Chapter 16 - Alisa #2
I craned my neck forward as he drove into a clearing overlooking a lake. The night sky had painted the water silver from the stars above, and I saw dark, shadowy mountains rise in the distance.
“Oh my god,” I breathed. “How did you find this place?”
“I’ve been coming to Harriman State Park since I was young, whenever I had too much going on,” he explained. “And this exact spot? I found it a few years ago when I needed to get away. Never brought anyone here before.”
I snapped my eyes over to him, the admission somehow feeling important. He turned off the engine and shrugged. “It’s no Michelin.”
“But it’s perfect,” I sighed and smiled at him.
He smiled too, and for a few seconds, a comfortable silence lulled over us. For some reason, the moment felt intimate in a way I didn’t want to examine. Not yet.
“So,” I said at last, when staring into his eyes started to burn a hole in my heart. “Are we going to sit in here all night?”
“Right,” he laughed, shaking his head, shaking off the moment. He reached for the food bag. “These burgers aren’t getting any warmer.”
We stepped out and sat on the hood of his car, eating and watching the lake ripple before us.
“You’ve seriously never brought anyone here?” I asked, just to be sure.
I glanced at him and sipped my wine. That meant something, didn’t it?
You’re reading into it, I told myself. Don’t be that girl.
But still—he’d brought me.
“I haven’t.” He shook his head. “Once, I considered bringing Bea.”
“Why didn’t you?”
“Well.” He had a twinkle in his eye. “I took her to a speakeasy first. Next thing I knew, she’d told all her friends. Now? The bouncers hate me, and the place has turned into an overcrowded nightclub.”
“No way!” I laughed.
“True story. The owners love her, though. She claims they should make her partner.”
“Bea really is something, isn’t she?” I chuckled.
“Oh, you have no idea. And wait until you hear about the time she stole Caspian’s car for a joyride.”
“Tell me more… “ I quirked an eyebrow and sipped my wine.
The night went on beautifully. The burgers were perfectly greasy, the kind of comfort food that made everything feel a little less terrible, and Dante started telling me stories about his siblings that had me laughing until my sides hurt.
“Your family is something else,” I said, wiping away tears of laughter after a particularly ridiculous story about the time Federico decided to go kayaking and led them all into crocodile-infested waters.
“They’re a lot,” Dante agreed, “but I can’t imagine life without them.”
“Yeah… you’re lucky like that,” I sighed and looked out at the distance.
We sat there for a while longer, quietly sipping wine as the night wrapped around us like a thick velvet blanket. The air had that crisp mountain chill to it, and for the first time in days, I felt my shoulders loosen.
After we finished eating and emptied the bottle of wine, Dante suggested we wait it out because his head still felt light. I agreed, not wanting him to be drunk on the drive back, and Dante lay back on the hood and tucked his behind his head to stare up at the stars.
I followed suit, kicking off my shoes and lying beside him.
“You see that one?” he asked, pointing at a particularly bright star.
“Nope,” I said, squinting. “I only see five dots.”
“Those dots, Alisa,” he laughed, and I smiled at the sound, “are called stars.”
“Are they really?” I pretended to be very surprised, and he laughed harder. This used to be a game we played back in the day, where we each took turns pretending like we didn’t know the obvious.
God, I’d missed this game. Missed him, without even realizing it.
A little while later, I felt my hand accidentally brush up against his. For a moment, I froze and wondered if he’d pull away. He didn’t.
Instead, I held my breath and curled my fingers slightly, just enough to feel the side of his knuckle against mine. It wasn’t a full touch. It was barely there—barely anything. But it sent sparks shooting down my spine.
I thought it would’ve been so easy to lean into him and reach for his hand fully. To turn my face, meet his eyes, and kiss him under the stars like no time had passed at all.
But right now, that felt… complicated.
Because the truth was, I still didn’t understand why he’d left me all those years ago without an explanation, and as much as I wanted to forget all that in the soft warmth of his presence, I couldn’t.
So I didn’t move, and neither did he.
But something had shifted just a little.
We stayed like that for a long time, but eventually, we decided it was time to pack up. Dante collected the cups, the empty wrappers, and the bottle while I stuffed the blanket back into the trunk.
We started walking a slow loop around the edge of the clearing, just for the sake of stretching our legs before the hour-long drive back home. It was peaceful, the kind of quiet that settled in your bones and told you the world was a beautiful place.
Until I heard a snap and froze.
“What was that?” I whispered sharply.
Dante stopped, too, and I saw the panic flash in his eyes. “I don’t know.”
Then we heard a louder rustle, and I held back a whimper when it was followed by the sound of twigs cracking under the weight of something—or someone.
My heart jumped into my throat. “Dante? Do… do you think we were followed?”
“I don’t think so.” He paled, and his eyes darted left and right.
“Could it be… an animal?”
Dante tensed beside me and whispered. “Shit. A bear, maybe?”
“Oh my god, oh my god,” I hissed. “Do bears like burgers? We had burgers.”
“They like everything,” he muttered, suddenly stepping in front of me protectively. “Don’t move.”
I didn’t breathe, and we heard another rustle.
Something shifted in the shadows by a tree.
We both stared, braced, frozen like two idiots about to be mauled to death when we saw what it was.
A small, fluffy, smug-looking cat padded out from the trees and gave us both a disinterested blink before sauntering right past.
“What the actual fuck?” I shrieked and grabbed Dante’s arm in disbelief.
Beside me, Dante started laughing. “Well. That was terrifying.”
And just like that, I lost it. I laughed so hard I had to bend over, hands on my knees. Dante laughed too, wiping away tears.
“You were ready to fight a bear,” I wheezed.
“You screamed first!”
He doubled over again, and soon we were both laughing uncontrollably. When the laughter finally faded, I looked up at him. His face was flushed from laughing, his eyes crinkled in that way I secretly loved.
“I needed that,” I admitted softly.
He looked down at me, a smile still tugging at his lips. “Yeah,” he murmured. “Me too. But before a real bear finds us, how about we get home?”
***
The drive back was comfortable, and the beauty of the night had wrapped me up in some sort of hopeful cocoon. Even a couple of hours away from the city, surrounded by nature, had reset my nervous system in the best way possible.
But I knew the calm wouldn’t last. The moment we got home, we found Federico waiting for us in the living room, and nothing about his expression screamed friendly visit.
“Federico?” Dante and I exchanged nervous glances, and Dante stepped toward him. “What are you doing here?”
“Well, I didn’t know what to do, brother,” Federico said, but his eyes flickered to mine. My heart was racing, and I felt a premonition of bad news coming our way.
“Your father reached out through a mutual contact,” he told me with a sigh.
“What did he want?” Dante hissed.
I saw a flash of sympathy cross Federico’s face as he looked at me again, before turning back to Dante. “He wants to have dinner with Alisa.”