by Sophie Love
Just then, Keira heard her phone ping, indicating an incoming email. She rolled out of Cristiano’s arms—in spite of his attempts to stop her—and snatched her phone up off the bedside table.
She saw that the email was from Elliot. She opened it eagerly. He’d been so supportive of her work recently she looked forward to seeing what he had to say about her latest offering.
Keira, I love this. This piece is even better than your Ireland one. I’m so relieved you decided to stay with us. Just one thing, I don’t know how Lance will feel about the direction you’ve taken the tone in this Florence part. Death isn’t the most romantic topic to talk about. He prefers things to be a bit more safe and fluffy. I’m not sure, but I suppose we’ll wait and see whether he thinks it’s too sinister.
Keira sat back against the pillows, her mouth twisted to the side in consternation.
“What is wrong?” Cristiano asked her. “You have your frown on.”
Keira sighed. “Elliot isn’t sure about my last passage. He thinks it’s a bit sinister. Inappropriate to talk about in a romance article.”
“You thought it was sinister too, once,” Cristiano reminded her. “When I first wanted to take you to the cemetery you said it was morbid. Without experiencing it, it must seem a bit jarring for American eyes.”
“You’re right,” she agreed. “But I really want that passage in there. It’s important to me. It’s when things clicked into place for me. For us.”
Cristiano grinned and stroked her arm. “Because we made love that night?”
Keira grinned. “Amongst other things.”
Though they’d been sleeping in the same bed for the last few days, the fact they were staying with Cristiano’s parents had tempered the passion somewhat. That fact that in Verona it would just be the two of them again was the main reason why she was excited to be heading off today. Keeping her passion under wraps was proving very, very difficult.
Keira also realized, sadly, that Verona indicated that her time in Italy would soon come to an end. It was her final destination, the last stop on her trip. They had just one weekend there before her trip was to come to an end. On Monday, she was to fly home and leave Italy behind her. Whether she would also be leaving Cristiano in the past, Keira did not yet know. They hadn’t talked about it. She got the impression from him—and everyone she’d met in Italy thus far—that they tended to live in the moment and not spend much time worrying about what the future would bring. She was bracing herself for it to be bad news, for things to end with Cristiano in much the same way they had with Shane. Distance would be hurdle that he was not willing to overcome.
But Keira took a leaf from Cristiano’s book. They still had Verona, a whole weekend together. And she was determined to enjoy every second of it.
CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT
Beneath Keira, the Vespa thrummed. She and Cristiano had decided to road trip together on the scooter, even though it meant couriering her suitcase and his satchel onward to Verona. But it would be worth it, and Keira was looking forward to the romantic journey through Tuscany and into northern Italy.
She turned and waved at Sabrina and Francesco, who were standing in the doorway of their villa in order to bid them farewell. Then she wrapped her arms around Cristiano’s middle, and they were off, careening down the hillsides at top speed.
The journey was to take three hours, starting off in the Tuscany countryside to the north of Florence, before cutting through Cristiano’s university city of Bologna. Some of the journey was undertaken on large, wide roads carved straight through the valleys of the mountains. Some was on smaller, single-track roadways which were lined either side by tall fern trees and evergreens.
The weather as they headed further north grew chillier. Keira held on tightly to Cristiano, drawing warmth from his body. Her hair flew backward in the wind and she felt exhilarated, carefree. In love.
Finally, they made it to Verona. Keira looked around her in wonder at the entirely unique city. Its architecture was a mishmash of the two centuries of history she’d come to expect from Italy, but that Verona was once a merchant city was immediately apparent. As the scooter weaved along the street, Keira saw everything from palaces, merchant houses, towers, and statues. They passed piazzas and Roman ruins, things Keira had become accustomed to and perceived as very Italian. But then the bike whizzed beneath a huge stone arch, one the city’s gateways.
Cristiano slowed the Vespa and drew to a halt outside a hotel. He hopped off and helped Keira safely onto the sidewalk. Her legs were stiff from the long journey.
He kissed her. “Did you enjoy that?”
She grinned. “Yes! I want to do it again.”
“Another day,” Cristiano told her, and she thought poignantly about how they only had this day and tomorrow left together. She wondered if he meant another day in the future, after her departure, when they’d arrange to meet up again, or whether he just hadn’t really spent any time thinking about the fact she was leaving imminently.
Inside, the hotel was very comfortable and cozy. Not the impeccable design of Sabrina and Francesco’s home, but gorgeous nonetheless. Thankfully their bags had been couriered successfully and were waiting for them in their room.
Keira turned to Cristiano to comment on the pleasantness of the room, but before she could open her mouth to speak, his lips were on hers, moving hungrily. Neither needed to say another word. Their desires fell into perfect unison. They tumbled onto the bed, unleashing the passion that had become pent up over the last few days.
After making blissful love, they showered together, freshening up for the afternoon and evening ahead. Keira sat on the stool of the desk, combing her wet hair, feeling content and satisfied.
“Where are we heading to?” she asked Cristiano’s reflection in the mirror, watching him button up his shirt over his muscular chest.
“Somewhere every literature graduate should go,” he replied.
Keira laughed and turned on the stool to face him. “And where is that?”
Cristiano paced across the room to her and cupped her face in his hands. “The balcony of Romeo and Juliet,” he said. “The real location that Shakespeare based it on. The very place he wrote the most romantic love story in the world.”
Keira felt a lump of emotion in her throat at the thought of it. So excited was she that she leapt straight up, her hair still wet, and grabbed her purse.
“What are we waiting for?” she cried. “Let’s go!”
She clutched Cristiano’s hand and, laughing, they hurried out the room, flying down the hotel steps and out into the warm Verona air.
The streets were very busy and they had to negotiate their way through throngs of tourists. But finally they made it to their location.
Stunning was not an adequate word to describe it. Awe-inspiring was closer. Keira stood, entranced, staring silently at the gorgeous stone building. The fact that she was looking at the very balcony Shakespeare had been gazing upon when he’d written arguably his most famous and romantic scene was overwhelming.
Beneath the balcony Keira noticed many slips of colored paper attached to the wall. She wandered over and realized they were notes from tourists, from lovers. Like the Bridge of Gold in Florence, Juliet’s balcony had become a pilgrimage spot for people in love.
She saw a couple walk up beside her and pin their own note upon the wall. From this vantage point she could make out the words.
We have both loved and lost, but in our loss we found each other, and now our love is eternal.
“That’s beautiful,” Keira said aloud, unable to help herself. She’s was too caught up in the romance of the moment for self-censorship.
The couple smiled. “Thank you,” the woman said. “Our journey has been a long one, filled with many setbacks. But now we’re here, together.” She held his hand tightly as she spoke.
“It feels like reaching your final destination,” the man added, his gaze on his lover rather than Keira.
Final d
estination, Keira repeated in her mind. She’d thought the very same thing about Verona just that morning. It was the last stop on her tour, the finale. Possibly the end of her time with Cristiano.
Keira felt a surge of inspiration. She grabbed Cristiano’s hand and together they found the spot where Shakespeare was said to have written. She sat, too, feeling history all around her, inspired, overwhelmed, and began to write in her notebook.
In one huge flurry, Keira got all her thoughts and feelings down onto paper. Her anxieties about commitment, about falling in love too often, too hard and fast, about bruising too easily, and being irreparably damaged by too many lovers, all of it seemed to disappear in this most inspiring of places. Love, like life, Keira realized, was a journey. It was filled with pit stops and detours, some good, some bad, some painful, some wonderful. But when the final destination arrived, you would know it. There’d be nothing left to fear because it would be a moment of clarity. Sabrina and Francesco had built a family upon that truth, Pippa and Raffaele had found it young and were prepared to nurture it, and this couple beside her had found it eventually after what seemed like a tumultuous search.
With excitement, Keira felt the final words of her piece materialize in her mind, and she wrote them with a flourish.
Without starting the journey, how can one know when they’ve reached the final destination?
She put her pen down with finality. Cristiano looked at her, eyebrows raised.
“Are you done?” he asked.
She nodded, feeling triumphant.
“You finished Verona in one sitting?” he added with an air of surprise in his tone.
Keira grinned with pride and put her notebook back in her purse. “I learned the lesson I needed to here. The secret of love.”
They stood then, ready to return to their hotel. Before they did, Cristiano wrapped Keira up in his arms.
“You know the secret?” he said in her ear. “Tell me.”
She pulled back and tipped her gaze up to meet his, then kissed him softly. Even in the lightest of touches they could express the most powerful of passions.
“The secret is that no one knows it,” she told him. “Until they just do.”
Cristiano gave her an amused but curious look. “My Keira,” he said, tucking her hair behind her ears. “You are quite strange.”
CHAPTER TWENTY NINE
Cristiano and Keira spent their last day together in Italy exploring Verona, strolling slowly along beside the meandering River Adige, visiting the gorgeously quaint, unimposing, and indestructible San Zeno church (which had survived numerous attacks and earthquakes), and looking in the artisan shops that inhabited the ancient Ex Macello building. More than at any other time since being in Italy, Keira felt like she and Cristiano were a couple, like they were dating. With the article finished there was no pressure on Keira to find a story or follow a narrative, and none on Cristiano to guide her. They could just be two people, besotted with one another, enjoying their holiday romance.
They stopped for lunch at a cafe on the piazza and chatted aimlessly about the Arena Opera Festival that took place in the summer—and which they both agreed would be amazing to attend one day—to the only drawback of Verona being its relatively limited number of parks and green spaces. They seemed able to pass the time speaking about next to nothing; the Lessini mountain north of Verona where a unique German dialect was spoken; the ugly San Zeno parking lot; the bizarre centuries-old whale bone hanging in the Arco della Costa whose origins are a mystery since Verona is seventy-five miles away from the sea. But for all their easy conversation, neither spoke of the inevitable ending tomorrow. Keira did not want to spoil things by worrying about it, and she supposed Cristiano was in a similar position.
Just as they were finishing the super tasty funghi pizza they’d ordered, Keira received an email from Elliot.
Good news, Keira. Lance loved the piece. He says it was a bold and edgy move to bring in the All Souls’ Day stuff. Just one thing. He says the last paragraph needs more to it. He likes the journey analogy, but feels like there needs to be a conclusion. He wants to know what the future holds for you and Cristiano.
As she reread Elliot’s message, Keira realized he was right. There was a conclusion missing but that was because she and Cristiano didn’t yet know what the conclusion to their story would be. They hadn’t decided on the ending, or found a way to conclude their narrative in Italy.
Keira made a resolution on the spot that by the time the day was out, she’d know how their story ended.
CHAPTER THIRTY
For their last meal in Verona, Keira and Cristiano chose an intimate, candlelit restaurant overlooking the Piazza Bra. In the distance, the Arena, Verona’s ancient ruin, was lit, providing an otherworldly and stunning backdrop.
Keira chose king prawn tagliatelle, while Cristiano opted for a porcini mushroom risotto. He also selected the most gorgeous wine that complemented the food perfectly, and flowed in copious amounts. Keira was grateful for the alcohol, because she certainly needed the confidence to bring up the topic she had been avoiding for so long.
The waiter came over to clear the table, and they ordered their last gelatos. As he left, Keira leaned across and took Cristiano’s hand in hers.
“I need to speak to you,” she said.
Candlelight danced in Cristiano’s dark eyes. “Oh?” he said. “What about?”
“About tomorrow,” Keira replied.
“How we are getting to the airport?” Cristiano said, immediately misunderstanding what she was trying to broach. “There is a bus that will take us. A slightly long journey but the stop is near enough to the hotel and it will be the easiest option.”
Keira shook her head. “Not that,” she said. “About the fact I’m leaving tomorrow. Going back to America.”
She felt Cristiano’s fingers tighten slightly. “I know. It is sad,” was all he said.
“Sad because it will be over between us?” Keira asked, tentatively.
“No!” Cristiano exclaimed, horrified. “It will not be over! Sad because the Italian chapter of our story is ending.”
Keira sighed with relief. So Cristiano did want to things to continue with them. She was glad to hear it.
“In which case,” she said, “maybe we could figure out when would be a good time to see each other next?”
Cristiano quirked his head to the side as though confused, and Keira wondered whether she’d completely misheard what he’d said about it not being over. But what Cristiano said next made her realize in no uncertain terms that she’d heard him perfectly.
“I will come with you,” he said, as though it were the obvious answer. “To New York City.” He shrugged, reminding her of the nonchalant manner he’d had when they first met. “You have seen my home country, now I can see yours.”
“Tomorrow?” she said, taken aback.
“Yes, of course,” he replied simply. “Why not?”
Keira was so shocked she could hardly speak. It was too much to get her mind around. In a short space of time she’d gone from having no Cristiano, to reuniting with Cristiano, to mentally preparing to say goodbye to Cristiano, to now suddenly facing the possibility of him coming with her! Her mind began reeling.
“Well,” she began, struggling to put her thoughts into order. “I don’t know how much time I’ll have to show you around for starters. I’ll be working every day.”
“That’s okay,” Cristiano said. “I am perfectly happy exploring on my own.” He squeezed her hand again. “As long as I have my Keira keeping my bed warm.”
Keira couldn’t help but think Cristiano was being rather blasé. He was reacting in almost the opposite way that Shane had. Shane had been practical, considering his family, their jobs, their money situation. Cristiano seemed to not be thinking of anything at all! Just that they ought to be together. He made things seem so simple. For Keira, it just wasn’t quite as easy as all that.
For starters, she had no apartment. Zach had
n’t been in touch since his suggestion of going for a drink so she had no way of knowing when she’d get the deposit back from him to secure a new one. If Cristiano came with her, they’d both be squeezing on Bryn’s couch.
Plus, Thanksgiving was approaching. She couldn’t bring him, this stranger, into her family’s plans. Bryn had been furious enough that she was seeing Shelby and Maxine in the evening. If she brought a tagalong—even a hunky one like Cristiano—to the meal her head might explode.
Keira noticed Cristiano’s face fall.
“You do not want me to come,” he stated sadly.
“It’s not that,” Keira said quickly. But then she stopped. It was exactly that. Cristiano was moving too quickly and she needed time to think things through. “Just not right away. Not tomorrow. I need to sort some things out.”
“What things?” he asked, his face falling even more now that she’d confirmed it.
“Work. An apartment. I’m sleeping at my sister’s at the moment.”
“I do not mind,” Cristiano said.
“But I do,” Keira replied, a little more firmly. “Things back home are a bit of a mess for me at the moment. It wouldn’t be any fun for you.”
“Of course it would!” Cristiano said, contradicting her again. “I would be with you. In an amazing country. It will be thrilling.”
“It won’t, that’s what I’m saying,” Keira replied, sounding a bit more forceful, a bit more abrupt. “I’m saying that it will be the opposite of thrilling. We won’t be making love in orange groves or watching the sunset. It will be me running around busy trying to find an apartment, going to the office every morning and leaving you in my sister’s messy, pokey flat. It will be the opposite of romantic.”
She finished her tirade and sat back against the chair back heavily, unlinking her fingers from Cristiano’s as she did so. Keira was surprised by how heated she’d just become, by the tangle of her internal thoughts and emotions. She had not expected herself to react that way. Why hadn’t she leapt at the opportunity for Cristiano to come with her?
