last thing I want to do. I want to stay here with him and pretend like I don’t remember five years ago.
But now I can’t unremember it. I can’t just forget about it. I know I can’t do this. It’s going to kill me to get over him when I had just fallen in love with him.
Tears crash down my cheeks as I hear his steps behind me. I grab my coat off the couch and quickly throw it on. I don’t even care if it’s on right.
“Carissa, wait… What’s wrong?”
I quickly unlock the door, open it, and without saying a single word to him, I head to my car.
Chapter Nineteen
Lorenzo
“Daddy! Nonna and I are going to make cookies!” Gianna throws herself into my lap, almost making me drop the bottle of beer in my hands.
“That’s nice, princess. That sounds like so much fun.”
Her eyes light up, and her smile widens. “Yes! It’s going to be fun. We’re going to decorate them with icing and sprinkles.” She takes a breath and hops off my lap. “Hi, Uncle Maxy.” She waves at my brother who is sitting across from me and then plops herself onto his lap.
“Hi, pretty girl,” he says, smiling at her, then takes a pull from his beer.
“Gia! Come, sweetheart. It’s time!” my mother calls from the kitchen.
“Oh, boy! I have to go now! Bye, Daddy! Bye, Uncle Maxy!”
She races out of the living room before either of us has a chance to say good-bye.
My brother throws me a glance. “She’s full of excitement. She’s something special, that one.” He chuckles.
“Yeah, she is,” I say, expressionless, then take another swig.
Max raises an eyebrow. “So you wanna tell me what’s been eating at you, man?”
“Huh?”
He smirks, unpleased. “Don’t huh me, man. What’s been going on with you? You’ve been a bump on a log all freaking day.”
I shrug.
“Come on, Enz. Don’t make me come over there and beat it out of you.”
His threat is the first thing that makes me chuckle all damn day, but I’m not amused at all. I’m feeling pretty miserable and down.
“Yeah, like that would ever happen,” I reply. Shrugging again, I say, “Remember how I said there was something I would be telling you?”
Maybe now’s a good a time as ever to let him know about Carissa. Except now, there’s a sad ending.
Because she won’t pick up or return any of my calls.
Because she won’t text me back.
Because she’s been ignoring me ever since she took off yesterday morning.
Damn, what did I do wrong? One minute, we were both having a great time, enjoying one another—and I know for a fact she was enjoying it—and the next, she can’t leave my house fast enough.
I’m going to regret telling him the first part because I know he’s going to pick on me. But maybe, just maybe, when he hears the rest of it, he’ll end up feeling sorry for my pathetic ass. Maybe.
Max has never really taken it easy on me, so I guess we’ll see.
He nods.
“That chick you thought I was staring at?”
“The one with the amazing lips and eyes from the bar that night?”
I chuckle to myself. “Yeah, her.”
His eyes widen, and I definitely have his full attention.
“Well, I kept bumping into her… so much so, I saved her one night from her ass of an ex.”
He chuckles. “Ha, no shit?”
“Yeah. Anyway, we got to talking, and we ended up seeing one another for a bit.”
He almost chokes on his beer. “You’re joking, right?”
“Nah, man. I’m serious.”
“And you never told me till now? You ass!”
I shrug. “Yeah, well, that’s not all of it.”
“Oh, so what’s up? And why the hell are you so down about it? That chick was gorgeous. You should be on cloud nine right now.”
I let out a deep sigh. “Well, I was… up until yesterday.”
He furrows his brows.
Do I tell him all about our little evening together?
Hmm, maybe I’ll skip the juicy parts. Those are only for me… and my memory now because she’s gone.
Damn, she’s gone. The realization hits me hard. I really thought things were going so well. I really thought things were progressing and going somewhere.
I thought she could be the one.
The one to save me from my misery.
The one to help me understand that life doesn’t have to end when a loved one dies.
It’s hard to keep holding on to someone who is no longer there.
“Bro, I couldn’t even tell you if I wanted to. One minute everything is going so well, and the next,