Burning the Map by Laura Caldwell Page A

but the woman smiles and nods her head.
    â€œGrazie,” I say, thanking her again. “Grazie.”
    One of the three guys who’ve been stuck standing in the aisle for the last few hours holds the door open for the couple then sticks his face in the car. He has shocking orange hair and freckles covering every visible surface of his wiry body.
    â€œHey, girls,” he says in a thick Irish brogue. “Mind if we share the car with you?” He gives us a crooked smile.
    â€œOf course not,” Lindsey says, deciding to speak for the first time in at least an hour. She waves at the spaces vacated by the couple.
    â€œExcellent, excellent. Come on, lads.” He gestures to his friends in the hall before he carries in a battered, army-green canvas bag and tosses it onto the overhead rack.
    â€œJohnny,” he says, extending a hand to Lindsey and me. “And this is Noel and Billy.”
    â€œI’m Kat,” Kat says, awakening at the sound of young males.
    Kat is generous enough to introduce Sin and me, and we all shake hands.
    Noel is a short, stout guy with shiny blue eyes and colicky brown hair that stands out at all angles. Billy is tall and sinewy with black curly hair.
    â€œHey, girls,” they both say.
    â€œMuch thanks for the accommodations,” Billy adds. “It was a feckin’ mess out there.”
    His hair reminds me of Francesco’s, but Billy is less mysterious, all grins and quick nods of his head.
    â€œWhere are you girls heading?” Noel asks, taking a seatand leaning forward, his short muscular forearms resting on his knees.
    â€œCorfu,” Kat says. “We’ve heard about someplace there called the Pink Palace.”
    All three of the Irish guys snort, making sounds of disgust.
    â€œAh, the Pink Palace,” Johnny says with a dismissive wave. “It’s bloody awful. We’ve been to Greece three times before, and believe us, you don’t need to go to Corfu. The place to go is Ios.”
    â€œWe might stop at Ios, too,” I say, “but Corfu is closer, and the Pink Palace sounds nice.” I don’t mention that we got our information from a guidebook used by Lindsey’s cousin a decade ago.
    â€œNice? Nice?” Johnny, Noel and Billy are laughing now.
    â€œAll they do is break plates off your head and feed you ouzo for breakfast. You don’t need that,” Billy says. “Come to Ios with us, girls, and we’ll show you what Greece is all about.”
    â€œI’m sure,” Lindsey says, mimicking his brogue. “Guinness for breakfast and shagging, right?”
    They all laugh again at her imitation, while I sit there astounded at her suddenly warm and witty personality shift.
    â€œAnything for you, love.” Billy holds Lindsey’s eyes a bit long, it seems.
    Lindsey’s eyes sparkle like they do on the rare occasion she’s interested in someone.
    Their intimate little moment passes as the guys describe Ios in more detail.
    â€œIt’s a little island that has billions of pubs and clubs packed onto it, and there’s a great beach,” Noel says.
    â€œAnd we know a place to stay,” Johnny says. “It’s on a cliff overlooking the beach. And the best part is it’s cheap.”
    I don’t hear the rest of their enthusiastic description. For some reason, I’ve let Francesco out of the basement room inmy head and started thinking about him again. I reach in the pocket of my shorts and pull out the card he gave me with his address on it. I wonder how many other women have the same card pasted in their scrapbooks next to his picture.
    â€œWhat do you think, Case?” Lindsey says. “Should we go to Ios with these guys?”
    Oh, now she’s speaking to me again.
    I think about it a moment. The truth is that the thought of deviating from our plan makes me anxious. These guys seem nice enough, but with them around I wonder if we’ll get