Chapter Sixteen
NINA
Present Day
ITALY
It’s funny how you can feel everything all at once and nothing at all.
I could still hear the echoes of another long day at the boutique: meetings, interviews, photoshoots, and that never-ending Italian version of the Vogue interview.
My brain was so fried from switching back and forth between English and Italian that most of it felt like a blur.
On top of that, I had to finish a last-minute wedding dress sketch and a bridesmaid dress design, and by the time I set my pencil down, I was this close to collapsing.
So, imagine my surprise when I saw the box by the door.
It wasn’t the usual delivery. No note, no tracking number, only the box.
My heart did something weird in my chest, and I glanced around like I was expecting someone to jump out at me.
No one. I let out a sigh, picked it up, and dragged myself inside.
As soon as I got in, I replayed the footage from the doorbell camera.
The only thing it caught was a man in a delivery uniform dropping the box and walking away, no fanfare, no message.
I bit my lip, unsure of what to make of it.
The last thing I needed was another surprise, but I found myself sitting down on the couch, my tired body sinking into the cushions as I stared at the box.
It felt heavier than it should’ve been. Almost like it was filled with memories I wasn’t sure I wanted to unpack.
I opened it, and there it was. A pink sweater. I pulled it out, and my heart skipped when I saw my name embroidered on it. Underneath, in smaller stitching, was a quote: “Non è un sogno se ci svegliamo insieme.”
I couldn’t help the small laugh that escaped me. “It’s not a dream if we wake up together.” Our inside joke. The one we whispered to each other the first night my mother let me sleep over his house. It felt so real, so us.
Everything I’d buried resurfaced, leaving me torn between the past and the present.
Then, I noticed the envelope tucked under the sweater. It was handwritten.
The familiar loops and swirls of his handwriting sent a jolt through my chest.
Tesoro,
It’s strange how time works. How it heals, how it hurts.
I’ve spent these years trying to fill the hole I left behind.
But nothing, nothing could ever compare to what you brought into my life.
I walked away from you like it was the right thing to do, like it was some sort of sacrifice, but all I did was create a wound that would never fully heal.
I know I can’t undo the past, no matter how much I want to. I need you to know I was never running from you. I was running from myself. I was
scared, so damn scared. I was afraid I’d become someone I couldn’t be for you. I was afraid of what I might do if I stayed. I was afraid to continue holding you back because of what I was going through.
But you never deserved that, Nina. You deserved someone who could show up, someone who could be there for you, no matter what.
You deserved a better version of me, and I’ve spent these years trying to become that man.
I’m in therapy, I fought through the darkness, and I worked to be the person who could give you the love you deserve.
But I’m so sorry I couldn’t be that man when it mattered.
I’m doing everything I can now because a life without you has never been worth living.
-Ronan Romano
I stared at it for a long moment, fighting the familiar ache pulling at me. He’d claimed he wanted to try again weeks ago, but I thought he’d stop after the first week. I never expected it to be like this. Weeks later, with a box and a letter.
How did he even know where I lived?
I closed my eyes, remembering how it felt when he walked out of my life. I wanted to scream at him for making it so hard to move on. But that would be too easy, wouldn’t it?
I knew I—fuck.