The Italian Affair Read Online Free PDF

calorific mounds of sugary pastries, croissants and brioche in a glass fronted display cabinet in front of them.
    “God, I’ve no idea. What’s your recommendation as you’ve been in Italy longer than me,” Issy murmured as she pressed her face against the glass cabinet bemused by the choices.
    “Um,” Dan said as he scanned the options. “Let’s see. I think we should try those shell-shaped pastries over there. They’re called Sfogliatella Frolla,” he continued “which also have a monastic history. The ones they have here in Naples are filled with orange flavoured ricotta and fruit. A bit heavy first thing but when in Rome….”
    After ordering and paying for their cappuccinos and Sfogliatelle, Dan and Issy stood at the bar dropping pastry crumbs on the floor as they hungrily ate the locally made sweet pastries and waited patiently for the barista to complete their coffee order.
    Like everybody else that morning he didn’t seem to be in any hurry, and took his time as he diligently and expertly measured out the ground coffee and stood watching over it as it percolated and then finally spluttered out of the industrial sized coffee machine in tiny dark black droplets.
    Taking hold of an aluminum jug he then steamed the milk which, when it was sufficiently micro-foamed, he poured on top of the dark black coffee only looking up once to ask them if they wanted chocolate.
    “Yes, most certainly we do,” Dan answered nodding his head furiously before turning to Issy and asking her a question. “So go on tell me another thing,” Dan said as they started drinking their coffees “because I’m totally intrigued. Why did someone like you come here to teach rather than anywhere else in the world…there has to be a bloody good reason for choosing Naples?”
    Issy laughed – again – at his insistence at knowing the gossip. As she dunked her Sfogliatella into the frothy cappuccino, she wondered how much she should let him know.
    “It’s a very long story,” Issy said carefully before blurting out “but the shorthand is I fell in love with a married man while I was at university. It was an intense affair that ended as effortlessly on his part as it had started intensely on both of our parts.”
    Issy suddenly stopped aware that she had already said too much. God she’d done it again. “What was it about Naples that forced her to be so gushing with her past?” she thought as she looked back up at Dan.
    “An affair – now that is interesting. I love a good affair! So go on,” Dan said holding her gaze “you can’t possibly just leave it at that.”
    Issy looked embarrassed and quickly knocked back her cappuccino. She didn’t mind Dan’s questioning half as much as she had minded Gennero and Pasquale’s. There’d been a definite connection as soon as they’d met and something about Dan made her want to open up and tell him everything.
    “Ok,” Issy said shyly. “I can’t promise you I can tell you everything but one thing that is really odd, is that when I walked into the staff room just now and saw you reading Brideshead Revisited I had to smile as the man I had an affair with – looked almost identical to Charles Ryder and acted like him as well.”
    “What?” said Dan looking extremely interested by what Issy had just said. “How very exciting he is my one of favourite literary heroes although I prefer Sebastian as a character in some respects as he was far more louche and damaged. Where and how did you meet someone as gorgeous as Charles?”
    Issy put her cappuccino cup into the saucer on the bar and looked up at Dan and smiled. “I like to think that it was fate,” Issy said simply. “I was walking along past the front lawn of Balliol College one freezing cold day in February in my second term and literally bumped into him. And that was pretty much it. ‘Le coupe de foudre’ as the French like to call it.”
    “Blimey,” said Dan. “That’s never happened to me EVER but I’ve