“So what's on tap for tomorrow?” Dani pulled her legs up to her chest and sipped at her coffee. She did her best to not look at Carlo. Looking at Carlo lead to thinking of Carlo with his work shirt riding up on his muscular abs which led to thinking of Carlo with his shirt off which lead to...
Dani shook her head. She was leaving next week. She didn't have time for romance – not matter how good looking the guy in question was. Dani wasn't one to have flings either. If she hooked up with someone, it was for the long haul. Hopping on a plane at the end of next week to fly home to the US didn't equal long haul in her book.
Carlo waved a hand in front of Dani's face. “Did you hear a word I just said? You seem a million miles away.”
“Just thinking of Mom and Nonna,” she lied. “They would be proud of me for coming in person to settle things instead of leaving it up to Nonna's lawyer or doing everything over the phone. It gives me some closure which I desperately need. It's tough, you know? One week I'm talking to Nonna, the next she's gone. I still think she's going to be sitting in this chair right here sipping coffee and looking out over the vineyards. I should be able to pick up the phone and hear her voice...not visit a grave.”
“She lived a long, wonderful life,” Carlo said. “Celebrate that instead of thinking about how it ended.”
“I'm still getting used to the idea of being all alone in world,” Dani confessed. “Nonna was always just a phone call away if I ever needed any advice. Now who am I supposed to turn to?”
“May I suggest...me?”
Dani's eyes widened and her head snapped around to stare at Carlo. “What did you say?”
He waved a hand as if he was having trouble finding the words in English. “If you need to talk, I can listen.”
Dani set down her coffee cup on the wrought iron table. “Don't just say that because you feel you owe something to my grandmother. I've been taking care of myself for a long time. I don't need someone hovering over me because Nonna gave them some misguided idea that I'm some wilting flower. I'm not. I'm strong and independent. I've had to be. The only person I can rely on is myself.”
Carlo held up his hands palms up toward Dani. “Hey, I'm not saying you're some weak girl in need of saving. I'm just saying if you need someone to talk to, I'm here. No need to get defensive.”
“I'm not defensive,” Dani snapped.”
Carlo raised one dark eyebrow. “Oh really? What do you call this? If you could storm off in a huff without looking like you were proving me right, you would.”
“How do you know that?” Dani picked up a biscotti and threw it at Carlo. “Yet another stereotypical statement from a man who thinks far, far too highly of himself.”
“Stereotypical statement?” Carlo sat up straighter and set his mouth into a thin, firm line. He wasn't ready for a cease fire in this war of words – far from it. “How is thinking I'm some egomaniac not a stereotypical statement? What have I done to make you think that?”
“Well, look at you!” She motioned at Carlo with his romance cover good looks and muscles that looked like they were trying to escape from his already tight white t-shirt. “How can you look in a mirror every day and not get a boost of confidence? You're like some Greco-Roman God. I seriously feel like I should worship at your feet whenever I see you.”
His posture and face relaxed when he grinned. “Sorry I left my toga at the vineyard.”
“If you show up in some white bed sheet tomorrow, so help me --”
Carlo laughed. “No. No worries there. Nonno Alberto would hate to see a perfectly good bed sheet ruined because I want to prove a point...Or see you knock down that wall a bit by doing something very unlike you. Have you ever done anything unpredictable in your whole, entire life, Dani? even once?”
“Plenty of times,” she insisted. “I'm crazy unpredictable.”
“Crazy maybe, but unpredictable? That I have yet to see.”
Dani shoved her chair away from the table so hard it fell to the cobblestone walkway with a clatter. She whirled to face Carlo. “So you think I'm predictable, huh?”
He crossed his arms over his chest. “Oh, I know you're predictable.”
“Well, predict this!”
Dani braced her hands on the table edge, leaned over, and kissed Carlo square on the lips.
11. Chapter Nine
Dani meant to just prove a point. She meant to just kiss him, pull back, say “how's that for predictable!” and walk away with her head held high. Instead of her plan going as, well, predictable as she planned, Carlo grabbed her shoulders and held her in place. Leaning over a table with the wrought iron digging into the palms of her hands while kissing a Greco-Roman God worthy neighbour, wasn't as awkward as Dani imagined it would be...Not that she went about imaging kissing Carlo. Nope. Not at all.
Oh quit lying to yourself, Dani, she thought as the kiss deliciously went on and on and on. This is exactly where you want to be and you know it.
Carlo pulled back first. He leaned his forehead against Dani's and breathed raggedly like he just ran a marathon.
“Don't stop,” she whispered. “Don't stop, Carlo.”
“But you're the first to point out you're leaving next week.” He kissed her forehead. “I know, if I continue to touch you, Dani, I will never want to stop. Never. Not now, not next week, not next year. If I don't stop now, I never will.”
Is that what she wanted? Dani counted slowly to ten and breathed deeply through her mouth to try to calm her body's urging and think with her head instead of her physical desire. Did she want Carlo to be a permanent part of her life?
“I'm not into flings,” Dani said. “I can't guarantee forever but I can guarantee what time we have left.”
“That could be a week or sixty years,” Carlo said. “I can't believe I'm actually saying no but...I can't, Dani. I can't have only part of you with some clock ticking down to your departure. I need to know I'm not going to lose you next week. I want forever. What do you want?”
“Forever is not real.” Dani pulled out of his grip. “Forever is just something people say to make themselves feel better about dying or leaving or doing a million other things to break the other person's heart. You can't predict when someone is going to leave, Carlo. You can't predict when bad things are going to happen to good people. You should just be happy with the time you have. 'Forever' doesn't have to mean till the end of time. It can mean till the end of our time...however long or short that is. A week, a month, a year. We can live a lifetime in a week, Carlo, if you let us.”
Carlo ran his hand through his thick black hair. “I don't want a week, Dani. I don't want to go into this knowing you will be gone.”
“Maybe all we get is a week. Maybe that's our forever.”
He shook his head. “No. No, I don't believe it. And until you believe or forever is longer than a week, please do not try to see me.”
“Carlo! Carlo, wait!” Dani ran after him as he stalked over to his tractor, climb aboard, and revved the engine to drown out her protests.
“Good bye, Dani. Until you can tell me otherwise, this is good bye.”
12. Chapter Ten
Instead of enjoying what time she had left in Italy, Dani did what she always did to block out pain – she buried herself in work. She called Robert and asked what reports he needed analyzed and if there was anything else she could do long distance. Soon, she had enough to keep her mind busy and her thoughts far, far away from Carlo.
Until night fell.
At night, Dani lay awake staring up the ceiling of Nonna's bedroom that was now her bedroom. Her mind just wouldn't be quiet. She thought of her mother, Nonna, work, the flight home, and, of course, Carlo. Leave it to the guy, he definitely kept a promise. When he said he didn't want to see her till she could give him more than a handful of days of 'forever', he meant it. He hadn't come around the villa since storming off. The clock was ticking closer and closer to leaving Italy. Dani couldn't slow it down or turn the hands back – even if she want
ed to. She made a commitment at work. People needed her. Did Carlo need her? He probably would find some lush Italian beauty the second she crossed the ocean. Who did he think he was acting all high and mighty and oh so moral? If their roles were reversed would she be playing hard to get? No. She would take what time they had together and be happy with it. So what if she couldn't give him 'forever.' Forever was over-rated.
“Did you plan any of this Nonna?” Dani asked the dark, silent room. “You were a planner. You always had a reason for doing what you did. I don't mean 'did you plan to die' but did you plan for Carlo and I to meet as adults. I gotta tell you, Nonna, I don't remember him from when we were kids. I know that's weird, but I think I like that I don't have those two versions of him to compare – the boy and the man. He's just Carlo to me, not Carlo the kid I used to make mud pies with. I know you want to take care of me, Nonna, but I don't know if this is what I want. If I pick Carlo, I'd need to stay here. I'd give up everything I worked so, so hard for.” Dani reached for her phone and turned on her soothing nature sounds app to try to calm her mind so she could sleep. “I'm used to taking care of myself, Nonna. I'm not used to needing anyone. I'm not used to wanting anyone either.”
Dani closed her eyes and let the nature sounds app lull her to sleep. Tomorrow she would pack and the day after that, she would say good bye to Italy.
13. Chapter Eleven
Dani threw her suitcase in the tiny trunk of her rental car and slammed the door closed. True, she was leaving tomorrow but it never hurt to be prepared. The only problem with being prepared is now she had a whole day ahead of her with nothing to do.
“Well Nonna, what now?”
In answer, she heard the puttering of a tractor coming from the direction of Carlo and Alberto's villa. Dani raced around the house to the garden, eager to see Carlo and apologize for being the complete and utter commitment phobic tool that she was.
Instead of Carlo, Alberto hopped down from the tractor. He reached behind him and pulled down a basket filled with cheese and wine. “You look disappointed, Dani. Am I not who you wished to see?”
“No, no, it's not that,” Dani said. “It's just that I said some harsh things to Carlo when I saw him last so wanted to apologize.”
“He is home.” Alberto motioned up the hill at the villa barely visible through the thick vineyard vines. “You are welcome to go see him. He is a very stubborn man, Dani. More stubborn than you, your mother, and Nonna combined. If you are waiting for him to come down the hill and beg forgiveness, you will be waiting a very, very long time.”
“Has he been acting any differently?” Dani asked. “I mean, can you tell if I hurt him or not?”
“He is quieter than usual,” Alberto said. “That is all I know. I try to stay out of my grandchildren's romantic business as much as possible.”
Dani's cheeks burned at Alberto's suggestion that she and Carlo were a couple. “Oh, we're not together or anything. I guess, well, I guess there could be the possibility but I don't think it will ever be a reality.”
“Why not?”
“Because I'm leaving tomorrow.”
Alberto raised one silver eyebrow in question. Dani could totally see Carlo's mannerisms in him. “Are you now? Planning to leave and actually leaving are two very different things, Dani.”
Dani shook her head. “Not to me. Good bye is good bye. It's final. It's forever.”
“Do you love Italy?”
“More than I ever thought I could.” She sighed as she took in the beauty around her. Everywhere she looked took her breath away. “New York is so hectic, I can barely breathe, let alone relax. Florence is amazing. I feel so alive.”
“Why not make that feeling last? Is there really so much you are leaving in New York that you must rush off to settle in?”
“My job. Nothing else matters.”
“There is always something else that matters,” Alberto said. “When you learn that, then your eyes will truly be open.”
He carried the wine, bread, and cheese basket to the garden table. Dani followed, nodding her thanks as Alberto cut thick slices of bread and cheese and poured a glass of wine for her. Alberto sat down across from her. He gestured at the mountains and vineyards surrounding them with a piece of bread in his hand.
“Many times I have thought of leaving home and seeking my fortune elsewhere but then I sit and look around me and realize this is home,” he said. “I cannot leave, even if I tried. This land, this life, this city is a part of me. If I left, it would be like cutting off my own arm. Can you say that about your New York City?”
“If I could, I wouldn't have come here in the first place,” Dani admitted. “I would have just let Nonna's lawyer handle everything and be done with it.”
“Do you feel the same about returning to New York as you do on leaving it?” Alberto asked. “Do you feel a burning desire to return? To call it home? Or is it just a place you live and do not truly love?”
“But I have a lot of responsibilities waiting for me there.” Dani pulled her hair back into a ponytail to have something to do with her hands.
“Responsibility is not the same as really, truly belonging somewhere,” Alberto pointed out. “I believe that is what you need to decide on before tomorrow is up, Dani. Where do you truly belong?”
Dani watched as he stood and returned to the tractor. He climbed on before turning in the seat and tipping his hat at her. He puttered up the hill. She was alone. Again.
“If I knew where I belonged, I wouldn't have been running my whole life.”
14. Chapter Twelve
Up until the point where she actually got in the car and drove away from the vineyard, Dani was convinced that Carlo would ride up and rescue her from making what may be the biggest mistake of her life – leaving Italy. She imagined all possible scenarios from a white horse to that noisy tractor. They'd go riding off into the sunset and just be.
But real life wasn't a fairy tale or a movie. No Carlo made the decision easy for Dani. It may not have been the decision that set her heart fluttering and made her believe in happy endings, but it was the practical decision. There was something to be said for being practical. Practical people never starved or were late on their rent. Practical people lived very good, secure lives. That's what she planned to do from here on out...keep being practical.
Dani drove to the airport, picked up her ticket at the counter, and checked her suitcase. Getting through security was a breeze. The airport and all the foreign signs were less confusing than she remembered them being just two short weeks ago. Dani found her gate and sat down to wait. She should have brought a magazine or a book. It was a long flight to New York. All she packed in her carry on bag were the latest batch of reports Robert wanted her to analyze. Dani pulled the reports out and opened the one on top. Well, if she was going back to being a workaholic, she might as well get a head start on it.
“Dani?”
She looked up. “Carlo?”
He wasn't riding a white horse or carrying a bouquet of flowers the size of her head, or any of the other romantic gestures TV and books want you to believe are the only way to prove your undying love and affections, but he was here and that counted higher than all the flowers and horses and chocolate in the world. He was here.
“I couldn't let you go without saying good bye.”
“How did you get here?” she asked. “What about security?”
Carlo flashed a ticket. “I bought a cheap flight from Florence to Rome. It's enough to get me in and to see you one last time.”
Dani stood and stepped toe to toe with him. She felt the contours of his chest and arms as if to assure herself he was real. “It doesn't have to be the last time, Carlo. I could come back or you could come to New York. There are video chats and phone calls. There's a million ways to keep in touch now. There's a million ways to not loose each other.”
Carlo shook his head. “Haven't you figured it out yet, Dani? No amount of video chats and phone calls will make me
miss you any less. It will only make me love you more.”
Dani sucked in her breath. “Love? We never talked about love.”
He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her against his chest. “I never told you because there was never quite the right moment to say you enchanted me as a child and have enchanted me all over again as an adult. When we were young, I thought you were the most happy, careful girl in creation. Somewhere along the line, adult Dani lost that happy, careful spirit. You can get it back....if you stay.”
Romance In The Tuscan Hills: A New Beginning Page 3