Matteo

by L. M Anthony

  Dina looked between Laura and I. There was an odd gleam in her eyes, and a smile was starting to twitch at her lips. Laura wrapped an arm around Dina’s shoulders, suddenly looking panicked and strained.

  “Well, thanks for everything, Matteo!” she said, her voice too loud, and I was taken aback by the abruptness of her farewell.

  She had a smile that said she clearly wanted to get out of there. I wondered why; I had a feeling that it had to do with why Dina was starting to look intrigued as she glanced between us.

  “You’re going?” I asked, feeling a bit let down; it wasn’t often that I enjoyed myself at these parties, but I had really liked talking to Laura.

  “Yeah, Dina and I better find Lorenzo and make sure he isn’t sulking somewhere,” Laura said with a sigh. “Since I do have to live with him for three weeks.”

  Now, I wished I hadn’t brought that point up.

  “Hmm.” I struggled not to frown. I didn’t want her to leave, especially to go find Lorenzo. Still, Laura could do what she wanted. I lifted my chin with a small, false smile. “Very well. I will see you around.”

  I didn’t wait for a reply. If I didn’t leave straight away, I wouldn’t leave at all. It was difficult to turn and walk away from Laura, who was wonderful, clever and charming. I would have stood and talked with her all night if she had allowed it.

  But, in the end, the two of us were strangers, and Laura was here with two other people. It made sense that she needed to find the two of them and eventually disappear with them.

  Just because it made sense, however, it didn’t mean I had to like it.

  I glanced back. Laura and Dina were leaving the corner, heading off to find Lorenzo. I wondered if I would end up seeing Laura again. This was the second time I had run into her unexpectedly, and I now knew she was holidaying in Lecce. It was a strange coincidence, but I wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth. The chances of running into Laura a third time were definitely higher.

  I remembered telling Pietro that new relationships would happen in time, if they ever did, unconvinced that such a turn of events was something that would happen in my near future.

  All of a sudden, it didn’t seem so unlikely.

  Chapter Six

  Alessandro blinked and stared at me.

  “Who?” he asked blankly.

  “Laura,” I repeated. “She’s American. She came here with Dina and Lorenzo.”

  Alessandro’s expression cleared.

  “Oh,” he said in sudden comprehension. “Lorenzo told me that Dina would probably be bringing a friend from overseas with her. Sorry, I don’t know much about her.”

  Well, a fat lot of good Alessandro did me, then. I’d hoped that he might have known something about Dina’s friend and could perhaps even give me some advice. Or a warning if it turned out that she was anything like Martina.

  “Can you point her out?” Alessandro asked, looking curiously over the crowd.

  “Sorry,” I said, shaking my head. “I lost her. She got whisked off by Dina.”

  “Shame,” Alessandro said with a shrug. He shot me a teasing grin. “I’d like to see the girl that caught your interest. See, I told you that you might meet someone here. Aren’t you glad you came?”

  I didn’t want to admit it, but meeting Laura did make this entire venture more worthwhile.

  “She was interesting to talk to,” I said, scowling at Alessandro’s chuckle. “She even knew a bit about wines. She was the woman I ran into at the airport, too.”

  “Seriously?” Alessandro asked, surprised. “What are the chances?”

  “Obviously, better than I thought,” I said.

  Alessandro’s smile turned soft and he nudged me with his elbow.

  “I’m glad,” he said. “I know I tease, but I was really getting worried. Not every girl is like Martina, you know.”

  I pursed my lips and didn’t answer. I didn’t want to talk about Martina, especially in a crowded room like this. Alessandro easily got the hint and didn’t say anything more. We stood quietly for a long moment, staring out at the sea of gyrating bodies on the slippery floor.

  “Well, let me know if you see her again, yeah?” Alessandro said finally. He grinned at me. “I still want to get a look at her.”

  “I’ll tell you if I see her,” I promised. “But, if you don’t mind, I’m going to find somewhere quieter to stand.”

  Alessandro laughed and clapped me on the shoulder.

  “Sounds great,” he said.

  Then he was gone, disappearing back into the crowd. I smiled slightly and slid backward, sinking into the shadows until I was standing in an unguarded corner. The largest part of me wanted to leave that instant; I had already stayed longer than I normally would. But the rest of me was still hoping to see Laura again, and maybe even organize that date we’d been chatting about. I wanted to see her again and find out more about her.

  Then, suddenly, I saw her.

  She was coming down the stairs, laughing. I straightened, her name on my tongue, and then I saw who was leading her by the hand, laughing with her. I was stunned to see Laura with Lorenzo, and acting so comfortable with him after their antagonism earlier. Not only that, but the way they were clasping hands suggested an intimacy that made my heart drop.

  I hadn’t asked Laura if she was already in a relationship. She’d said she had only known Lorenzo since she arrived in Italy, but that was obviously more than enough time for her to develop feelings for him if the look in her eyes as she stared at him was any indication.

  I felt like a fool.

  I wanted to leave, but, instead, I was melted to the spot as I watched Lorenzo lead Laura onto the dance floor, shuffling through the moving bodies. They stepped closer to each other, so close that I couldn’t see a single gap between them. The music was slow and steady, and Laura reached up to wrap her arms around his neck, a small smile playing on her lips.

  Only then did I turn away. No matter how interesting Laura was, I wasn’t about to chase after a woman who so obviously wanted someone else. I gritted my teeth and moved away.

  It was time to go.

  Before I reached the front door, I almost ran into Alessandro. He was grinning until he got a good look at my face, and then his smile dropped.

  “Everything okay?” he asked.

  “Fine,” I grunted. “I’m going home.”

  I made to move past him, but he caught my elbow before I could go too far. His eyes were creased in concern.

  “Matteo?” he asked. “What happened?”

  I sighed wearily. It seemed that Alessandro wasn’t about to let me leave until I gave him an explanation.

  “Laura already has someone she has her eye on,” I said reluctantly.

  “What?” Alessandro asked. He grimaced. “Sorry, man. Who’s the other guy?”

  “Lorenzo,” I snorted. Stupid pretty boy.

  Alessandro froze.

  “Hey… this Laura, is she a nice girl?” he asked slowly.

  “She seemed like it,” I said, frowning at him. “Why?”

  “Because…” Alessandro hesitated. “Look, there’s a lot of talk about Lorenzo. He’s not the type to want to have a relationship. He’s more of a fuck ‘em and leave ‘em type.”

  My shoulders tensed.

  “That’s horrible,” I said. How could anyone be like that?

  “It normally isn’t a problem,” Alessandro said, shrugging. “Normally, the types of girls he goes for don’t care. They just want sex. But, sometimes, he goes after girls that want more, and they get hurt. He doesn’t really care about anything other than sex.”

  I wanted to storm over there and rip Lorenzo away from Laura. But then I paused. What right did I have? I’d only met Laura, briefly, twice now. She wasn’t my girlfriend. She barely knew me. On top of that, what if she knew about Lorenzo and wanted what he could give her anyway? I had no idea what they had decided between them.

  “I’m just saying, if you really are interested in this L
aura, keep an eye on her,” Alessandro advised me.

  “Thanks,” I said tightly. “But I barely know Laura. You should be giving that warning to her friend, Dina”

  Alessandro snorted. “Dina knows what the guy is like. It doesn’t help he’s got the looks to pull it off, too. Bastard. He’s rotten to the core. He shouldn’t be so good-looking.”

  I couldn’t help but laugh, and Alessandro grinned at me, pleased at lightening the mood.

  “Thanks,” I said. “But I’m going to go anyway. I’ve already stayed longer than I was going to.”

  “I noticed,” Alessandro said. “I really appreciate you coming. I know this isn’t your thing.”

  “It wasn’t a problem,” I said with a small smile.

  “Look after yourself.” Alessandro smiled as I opened the door. “And, Matteo?”

  “Yeah?” I asked, looking back.

  “Don’t give up on her just yet. You never know,” he said, still smiling.

  I rolled my eyes at him and left, hearing his laughter following me. Just like he had probably intended, however, his words echoed around my head. Don’t give up? It seemed foolish to hope, but maybe it was okay to wait and see what happened. After all, we were both in Lecce, and she was obviously here on a holiday. Somehow, I was sure we’d meet again.

  Maybe things would be different then.

  ***

  I didn’t really want to go home. At this time of night, all my staff would be gone for the night and wouldn’t be due to return until the morning. After the disappointment with Laura, I didn’t feel like being alone.

  I drove around in my Mercedes-Benz Maybach Exelero, the car I had chosen to take for the night, for a little while, only keeping half an eye on the scenery around me. Lecce was beautiful at night; the soft glow of the lights bounced off the old buildings, and there were barely any people around. I drove slowly, unhurried by any other cars, trying to decide where I wanted to go.

  In the end, I decided to stop at a nearby café, one that was open late. I pulled up the curb and got out, eyeing the little store. It was brightly lit, and only a tired-looking barista was on duty, mechanically cleaning cups. I hesitated and then grabbed my briefcase, which was sitting on the floor on the passenger side. If I was going to sit here for a little while, then I should get some work done.

  The barista looked up as I entered, and a flicker of a grimace almost crossed her face, obviously displeased at having to serve someone at this time of night.

  “What time do you close?” I asked her.

  “We don’t,” she grumbled. “We’re open all night. God, I can’t wait until my replacement gets here…”

  Obviously, she had been here for some time. I decided to ignore her complaints and ordered a coffee. This time, she did grimace as she set the mug she was cleaning down, but she didn’t say anything as she took my money and started making my drink while I found a little booth in the corner to sit at. With only the sound of the whirring coffee maker to interrupt the silence, I set up my laptop and opened my emails.

  Thankfully, there weren’t many there. I’d answered most of them yesterday before going to bed, as well as the handful that had come in earlier today, sneaking my laptop around Pietro so he didn’t see me doing any work. I was impressed; it seemed my company really could run itself for a day without much input from me. I felt better about taking tomorrow off.

  Admittedly, it was my own fault that I always had so much to do. When my father died, I had thrown myself into my work to try and absolve myself of my guilt, and then I had used it as an escape from the world when my mother followed him. As long as I was working, I didn’t have to feel so alone in the world, or feel like everything in my life had gone wrong. I took on more and more responsibility.

  In the last year, however, I had been trying to remove some of that weight off my own shoulders. I had hired people to do some of those jobs, such as advertisement management and international relations, and started to nudge people to go to them with specific problems that came up. Many things still came through me, but I had started buckling under the pressure I had put on myself, and I had to find a way to fix that before I was buried completely.

  So, it shouldn’t have been a surprise that everything was running smoothly in my short absence. In reality, Belle Rouge didn’t really need me. I was its creator, and the one who solved the big problems, but there were many capable people within the company itself. Maybe Pietro was right. It was time to step back and start entrusting even more to those people.

  It was just hard to let go.

  “Here.”

  I looked up at the grumpy greeting as the barista put a steaming mug of coffee down beside me.

  “Thank you,” I said politely.

  She scowled at me. “Are you staying long?” she demanded.

  “As long as I want to,” I said, displeased at her attitude.

  She huffed and stalked away. She obviously didn’t want customers at this time of night, and, while I could understand being tired and irritable, it wasn’t my fault that she had to work the night shift. Besides, I wasn’t causing any problems.

  Resolving to ignore her, I booted up a program on my computer. I had contracts to write up for the new distributions I would be overseeing in America in a few weeks. If I was lucky, I could finish them up quickly and have even more time to myself tomorrow.

  It helped, as well, that doing the work helped me forget about Laura and the way she moved against Lorenzo.

  I smiled wryly to myself. I was still using work to run away. Maybe one day, I wouldn’t need to anymore.

  Chapter Seven

  It was quite late when I finally wrote the last line on the final contract and drained the dregs of my new coffee. I glimpse the time and stared, shocked. It was almost three in the morning.

  “Another one?” asked the new barista; she had changed with the irritable barista a few hours ago, who had escaped quickly in her relief. She was much friendlier than the other girl.

  “No, thanks,” I said, standing and stretching. All my muscles felt cramped after sitting for so long. “I’m going to head home. Thanks for the coffee.”

  “It was no problem,” the barista said with a warm smile. “Come back any time.”

  Definitely far nicer than the other girl. I left her a handsome tip and exited the café, yawning. Now that I wasn’t working anymore, my tiredness was catching up with me. I needed to go to bed.

  And tomorrow, when Pietro arrived, I was not going to tell him I was up so late working tonight.

  The roar of my car’s engine sounded obscenely loud in the still night. Most of the places around me were closed, and there wasn’t another soul in sight. I pulled away from the curb and drove off, my mind occupied only with getting to bed as soon as possible.

  I wasn’t sure what made me look. Perhaps I wanted to see the moon and stars glittering off the ocean, a sight that was always beautiful. Or maybe I caught sight of movement and turned my head to glance at it. Either way, I looked over at the beach as I passed it, and saw a very familiar blonde figure sitting on the sand, her blonde hair flowing behind her.

  What was Laura doing on the beach at this time of night? I remembered that she had been drinking quite heavily at the party, and I slid to a stop on the road, suddenly concerned. Was she so drunk that she had decided to go for a walk?

  She didn’t even move as I approached, staring out at the ocean as she sat, curled, on the sand. She wasn’t wearing shoes, and she was still in the form-fitting black dress that suited her so well. With the moonlight gleaming off her hair, she looked like a goddess. I almost didn’t want to disturb her.

  But I needed to know what she was doing at the beach at this time of night, especially since she was in a foreign city.

  “Laura?” I asked cautiously.

  She stared, clearly not having heard me arrive. She swung around to look at me, and I paused at seeing the dried tear tracks on her cheeks and the redness in her eyes. She had been crying.
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  “What are you doing here?” she asked. She sounded numb and confused, as though she wasn’t sure what was going on.

  My concern rose. What had happened tonight?

  “I was driving by,” I said, gesturing to my car. I carefully made sure to speak in English, still unsure if she knew any Italian. “I saw you down here. Why are you here?”

  Her lips twisted. “Does it matter?” she asked, her tone almost rude. “I just am.”

  I frowned at her. Something was clearly very wrong. She didn’t look as drunk as I had feared, but she was still a little unsteady. Her attitude, however, was more concerning. I wondered if Lorenzo had anything to do with it, and my worry went up a few more notches. What had he done?

  My scrutiny made Laura scowl and look away.

  “Would you like to talk about it?” I offered.

  She scoffed and glared. “Are you going to do a Dr. Jekyll on me again?”

  I frowned, confused by that. “What do you mean?”

  “You know what I mean,” she accused, turning to face me again. “You were nice and genuine one moment, but you changed as soon as Dina arrived. You became cold and arrogant. What was all that about?”

  I winced and coughed, embarrassed. Was that how I had come across?

  “I may have been overzealous in my displeasure for the situation,” I admitted.

  “What situation?” Laura growled.

  I almost didn’t want to answer. But I knew she needed one right now. Something had gone wrong in her world, and she was looking for something that made sense. So I looked her in the eyes and told her the truth.

  “I was enjoying talking to you,” I said quietly. “I did not want the only stimulating company I had to leave. I was rude to your friend, however. I will apologize the next time I see her.”

  “You better,” she huffed.

  “However,” I said, my voice turning stern. “I don’t believe my attitude is what has brought you here at…” I checked my watch, though I already knew the time. “…three o’clock in the morning.”

  Laura’s defensive expression fell as surprise took its place. She hadn’t known what time it was. Then, slowly, her arms came up to curl around herself and her eyes filled with tears.