Chapter Thirty-Seven
MILES
PRESENT
“You know that I've never liked blindfolds.”
I smile as I walk Marina out the back of the Lost and Found, my hands covering her eyes. “Only a few more steps,” I say.
Nerves tumble in my stomach, and I don't know why. I just hope she likes it, and I hope she stays.
Marina and I haven't spent that much time together in the last week. I think she’s still processing everything that I've said the last few times we’ve been together.
In all honesty, I'm still processing everything too. All of my emotions and feelings that I've been avoiding for so long.
Speaking them out loud made them feel real, far more real than they ever felt stuck up in my head, but I still don’t know quite what to do with them.
“I can hear people,” she says. “Why can I hear people?”
I chuckle into her hair. “Since when are you so bad with surprises?”
“Since always. Remember when I was surprised to see you last year? No, of course you don’t because I ran away from it.”
I just shake my head before I pull her to a stop, and as I look over everything in front of me, a swell of pride rises in my chest. I can’t believe we managed to pull this off.
“Well, I hope you don’t run away from this one,” I say, lifting my hands away.
Marina just stares at what’s in front of her, her eyes taking everything in before she finally turns to me, those eyes wide. “What is this?”
“What does it look like, princess?” I take her hand in mine and pull her forward—into the field where blankets are scattered across the ground, groups of people hanging around with baskets of food, or takeaway pizzas as they look up at the big projector screen hanging from in between the trees at the edge of the forest. “Have you ever heard of al fresco movies?”
“Of course I have,” she mutters as she stumbles along behind me. “But how did I not know about this?”
“Because I asked everyone to keep it a secret,” I say, weaving us through the groups of people waiting for the movie to start.
“This town can’t keep a secret,” she mutters before we reach the picnic mat where her parents are sitting.
“We can if it’s for something good, bambina ,” Vanessa says, standing up to give me a kiss on the cheek. “And this man is very convincing.”
I went down to the Sugared Plum last week and told Vanessa what I was planning.
I hadn’t spoken to her since the day that she found out about Marina and me, but when I told her about the surprise I was planning for her daughter, she didn’t hesitate to help me, and rope in everyone else she could think of.
Honestly, I was surprised that word didn’t get out myself. But knowing Vanessa, she would have put the hard word out, not wanting to ruin the surprise for Marina. And I know that if it were me that Vanessa was instructing with keeping a secret, my lips would be zipped.
“He even convinced me to come down here and help with the setup,” Luca says from his spot on the mat. “And you know how much I hate physical work at this age. ”
Luca was a massive help today, and it was nice to finally meet the man I've heard so much about.
We spoke about puzzles and his love for football—it didn’t feel like an appropriate time to mention just how much I dislike it.
We spoke about Marina too, he told me about what she was like growing up and what it was like watching her build her own business.
He spoke with years' worth of pride, and I was hungry for every story he told, relishing in finding out things I didn't know about the girl I love. We didn’t talk about me and her. I don’t know how much her family knows about our relationship.
But he warmed to me immediately, and I to him.
Marina crouches down with a smile on her face, planting a kiss on her pa’s head. “Naw, it's hard getting old, isn't it?”
“You just wait, missy,” he says, and Marina just giggles before standing up again, giving me a hint of that beautiful smile before her ma catches her attention once more.
“We’ve got you set up just over there,” she points to where a red checkered blanket is laid out, a picnic basket filled with Vanessa’s food placed perfectly on the corner.
“ Grazie, mama ,” Marina wraps her mom in a hug before I do the same.
“ Tante grazie ,” I say.
She softens her grip on me, holding my hands in between us. “ Prego .” The smile that she gives me is so warm, so comforting, as she gives my hands a quick squeeze. “Now go,” she says, waving us away. “Before the movie starts.”
I throw her a grateful smile before following Marina towards our picnic mat. She looks over her shoulder at me. “Red, really?”
I just shrug. “Wasn’t me.”
She doesn’t need to know that I went to the market on Sunday and picked it out myself.
“Uh-huh,” she mutters as she sits down. I watch her as she peers inside the basket, her eyes lighting up at whatever is inside. “Oh, she loves you,” she says.
“What do you mean? ”
Marina rolls her eyes before reaching into the basket and pulling out two spoons, followed by two ramekins of panna cotta.
“Oh my god,” I mutter. “Is that the panna cotta?”
“Yup.” She pops the ‘p’ as she shakes her head. I just chuckle, knowing that if Vanessa gave us her most famous dessert, it’s because she wants us to have a good night.
I didn’t realize just how good it would feel knowing that she wants this to work, even if she says it through food instead of words. My tummy rumbles with anticipation.
My mind flashes back to the day Marina told me I should try this. It feels like a lifetime ago, yet also like it was just the other day.
It was one of our first days together in Sorrento when she found me devouring a piece of tiramisu from a stall on the side of the road. She said it was good, but nothing compared to her ma’s panna cotta, and here we are over four years later, and I finally get to try it.
“Gimme,” I say, reaching out for the spoon in her hand.
“Alright, Mr. Impatient,” she says with a smile before handing me one of the desserts.
I don’t waste a second admiring it, I just dig my spoon into the soft dessert and lift it to my mouth.
The taste of lemon and raspberry dances along my taste buds, the flavour exploding in my mouth. I close my eyes as I swallow it down.
“Holy,” I mumble.
Marina lets out a little giggle. “Didn’t I tell you?”
I just nod mindlessly before digging back in. “That is fucking amazing.”
She doesn't get to respond before the opening credits of Notting Hill start playing on the projector screen. ‘She’ by Charles Aznavour, coming from the giant speakers Luca helped me set up, and it sounds perfect, no grain and no crackle, just clear sound.
I catch his gaze from across the field and he throws a little thumbs up paired with a wink in my direction. I have to hold back the grin wanting to escape my lips .
It looks just as magical as I had hoped, with string lights wound around the tree trunks on either side of the screen. It looks like something from a fairytale, all of it is even better than I had imagined, and when I look over to Marina, she’s just looking at me.
“ Notting Hill ?”
“Yeah, Notting Hill ,” I say, not able to hold back the smile that pulls at my lips.
She just looks at me, like really looks at me, and it feels like one of those moments where time stands still, where the world stops for just a second so that this moment can last just a little bit longer.
She shakes her head so subtly you can barely notice it. “You remembered?”
“I remember every single thing about you, princess. I couldn’t forget if I tried.”