Love by the Mile

by Heather Young-Nichols

  When she was about to ask I shifted my eyes in Sal’s direction without looking at him so that she would.

  “Got it. Um… ” She scanned back down the list we made of parties we were invited to. There weren’t too many but enough that we wrote them down. “We could go to Mitch Parkers’.”

  “Ah… ” That would be another no. Dear all that is holy in the world, Bianca needed to cross off anyone I’d hooked up with in the past. That wasn’t something I’d consider exposing Sal to.

  “Right. Sorry. Forgot.”

  Sighing loudly, I grabbed the pen and paper crossed out those two and two more.

  “Four? Really?” Gio laughed loudly. “That’s half the list.”

  “Well, I didn’t hook-up with Harper Feldman but she’s such a bitch I don’t want anywhere near her.”

  “Oh, she is.” Bianca agreed.

  “Why don’t we just have our own private party here?” Gemma asked. “Do any of you really want to spend New Year’s Eve with people we don’t know and you don’t like?”

  “That sounds perfect, Gemma.” I already felt better about where the night might lead.

  Bianca and I had wanted to take the trio out but utter relief washed over me to find that they’d rather stay in. And if we’d really have thought about the situation, we would’ve realized on our own that they wouldn’t want to be around strangers.

  The guys would take care of drinks which I was not having any of and us girls would take care of food. Divide and conquer for the win.

  “Why don’t we have a slumber party?” Gemma asked as we prepped food in the kitchen.

  “A slumber party?” I asked.

  “Yeah, you know, all of us stay here. No worries about getting home safely.” She cut up another carrot into sticks then quietly said, “I’ve never had one before and Sal was already going to stay here tonight for the early flight in the morning. You’d be the only one not here, Bailey.”

  How could she be denied?

  I ran home and packed a small bag then was back helping in the kitchen within twenty minutes. Bianca had two spare rooms where Sal and Gemma had already planned to stay in. I would crash on the couch.

  We spent hours watching the musical performances on all the different New Year’s Eve shows, played pool, ate, and had a couple of drinks while laughing and trying to have fun.

  “What is everyone looking forward to for the new year?” I asked to a couple of groans. “Listen, it’s a new start. I’m not into the whole New Year, New Me bullshit but there has to be something.” I pinned Sal with a stare.

  He shrugged and shook his head so I turned on Bianca.

  “Fine, fine,” she said then sighed. “Delivery. I am so excited about expanding and to see what happens. It’s exciting. This is like the first big grown-up thing we’ve done.”

  “I can think of a few others,” Gio said then dropped a kiss on her cheek. She groaned and pushed him away.

  “Gross, Gio. There are things we don’t need to know.” I said then focused back on Bianca. “What if we fail?” This was the first time I vocalized that particular fear.

  Of course, we could fail. We could cost Gramps’ a ton of money. I didn’t think anything like that would happen but the possibility was always there.

  “You won’t.”

  Sal’s voice surprised me. We hadn’t talked much about the project.

  “Gio’s filled me in,” he said. “It’s a solid business plan.”

  “Thanks to Bianca.”

  “Thanks to both of us,” Bianca said back then looked to Gio and raised her eyebrow.

  “Everything,” he said. “I’m looking forward to everything. Our first year free of the bullshit. I can’t wait.”

  Bianca wrapped her arms around him and held on tightly.

  The smack of their reality brought levity to the moment. But this is what I really wanted. I wanted all of us to see that the New Year had so much to offer.

  “I’m looking forward to transferring school,” Gemma told us. “I want Chicago behind me completely. One more semester.”

  “For me,” I began and took a shot on the pool table, “there are a few things I’m looking forward to. Personally and professionally. I guess the mere fact that I have a professional life to look forward to is a feat amongst itself.”

  Bianca hugged me tightly then insisted we keep playing though I completely noticed that Sal never answered the question and as I watched him, felt fairly confident he wasn’t in a hurry to do so.

  The closer to midnight it got, the more we did calm down, the quieter the music played.

  As the minutes ticked down, Gio tucked Bianca under his arm and Sal grabbed me around the waist as I walked by, he said, to make sure I was close when the ball dropped.

  When the clock struck midnight and everyone was supposed to begin celebrating new beginnings and all the things they wanted to accomplish in the new year, Sal kissed me like he meant it. Like he was a boy nothing bad had ever happened to and I was the girl he’d always wanted. There was no awkwardness in us being close. For me, there never had been but there’d been a few times we kissed where, at a certain point, he’d pull away or end the moment abruptly.

  “Well, I guess I’ll just hug myself.” Gemma pouted her lips out at the four of us.

  Bianca and I sprang into action at the same time, took her to the floor with us and kissed the heck out of her face.

  “Gross,” she yelled through all of our giggles as she tried to fight us off, pushing and kicking to get away from us. It didn’t work. “You guys were just kissing them. Some of this is their spit. Get off me.”

  “Don’t complain anymore then.” I smiled and dropped another wet kiss to her forehead.

  “There’s something seriously wrong with you two,” she said back.

  Around one-thirty, Sal reluctantly admitted he had to get to bed. I wanted to see him off at the airport in the morning but I didn’t care how much sleep I actually got. I’d have to wake up early but there wasn’t a chance in hell I’d go to bed before him.

  Bianca set a pillow and blanket on the couch so after changing into pajamas and tucking the sheet into the cushions, I spread the blanket out and climbed in. Those cushions were like a little pillow from Heaven. Like sleeping on a cloud. Almost as comfortable as an actual bed.

  Gio had great taste in furniture.

  “What are you doing?” Sal loomed over me, his hands gripping the back of the couch as he looked down.

  “Uh, going to sleep?” I thought that would be obvious.

  “Why don’t you sleep upstairs?” I started to protest since he was the one that was going to be traveling in the morning but he cut me off. “With me.”

  Well… Sal sure could surprise me.

  I thought he’d meant I should take the bed and he’d take the couch. But no.

  Oh hell yes I was going to jump on that offer.

  “Really?”

  Sal nodded.

  Up I hopped before he could change his mind, moving so quickly that Sal was still over by the couch when I hit the top of the stairs. His low chuckle followed me up.

  Inside the spare room, I was already nestled between the sheets when he dropped his jeans then climbed in beside me. He slept in boxers and a T-shirt.

  Happy me.

  I burrowed into him as soon as he got settled, just wanting to feel his warmth. I wasn’t deluded enough to think he meant for us to have sex and honestly it didn’t cross my mind. If sex ever happened, it for sure wouldn’t be with other people in rooms around us.

  The room was dark with only a small amount of light shimmering in through the window. The beautiful moonlight that meant I could make out the beautiful man beside me.

  “Did you know Bianca made Gio spend the night with her before she’d have sex with him because he said he’d never spent the entire night with someone?”

  “Makes sense.” He got really quiet then. “I never have either. That was the actual line we said we’d never cross. St
upid, I guess.”

  “Not stupid. You had to have something for yourself.” I reached up and kissed his cheek. “That means I’m the first girl you’ve actually spent all night with?”

  “Yes,” he whispered.

  I snuggled even closer to him, letting myself enjoy the feel of him beside me.

  Dread filled my chest when I remembered Sal was leaving in the morning. Weird how attached to him being here I’d already become.

  This long distance thing was going to be a challenge.

  Even though I had trouble sleeping, I popped up in the morning before Sal did.

  My brain just wouldn’t shut down. It was like my subconscious didn’t want to miss a single second of being cuddled up beside him. Couldn’t blame my subconscious for that. I didn’t want to miss a moment. Then my brain reminded me what morning breath smelled like and I skipped into the bathroom to give my teeth a vigorous brushing.

  When I came back out he was gone.

  That was disappointing.

  Since they had an hour drive to the airport, more if there was traffic, I knew they had to leave pretty much right away. No time for a great breakfast. Barely time for a proper goodbye.

  After dressing, I found the four of them loading bags into Gio’s truck like they were going to leave without saying anything to me.

  I knew better.

  Sal better have known better.

  I got to the car, leaned my butt against the hood bracing myself with my hands, waiting for Sal to realize I was there.

  I hadn’t put a coat on and it was chilly but I planned to get warmed up in another way. When Sal saw me, his lips curled into a smile.

  “So, you’re leaving.” I looked up at him through my eyelashes. “Were you going to leave without saying goodbye?”

  “Not a chance. You were already getting dressed and I overslept. I wanted to take care of this while you did that.”

  “Likely story.”

  He laughed. I realized then how much I’d miss that sound. I’d been able to get him to loosen up so much that I knew with a little more time, I could work some magic. I didn’t want him to change himself for me, I just wanted him to be comfortable being himself, something that should have happened a long time ago.

  “I wanted to go with you to the airport,” I said quietly.

  He shook his head, looked away, then focused back in on me. “I can’t have you do that.” He bent down so we’d be eye to eye and leaned in toward me. “I need to say goodbye here. If you come with us, I won’t be able to leave.”

  I took a deep breath knowing I’d have to let him decide things like this at least some of the time.

  “Surprisingly, I’m going to miss you.” I had to bite the inside of my cheek to keep from laughing or smiling to give myself away.

  He couldn’t control his face as well as I could.

  Sal brushed a strand of hair away, cupped my face with his big, gentle hands then leaned in kissing me with such tenderness that I melted on the spot.

  “So I want to say something.” He pulled away just enough that we could see each other. The rest of his body still pressed against mine, giving us a nice safe space where no one else could intrude. “I know I’m going to say everything wrong so don’t get mad at me until I finish.”

  Sal had never had a real relationship so I couldn’t jump on him every time I didn’t like his wording or tone. I knew I’d have to deal with this kind of thing with him but I had to trust him. Had to let him get out what he wanted to say, and had to think about his intentions before reacting.

  That was new for me, so we were both in unchartered waters.

  “I won’t,” I assured him. “Go ahead.”

  “I’m not sure when I’ll be back. I’m hoping maybe next weekend but I’ll be gone a lot.”

  “Yeah, that’s not news.” I cocked my head to the side and watched his adorable face as he struggled to find the right wording. I probably shouldn’t have enjoyed it as much as I did.

  “Well, we haven’t really talked about everything but I’d prefer it if you didn’t… ”

  Well, that was less adorable but if he needed reassurance, I’d give it to him. We didn’t need to talk about every single potential pitfall for me to know that for this thing between him and me to work, we had to be exclusive. I wanted to be anyhow.

  I just wanted Sal.

  “When I’m with someone, I’m with them.” I swallowed hard. “I don’t see other people and already planned on referring to you as my boyfriend when you’re not around.”

  “Really?” His shy smile was everything his appearance wasn’t.

  On the outside, Sal was confident, even scary if he wanted to be. Sexy and secure. Underneath all that, he was a vulnerable man who’d never experienced love. It’d be an honor if I was the one to show him the good things life had to offer.

  “Oh yeah. It’ll be ‘my boyfriend this’ and ‘my boyfriend that’. Bianca will want to murder me but it’ll be worth it.”

  He moved in again, brushing his lips against mine, softly, sweetly then murmured in my ear that he’d call me later.

  “You should come to Chicago,” Gemma said as Sal pulled away from me. “I can’t come back for a while because I’m taking a lot of classes, so you and Bianca should come up.”

  I let Gemma hug me but didn’t promise anything.

  I’d love nothing more than to visit them in Chicago. Yeah, I’d get to see her but even better I’d get to see Sal.

  Bianca stood beside me as we watched Gio pull his truck out of their driveway. She wrapped one arm around my back so we could share body heat since neither of us put jackets on before coming outside. When the time came that we could no longer see them down the street, we went back inside.

  The house was warm but far too quiet.

  “I don’t even get to blame you for Sal wanting to move here,” Bianca said it so casually as she moved around the kitchen to make breakfast.

  I came to a complete stop. “What are you talking about?”

  “When Gio and I reconciled, he told Sal that he didn’t want to play a big role in the company. That they should just sell it for whatever they could get.” Bianca told me this while cracking eggs into a bowl and dropping toast into the toaster oven as if this wasn’t a truly fucked up life they’d led. “After the three of them talked it over, they decided together to at least try to get the company strong again then talk about selling. That way they’d get more money for it. So Sal agreed to take control. Actually do the work. Gemma would stay in school and Gio would get to live here with me but would have to help when Sal needed it.”

  “Sal is a really hard worker.”

  “He is. But he’s been thinking about moving to Harbor Point ever since Gio did.”

  “How can he do that?”

  “He said he’s hired a bunch of great people to take most of the work off his plate, but he’s still the big boss. They all agree that if Gemma transfers schools to be closer to Gio, Sal would come here. Now with you two… ”

  I had to digest everything she’d just said but the idea of Sal moving closer to me was exciting. More than it probably should have. Especially if the move wasn’t just for me. He needed to forge his own life outside of me. I just wanted to be part of whatever that life was.

  “The three of them are the only family they have.” She continued when I didn’t respond. “And they’ve gone through something monumental, so I think it’s normal for them to want to be close to each other.” Bianca kept glancing up at me like she was expecting some sort of reaction or a freakout. “I guess they’d sell the palace in Chicago and split the money.”

  “That’s a big deal.”

  “He didn’t say anything to you?” She put a plate of eggs and bacon in front of me which I dove headlong into.

  “No.” I ate a slice of bacon in two bites and moaned at the warm taste. “I’ll have to ask ‘my boyfriend’ about that later.”

  Bianca smirked and gave me a raised eyebrow which made
me giggle.

  “Sorry, I told him I was going to say that.”

  We both had to work the morning shift, but still took our time to enjoy breakfast just the two of us. We hadn’t done something like that in a long time, and we needed the friend time to sit and chat without any guys around.

  We’d both been craving girl time. We just hadn’t realized it.

  “So, let me ask you a question.”

  She turned toward me with a serious look on her face. The tone of my voice likely made her cautious.

  “Gio was weird about sex at first right?”

  She shrugged. “I don’t think it was the sex he was weird about. It was the feelings. They aren’t used to there being a link.” She glanced at me again before washing our plates off in the sink. “Have you two had sex yet?”

  I shook my head.

  “Sal seems to have a lot of guilt about what they used to do,” I confessed.

  She gave me a short nod as if she knew exactly what I was thinking.

  “Gio did too but I think the guilt was different because he already had me when the shit hit the fan. He didn’t have to work through everything on his own because we were together, I mean really together before they sent their parents to jail. So he was bringing down an empire for a specific purpose. Me. But for months Gemma and Sal have been dealing on their own, you know.”

  “I told him I want to show him that being with someone doesn’t have to be shameful.” I shifted uncomfortably. “Is that stupid?”

  “No. Because for them sex has always been a job which yeah… gave them a ton of skill but they need someone to pay attention to them. And if anyone can show Sal the good side of sex it’d be you.”

  Rolling my eyes at her, I had to give her a little shove.

  “Besides, he had you spend the night in bed with him last night. That’s a huge step for them. Gio was so nervous that first night it was really cute.”

  After talking to Bianca, I had more confidence in my plan to show Sal he was worthy of love.

  We went to work to make sure everything was coming along on schedule, and we’d be able to start delivery on time. We were starting out small yet in a matter of weeks I’d gone from a college graduate with no direction in my life to one of the bosses at our town’s most popular restaurant.