” George asked. “Is that Italian?”
    â€œIt’s Turkish,” Karine replied, with a slight lilt in her voice. “But my mother is Italian.”
    â€œKarine is an artist, too,” Massimo explained. “We go to the same school. She makes chalk drawings in the piazza during the summer.” His eyes darted between Bess and Karine, and he looked very uncomfortable. Nancy wondered what the story was between him and Karine.
    â€œWhat kind of drawings?” Nancy asked Karine, trying to break the tension.
    Karine nodded. “Over there.” She waved in the direction of a brightly colored drawing on the stone floor of the piazza. It was a depiction of a robed figure.
    â€œThat’s really great,” George commented. “What is it?”
    â€œI usually do one of Rome’s great works. Today it is one of the figures from a fresco called The School of Athens ,” Karine said. “It’s supposed to be Aristotle.”
    After glancing at the drawing Bess took hernecklace out of her knapsack and showed Massimo the broken clasp. “Can you fix it?” she asked.
    â€œCèrto . Of course. Let me get a new clasp and some pliers.” Massimo reached for a canvas bag beneath his display table. “This is a beautiful piece,” he said as he dug around for supplies. “If I had known you had it, I might even have charged you for the one I gave you this morning.”
    â€œWhat an artist!” Bess teased. “You can’t even recognize your own art. This is the necklace you gave me this morning.”
    â€œNo, it is not,” Massimo said, wrapping a clear piece of fishing line around the clasp. He tied a knot, pulled it tight, and snipped off the end.
    Bess glanced at Nancy and George in confusion. “Of course it’s the one you gave me. Why would I buy two necklaces like this?”
    Now Massimo was the one who looked confused. “You do not really think this is my necklace,” he said. “Did you lose the one I gave you?”
    â€œMassimo gave you a necklace?” Karine spoke up, looking suddenly interested. “And you lost it? If Massimo gave me a necklace, I would never, ever lose it,” she declared, catching Massimo’s gaze.
    Bess had competition, Nancy thought. And Karine was making sure she knew it.
    Ignoring Karine, George asked Massimo, “Why do you think that necklace isn’t yours?”
    â€œLook at this,” he said. He held out a piece of the broken clasp he had just removed. “It is veryintricate. My clasps are much simpler. Also, the beads are strung differently. I use fishing line. These beads are knotted onto a braided string.”
    Massimo fingered the beads carefully. “I am almost certain that these beads are made of real gold.”
    Bess stared at the necklace in disbelief. “I don’t get it. How could this be real gold?”
    â€œIt is heavier than my necklaces are, for one thing. And the workmanship is better,” Massimo explained. He unhooked one of his necklaces from the velvet