Free Tutti Italia: A Novel by Deena Jordan

locker rooms, and the
weights and other machines that a typical gym would have.  She liked the
layout, and she stopped by the front desk to pick up a spin class schedule. 
This really wasn’t a bad place.  Everything looked brand new, even though she knew
it wasn’t.  Once she got herself some more workout clothes, she would
definitely be coming here.  She had to face reality, there was really nothing
else that she could do unless she started to order things to read and do from
Amazon.com.  She loved shopping there.  They had everything, and with her prime
account, she got free expedited shipping, plus some discounts.  That would be
something that she could spend some of her money on that she could justify to
herself.  She checked the time and saw that she’d been gone from her room for
about forty-five minutes.  She decided she might as well head back.  She’d
taken her walk and found a gym, so she didn’t consider it a total loss.  She
thought about what she had in her suitcases that she could do to pass the time
with.  Oh, crap.  She hadn’t even unpacked her suitcases yet.
    She made it back to her room, and dragged one of her
overstuffed suitcases up on to her bed.  She opened the closet in the corner to
see if there were any hangers in there, but she was sadly disappointed.  She
made a mental note to go to the store tomorrow and pick some up.  She laid
everything on her bed that needed to be hung up, then started putting her
folded clothes in the drawers that were under the bed.  Once all of those were put
away, she packed up everything that needed to get hung up again so it was out
of her way until she was ready to put them in the closet.  The other suitcase,
she remembered, had few clothes in it because it held all of the things she’d
packed for entertainment that she couldn’t take in her carryon luggage.  She
made short work of the few clothes that there were, then unpacked the few other
books she’d brought, the craft project she’d started and never finished, and a
few movies that she had.  There were more on her laptop, of course, but these
ones were special to her.  They were her favorites.  Once she got her bank
account opened, she’d be able to beef up her room a little.  It just seemed
bland to her without any decorations. 
    She popped one of the movies into her laptop and pulled out
her cross stitch picture that she’d started so long ago that she couldn’t even
remember exactly when.  That would keep her busy for the rest of the day, and
when she got bored with it or overly tired, she could just go to bed early. 
There was nothing wrong with that.  She clicked on play before she settled
herself up against her pillows and headboard, and started to follow the pattern
on her paper.  The hours whiled away as she laughed and stitched.  She changed
out movies twice, and she could see that the light coming in from her window
was now nonexistent.  She sat up and stretched, her muscles complaining since
she hadn’t used them in a while.  She put her things on the desk and got in the
shower.  By the time she got out, she was tired enough to fall asleep standing
up.  She hurriedly toweled her hair somewhat dry, then put on her pajamas,
turned off the light and curled up under the blankets.  She was in the process
of drifting off to sleep when the person that lived on the other side of her
room started to blare their music, making the wall shake.  She really was
getting annoyed.  Three hours had gone by, and the music hadn’t stopped. 
Rachel was fed up.  She pulled out her cell phone from the cubby she left it in
to charge, and called the base police.
    “Law enforcement desk, SSgt Matthews, how may I help you,
sir or ma’am?”  That was a shock to her.  She wasn’t used to having people call
her ma’am.
    “Yes, sir.  I live in the dorms and there’s someone right
next to me that’s blaring their music so I can’t sleep.  Would you be able to
send