Chapter 43
Forty-Three
Mark
We climb off the Vespa and remove our helmets.
Lexington, her wind-blown hair the cutest thing ever, is staring at my aunt and uncle’s house, mouth open. I glance at the villa, trying to see it through her eyes. It’s a little on the squat side with patches of peeling plaster, but large and overflowing with flowers and laughter.
“You ready?”
She blinks, tearing her gaze away from the house to me. The bewildered look in her eyes makes me worried she’s nervous getting introduced to the whole family, but she nods and lets me wrap my arm around her shoulders as we head down the long drive to the front door.
Close to the house, the loud voices through the open windows prove we’re likely the last of my big family to arrive. This is going to be like swinging a wrecking ball (an adorable one) into a beehive.
“So, a crash course on who’s who. Stella is my dad’s youngest sister and she’s married to Beppe.
You might have seen their little boy Danilo at the airport.
The house belongs to Aunt Alice and Uncle Giuseppe.
They have two daughters—Aurora is the one from the picture I showed you on the plane. Luca and Mariella’s parents are Fl—”
Lexington stops walking in the middle of the courtyard. “Whoa, that’s a lot of people.”
“I know. Just enjoy yourself and they’ll be happy. I hope you’re hungry.”
I tuck her tighter against me, bracing us both for impact before I open the front door.
It takes all of three seconds for the family to swallow us with hugs, cheek kisses, introductions, laughter, and a posse of kids running between our legs.
I’m trying to throw names out for Lexington, but no one gives me much of a chance to make formal introductions.
Before I know what’s happened, the women have whisked her off to the kitchen and shooed me away.
I head through the house until I find Nonno out on the patio, seated in a creaky metal rocking chair, watching the younger kids chase Luca in the grass.
I bend over and give him a hug. “Hi, Gramps.”
“You think being the birthday boy keeps you safe from a trick like that?” He thinks the American nickname for Nonno is the weirdest sounding word ever and forbade me from using it on him.
Laughing and dodging his attempt to whack my arm, I pull up another metal outdoor chair.
Luca collapses in a chair next to us, out of breath, and grabs the hose near his feet.
When the kids dash over, ready to pull him back out to the grass, he releases a spray of water that sends them screaming and giggling out of reach.
He lifts an eyebrow at me. “Hey, you made it. How did you pull that off? I was sure you’d be stranded in the city and I’d have to eat your cake all by myself. ”
I glance back into the house, but I can’t see Lexington from here. “I shared a Vespa rental with someone.”
Nonno’s dark eyes jump to mine, sly and mischievous. “Is it who I think?”
“Maybe.” They could find out at any moment, as soon as Lexington comes outside or one of them heads inside, but I like holding out on them, making them squirm with curiosity. It’s not often I have information they don’t.
Luca narrows his eyes at me, attempting to suss out my secrets, but I’m a rock of impassivity. “It was with Lexi Walker, wasn’t it?”
I cross my ankles and huff. “Lucky guess.”
Luca rolls his eyes. “Nice try. You have that same dopey look in your eyes you’ve had all week. I bet you even brought her here with you, didn’t you?”
“Yes.” I glance again at the back door. I hope my aunts and grandma aren’t overwhelming her in there, but knowing Lexington, she’s probably already won them all over.
Luca flicks the hose nozzle at me, spritzing me with cold, leftover drops that drip onto my shirt.
“You trying to start a war?” I wipe the water from my face, laughing.
He smirks and sprays me again, the punk. “You just couldn’t help yourself, could you?”
“Dude!” I pull my wet shirt away from where it clings to my skin.
Nonno laughs, angling away from the stray drops. “Can you blame him?”
Luca lowers his weapon, raising his eyebrows at Nonno. “You know about her?”
Nonno locks his hands behind his head. “I know a lot more than you think, kid. Ask Mark about why the police carted him away from Trevi Fountain.”
Oh, great. This’ll be fun.
Luca tosses the hose into the grass and twists to face me. “That story Lexi told was about you?”
“She needed her lira back. It meant a lot to her.”
Luca collapses into what I would call ridiculous schoolgirl giggles. “Oh man, you’re further gone than I thought. There’s no saving you now.”
“Why does he need saving?” Nonno asks. “She seems delightful.”
“Oh, she is.” Luca flips his long hair off his forehead. “She takes no flack from Mark and gives as good as she takes. But she lives in America. And he barely knows her.”
“Right. Both of those facts are true.” Although I know her better than he thinks, and as much as my mouth keeps saying I live here, she doesn’t, it’s only been eight days, my heart keeps telling me that some things don’t follow logic.
Like the shell curves of the Sydney Opera House. Every architect knows there’s a point where math becomes art. Where one dimension becomes three.
Where one week of sparring and flirting and an impossible ocean between us equals a future.
I’m just not sure how yet.
“Does your sister know?” Luca has never met Katie, but he knows about the blind dates she tries to set me up on every time I visit.
I snort. “Are you kidding? If Katie got wind of how I feel, she’d meet Lexington in the Boston airport with a wedding dress.”
For a split-second, I imagine Katie and Lexington brainstorming a wedding together, my sister’s excitement and Lexington’s event planning finesse.
They would totally get along and gang up against me on issues that I don’t really care about, but in things that matter, Lexington would sweetly take my opinion seriously, and I would love every—
Luca and Nonno stare at me, and it’s a few seconds before I register what I’ve said and where my mind just went. Backpedal ASAP.
I give the world’s worst cover-up laugh. “Katie jumps to conclusions if I even make eye contact with a woman. She’s definitely Nonna’s granddaughter.”
“Yeah.” Luca winks at Nonno. “That’s why your eyes went all soft and now you’re blushing like a little girl.”
If the needling is this relentless with just the three of us, I can imagine the ribbing when we’re all together for dinner. “Hey, do I not get a tease-free pass on my birthday?”
Luca and Nonno double over in amusement.
Nonno wipes tears of glee from his eyes. “Not a chance.”