Chapter Thirty-Six
When we get back to the apartment, my mom hugs Luca.
“Mrs.Herriot,” he says, “I owe you the biggest apology. I should never have asked Story to lie to you. I don’t know how you can stand me.” He says it with genuine contrition, but without fear because he already knows he’s forgiven.
“Well, I can’t approve of the behavior of either of you,” she says. “But…I think maybe you’ve both learned something important. And you got my daughter out of her shell, which I was beginning to think might never happen.”
Luca and I smile at each other.
My mom goes to get us celebratory limonatas while Luca and I sit down. “How did you know where to find me this afternoon?”
“Jack texted me. He was worried about you.”
“So you came back because of Jack?”
Luca takes my hand. “After you left Scotland, I didn’t know if I had any chance with you. I came to Rome to at least try. Then Jack told me you were probably losing Princeton, and I couldn’t let you go in there on your own. When I saw you today and you left without even giving me a chance, I was afraid I should give up. But then you posted, and I had hope again.”
“I wanted you—I wanted everyone—to know the truth. Even though I didn’t think we could be together.”
“I could hardly believe what I read. Then when Rowdy posted—”
“Wait, what did Jeremy say?”
My mom sets our limonatas on the coffee table and sits down.
“You didn’t see it?”
“No, I turned my phone off after I posted. Plus, I don’t follow him anyway.”
“He backed you up. He said part of him will always love Jasmine, but the stuff her team was putting out there just wasn’t true. It was pretty smart, actually, because he blamed her people so he doesn’t have to get into a fan tug-of-war with her. He let everyone know she was lying without ever callingher a liar.”
“Why would he do that for me?”
“Well, back when all this started, we had to fill him in. I was on the call, and we told him that you were going to do this, and he didn’t trust you’d keep it a secret. He couldn’t believe you weren’t a fan and would still do it, until I explained what you wanted in return, and why. I told him you asked if helping us would help him. He was actually really touched.”
“You never told me that.”
“I didn’t think it was important. Anyway, once Jeremy came out for you, then Dani felt like she could, too. I’m not going to tell you the Jasminers aren’t going to make our lives miserable to the extent they can. But it’s already cooling down with her running around with the superhero guy from the comics franchise. People who love her blindly will move on with her. The rest will see who she really is.”
“Eventually,” I say.
“Okay, I deserve that.” He squints a little. “I have one more thing to tell you that might make you mad at me.”
“Now what?” my mom and I say in unison.
He takes a deep breath. “Well, when you walked out on your school today, I asked my dad to talk to someone at Oxford. I just wanted to make sure you had somewhere to go. Anyway, they said they’d open your offer back up if you’re still interested.”
“Really?” I turn to my mom. “Is that ethical?”
She shrugs. “You got in before on your own merit. All Luca’s dad did was ask them to give you a second chance to accept the offer.”
“And you’d be okay with me going to school in England?”
“You’d be closer than if you were in the States. But it’s your decision.” She puts her hands up to let me know I’m my own adult now.
Luca weaves his fingers into mine. “So?”
I let it sink in. “I guess I’m going to Oxford?”
Luca hugs me. “You’re going to love it, I know it.”
We talk about Oxford for a while, and then my mom says she has work tomorrow, so she wishes us good night. Luca and I share a gelato as he tells me more about my new school, and then he wraps me up in his arms.
“There are so many places I want to go with you, so many things I want us to do together.”
“Gray seal pups this fall?”
“Definitely. And Amsterdam next summer, and Maine.” He strokes my hair, his heartbeat against my cheek. “Although, I don’t know if anywhere could be as magical as Rome. I came here chasing false gold, just like Pietraforte. And, somehow, I met a girl who gave me the formula for the real thing. Maybe that could only have happened in a place known as the EternalCity.”
“Well, you know what they say.” I pull away just enough to see his beautiful eyes.
“All roads lead to Rome,” we say together. And, when he kisses me, I know it’s true.