I close my eyes, rubbing my thumb into my forehead. “Yes. I know. Of course. I just mean…”
“I know what you mean, Grace,” he says. “This has taken me off-guard too. But it is happening and her plane should be landing right now. So, she’ll be here soon, and then we’ll have to deal with it.”
“What do you suppose we should do?” I ask, looking at him for answers.
“Well, we could just continue on like we have been doing in front of Vanni, and we can pretend that we aren’t together, and that I’m not madly in love with you.”
My heart skips at those words. I’ll never tire of hearing it.
“Or,” he adds, “we can be adults and tell the both of them. Two birds with one sword.”
“Stone. Two birds with one stone.”
“I prefer sword. It’s easier to stab them both at the same time,” he says, making a jousting lunge.
“Right. I think that’s a bad idea.”
“I figured you would. Okay, so we just continue as we have. No problems. Okay?”
I nod but I know that it’s not going to be that easy.
I have a bad feeling.
“Look, Vanni is almost ready and then we’re going to head down for breakfast. It is really good here. Why don’t you get dressed and come meet us?”
“Okay,” I say softly, even though I can’t imagine eating anything right now.
Of course, when I do get ready for the day, and I head downstairs to the restaurant, my stomach kicks into high gear. Walking past all the opulently set tables, spying all the food, I realize I could eat a horse.
I find Claudio and Vanni at a table in the back. Both of them look dashing in cream colored pants and red shirts, a silky polo for Claudio, a t-shirt for Vanni. Makes me wish I had packed a red dress.
“You guys match,” I tell them as I sit down.
“It wasn’t on purpose,” Vanni grumbles through a bite of toast and Nutella.
“Vanni, don’t talk with your mouth full. Not here, anyway.”
Vanni reaches for a napkin and daintily wipes his lips with it, acting all posh.
I laugh. “Well, you both look great.”
“So do you,” Claudio says, eying me in my yellow and white dress. I know it will always remind him of his art. Perhaps I wore it on purpose today.
“And so does the food,” I say, picking up the menu. I’m drooling over everything, but the first thing I need is a coffee.
It’s when I’m nearly done with my latte that Vanni suddenly cries out, “Mamma!”
He bolts from his chair and we look over to see Jana walking past the restaurant, towing a tiny carry-on bag behind her.
“Vanni!” she cries out, dropping her suitcase and opening her arms and Vanni goes flying into them.
I have to say, it breaks my heart a little.
Not in a bad way, per se. It’s just so sweet. And it makes me realize how much Vanni needs his mother, how much he loves her, and how much Jana cares about him. Even from a distance, it’s not hard to see.
I glance beside me at Claudio and he’s practically beaming as he watches them. It means so much to him too.
Jana picks her suitcase back up, and Vanni grabs her hand and leads her through the restaurant toward us, and she’s waving at us as she comes near.
She looks great, actually. When I met her in London, she was so stern and sharp, but here she already seems relaxed, even though she’s wearing a brown suit and black-framed eyeglasses. Her hair seems brighter and longer too, though still closely cropped.
“Jana,” Claudio says warmly, while the both of us attempt to get up.
“No, no, no,” she says, frantically waving her hands at us. “Don’t get up. Enjoy your food. I’m going to go see if I can get an early check-in and change. They bloody hell better give me one, lord knows I have so many points racked up with this joint.” She waves at Vanni and says. “I’ll be down in a bit.”
Then she hurries off toward reception, and no doubt there will be hell to pay with the clerk if she doesn’t get her early check-in.
“Isn’t this great?” Vanni says to us, smiling as he sits back down.
While Claudio’s smile comes easy to him, it’s rare to see it on Vanni.
He goes on. “This is like all the timelines are colliding into one super timeline.”
Oh boy.
I exchange a look with Claudio. Vanni’s happiness is contagious, but in a way