at the coffee shop.
And, of course, she would leave out the fact that she had brought him back to her apartment after dinner. Her parents wouldn’t think much of that part of the story. They’d be much happier left in the dark.
But leaving out Lucas entirely wasn’t an option. She knew that this story was one she would have to tell everyone in her life. She wouldn’t be able to properly convey just how amazing and magical her vacation had been without including the fact that she had been swept off her feet by a handsome stranger.
She went back to the kitchen, finished making her coffee, and took it out onto the balcony to drink. She propped her feet up on the railing and looked out onto the street below.
The sounds of people calling to each other in Italian floated up to her. A moped driver swerved around a pair of pedestrians, his vehicle rattling over the cobblestones. The woman across the street, so close that Elise nearly could have reached out and taken her hand, was hanging her laundry out her own window.
I’m going to miss this place, Elise thought.
Enjoy the rest of your vacation, Lucas had said.
She would do exactly that. After all, once she went back home to Albuquerque, her big Roman adventure would be behind her. This had been the thing she had looked forward to for so long, and now she was here. She would make the most of it before it slipped away.
She finished her coffee, went inside, and put on her walking shoes. She had made the mistake of wearing cute boots her first day here, but walking over the cobblestones all day had left her in agony. Now it was sneakers every time she stepped outside the house—except last night, of course.
She paused in the doorway for a moment, remembering the feeling. It had been so intense, knowing that she was about to go on a mystery date with a handsome man. Nothing like that had ever happened to Elise before in her life.
And I suppose nothing ever will again, she thought.
But the point was that it had happened. She would have that memory forever.
She went down to the street. Outside the apartment, she glanced toward Gianni’s before turning and walking deliberately in the opposite direction. She was going to make today just as special as yesterday had been, even if it was in a very different way.
There would be no more repeating the same pattern she had fallen into since coming to Rome. She would stop doing the same things every day.
She would enjoy the rest of her vacation, as Lucas had advised her.
She would make sure every day was different than the one before.
Chapter 4
Elise
On the flight to Rome, Elise hadn’t been able to sleep at all. But on the flight home, she could hardly keep her eyes open.
The last week of her trip had been so overwhelming. So exciting. And even though nothing had managed to live up to the evening she had spent with Lucas, she felt as if her time with him had awakened her to the many possibilities Rome held.
She had discovered a hidden little wine bar with a library in the basement and had spent an entire day curling up with old books and a glass of merlot. Though most of the books had been in Italian, there were a few in English—more than enough to satisfy her needs.
She had bought a ticket to an opera on a whim and worn her classy boots, even though she knew they would hurt her feet. Not knowing the language served her well at the opera, because she didn’t have a hope of following the plot. She sat back, closed her eyes, and let the beauty of the music wash over her.
Before coming to the airport, she had made her last visit to Gianni’s. She’d thanked him for everything he had done for her throughout her trip, and he had wished her a pleasant journey home.
That had been an emotional moment—leaving Gianni’s for the last time. The little coffee shop had come to be part of her daily routine, and she knew that she would never be coming back. It was hard to say goodbye to this vacation, to know that it was really coming to an end. But at the same time, it would be nice to be back home. She had missed her own apartment, and while she hadn’t exactly missed work, she had missed seeing