Total pages in book: 105
Estimated words: 100605 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 503(@200wpm)___ 402(@250wpm)___ 335(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 100605 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 503(@200wpm)___ 402(@250wpm)___ 335(@300wpm)
A mistake? It felt like I’d been slapped across the face. My breath caught in my throat, and I couldn’t speak. I could only stand there, staring at him, waiting for him to take it back. Waiting for him to say something—anything—that made his words mean something other than what they did.
But he didn’t.
He just stood there.
And each second that ticked by turned my hurt more and more to anger.
“Go to hell,” I finally said. “I’m no one’s mistake.”
Chapter 37
Allegra
DAYS LATER, I finally left the house.
After almost a week of sulking and self-pity, wondering how the hell I’d let myself trust yet another man who couldn’t be trusted, I decided to go to the fair as planned with my sister. I’d flip-flopped back and forth all week, debating whether to cancel. But I wanted to spend time with Camilla. So I put on a dress, styled my hair in a loose braid, and drove hours to the village where the festival was being held. The town wasn’t big, but it was charming, and walking through the piazza to meet my sister felt like a scene from a movie. Strings of lights crisscrossed above, glowing softly as the sun slipped behind the hills. A folk band played near the fountain, and the smell of grilled meat and baked goods floated through the air.
I spotted my sister—still surreal to call her that—just as I got to the pit with a roasting pig. Camilla was talking to two men, both handsome, and I thought one could have been the other’s father, or at least his much-older brother.
“Ah!” she exclaimed, holding out her arms. “There you are.”
She kissed both my cheeks before gesturing to the two men. “Allegra, this is Emilio and Niccolo. I recently—come si dice—uh, spanked Emilio in court.”
The older of the two winked and leaned in. “She was getting even for when I used to spank her.”
Camilla laughed. “Emilio and I used to…have a thing.”
“Oh.” I smiled. “Well, what’s fair is fair, I suppose.”
She wrapped her arm around my shoulder. “Allegra is my sister. Half sister, but we don’t do anything halfway in Italy, so from now on, just my sister, yes? She is also a lawyer, but in America.”
Emilio extended his hand, and when I placed mine in his, he lifted it to his lips for a kiss. “I see that beauty and brains run in the family.”
She waved him off. “Don’t bother, old man. Our father stayed for her, so Niccolo is more her age bracket. But she’s taken.” She looked to me. We hadn’t spoken since before things ended with Matteo, except over text to figure out where we were meeting. “Taken, yes?”
I made a face that told her the answer.
“Oh boy.” She looped her arm through mine and started us walking, yelling back to the men over her shoulder, “Ciao!”
We wandered past booths of handmade jewelry and lavender soaps. Camilla smiled and waved at another woman, then leaned close and whispered, “That is Margherita. She sleeps with her husband’s best friend and thinks no one knows.”
I glanced over. “Really? She looks so proper.”
“Tell me what happened with your Matteo. Why didn’t you call?”
“I didn’t feel up to talking about it.”
She shook her head. “I would’ve come. We could’ve salted his vines so nothing ever grows there again—except his bad decisions.”
I chuckled. “You definitely would’ve gotten along with our grandmother.”
My sister pulled me toward a booth selling cones of little fried dough balls with powdered sugar, and we took a seat on a bench near the edge of the square to eat them.
“Castagnole…” She popped one in her mouth. “These and new lipstick will make everything better.”
I smiled sadly. “I wish it were that easy.”
“Talk to me,” she said. “What is weighing on you?”
I watched the crowd as I spoke. “I’m not sure if I should stay in Tuscany.”
“You want to go back to New York?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know what I want.”
She took another bite of dough and held the cone out to me. “You know, my madre, she built her whole life around our father for a long time. She was happy when he would visit. She’d get all dressed up pretty and wear bright lipstick, play music, and they’d dance in the kitchen. But then after he would leave, not so much happy. It wasn’t until she finally decided to build a life for herself that her happiness stayed. She quit her job as a secretary and opened her own dress shop. Traveled alone. Put the music on for herself and danced, even when no one was around. And that’s when she found the love she deserved.”
I stared at the little halos around the lights overhead. “I love it here. I really do. I can’t remember the last time I felt such inner peace. I’ve learned to appreciate the things I wouldn’t have taken the time to at home—being outside with nothing but a glass of wine and my thoughts, the change of seasons, riding a Vespa through the postcard beauty of Montepulciano. But I used to love my life in New York, too. At least, I thought I did.” I shook my head slowly. “It’s just such a big decision.”