A Place in the Sun(56)

I let out a greedy sigh and settled back into him, glad for the extra warmth. Even though my body was ready for sleep, my mind needed a few minutes to wind down. I listened to the rain clattering on the tile roof, Gianluca’s steady breathing behind me. I thought he’d already drifted off when he spoke again, his voice hardly more than a whisper.

“Do you remember me telling you about the winds when we were out on the boat?”

I hummed, sure that I was asleep, in a dream. “The ones from Africa that bring the rain.”

“And the ones from the north? They clear the skies. Do you remember that?”

“Tramontana,” I replied, quite proud of myself for remembering the name.

He squeezed me tighter and pressed a kiss to my neck.





THE NEXT MORNING, I awoke alone in Gianluca’s bed to the sound of chatter downstairs. I recalled him kissing me earlier, trying to draw me out of sleep. I’d groaned and pulled the covers up over my head, begging for a few more minutes. He’d obliged, and I had no clue how much longer I’d slept after that. The level of noise downstairs made me think it’d been a few hours.

I stretched and pushed the covers down, turning to Gianluca’s bedside table to find a clock. There was a stack of books and a turned-down picture frame. I reached to flip it over and then jerked away as if it’d burned me. The frame clattered back down onto the bedside table and I bristled at the sound of glass cracking. I’d accidently split it down the middle.

Allie’s beaming smile stared back at me through the splintered glass.

The photo was from their wedding day, and Allie was dressed in a fitted lace gown. Her blonde hair spilled down around her shoulders, long and angelic. Her eyes shined with pure joy, and her smile was the most real thing I’d ever seen.

She was beautiful and in love and suddenly, I felt ill.

I pushed off the bed and reached down for my dress. It was still wet; I’d never hung it up to dry the night before. I groaned and turned toward Gianluca’s closed closet door. I’d find a t-shirt and pull it on for now. I didn’t want to be naked anymore. I suddenly felt vulnerable and raw after the night I’d had with him.

I whipped the door open and flipped the light on, sucker-punched by the sight in front of me. Dresses, scarves, high heels—they took up most of the modest space, even invading some of Gianluca’s side. It was Allie’s stuff. Her shoes looked like they’d just recently been kicked off and piled in the corner. Her laundry sat untouched beside it. There was a bright yellow dress hanging up right at the front. I reached out and felt the silky material, rubbing my thumb over the fabric. The lemon print would have looked silly in London, but it was the perfect dress for Vernazza, light and cheerful.

I let the fabric slip out of my fingers and I spun from the closet to inspect his room through new eyes. The night before it’d been dark and romantic, nothing but him and me. In the light of day, there was no ignoring the signs of Allie strewn everywhere: her robe hanging on the back of the door, her books stacked on the nightstand right next to where I’d slept, her unused medicine in the bathroom cabinet. There were two toothbrushes sitting in a cup on the bathroom counter. One was new, blue, and clearly belonged to Gianluca. The other was purple and faded, its bristles dried and split. I reached forward to touch it and then pulled back. What would Allie think if she knew I was in her house, sleeping with her husband, touching her belongings, staring at her smiling face on her wedding day?

I was going to be sick. My stomach squeezed tight and I pressed a hand to the back of my neck, willing the nausea to pass. I couldn’t be sick in her bathroom. I felt her there, judging me, condemning me for sleeping with Gianluca.

Allie might have passed away five years earlier, but inside Gianluca’s house she still held court. He hadn’t lied to me all those weeks ago when he’d told me he wasn’t ready for a relationship. The man was still completely in love with his wife. A ghost.

“Georgie! Are you awake yet?”

It was Katerina, calling me from the bottom of the stairs.

“We were going to go get breakfast now that the rain has stopped!”

I wiped at tears I hadn’t realized were falling. I jerked the back of my hand across my cheek, angry with myself for being emotional. Get it together. I’d pushed for this relationship or non-relationship. Whatever. I’d told Gianluca I was perfectly content with no strings, but this was different. This felt dirty. Wrong.

I met my reflection in the mirror, seeing myself through the eyes of Allie’s ghost. I looked so different from her, nearly her polar opposite. She was fair-skinned with bright blonde hair and light eyes. Maybe that’s why Gianluca fancied me—I wasn’t at risk of replacing the love of his life.

“Georgie! Come on!”

It was Gianluca shouting then. His feet were on the stairs; he was coming up to drag me out of bed. I ran out of the bathroom and snatched up my dress off the floor. I shivered as the cold, wet silk settled into place on my body. My underwear were nowhere in sight, but there was no time. I couldn’t see Gianluca in this room again; it would be too much with the three of us in the cramped space.

I combed my fingers through my hair, wiped at my cheeks one last time, and left the room. Gianluca was just cresting the top of the stairs and when he saw me, he beamed.

“There you are. I was worried you’d never wake up.”