Chapter 138
AS SOON AS I DROPPED Paul at the pier the next morning, I went straight back to Teo’s apartment. I knew he had a meeting in Sassari at noon, so I was just hoping he hadn’t left yet.
He buzzed me up, and when he met me at the door, I saw that he was already dressed and about to leave for the ferry. “It looks like I’ve missed my window,” I said, but he just laughed and started to undress me.
“I’ll call and push the meeting back,” he said as we fell into bed.
Eventually, Teo really did have to leave, and we made plans to meet again three nights later, when Paul had duty.
If this sounds calculating, I apologize, because it totally was.
I spent the next three days counting down the seconds until I could see him again and simultaneously trying to talk myself into canceling the whole thing.
In the end, I did not cancel, because being able to spend the entire night with Teo was a luxury I could scarcely comprehend.
We had sex, lots of it, but the best part was that there was time for all the other stuff, too.
Talking and laughing and cooking and eating, all of which made what we were doing feel slightly more normal.
Teo started keeping more groceries at the apartment.
Pasta and tomatoes and garlic and onions.
Cheese and eggs and milk. Things we could use to make simple meals together any time we came up for air.
We liked to eat out on the balcony, where we spoke in hushed whispers in case Francesca and Bernardo were on theirs two floors below.
Once, late at night, we heard them talking about us.
Francesca was saying something about how painfully obvious it was that we were in love, and then she asked Bernardo when he thought we were going to come to our senses.
We had to press our lips together to keep from laughing, and soon after that, Teo led me inside and made love to me on the sofa, the doors open, the night air alive with the sound of cicadas.
“She’s right, you know?” he whispered in English as we lay there afterward, spent. “I feel like I’m not supposed to say it, like it’s not allowed. Not while you’re with Paul. But I can’t help it.”
I raised myself up on one elbow, kissed him lightly on the lips, then said, “Anch’io ti amo.”
He gave me this sheepish smile. “That is very good to hear.”