A Place in the Sun(68)

We laughed and continued on at a snail’s pace. With the boys gone, it was much nicer. We walked slow and took breaks in the shade when we felt like it.

“Sooooo…” Katerina said, shaking my arm. “What do you think of Taylor?”

“Hmmm? He’s nice.”

She rolled her eyes. “No, I mean, what do you think about him? He’s a nomad like you, G.”

I opened my mouth, confused about what she was getting at, and then I realized I’d never filled Katerina in on Gianluca and I reaching an armistice. We’d rewound our relationship, but Katerina still assumed I was heartbroken over him.

“On paper, he’s everything you’re looking for. Georgie, I saw that he was reading Oliver Twist! He had it in his backpack. It isn’t A Tale of Two Cities, but what are the odds? You named that exact author when you talked about the kind of man you wanted for a future husband.”

Had I said that? Funny.

“He’s cute too, and polite. Most importantly, I asked and he has no girlfriend, no wife, no skeletons in his closet.”

“Right.”

“That’s all you have to say?” She was shocked, maybe even a bit annoyed with my lack of enthusiasm. “You’ve been waiting for a man like Taylor since you arrived here and you’re not even going to give him a chance?”

“Katerina, I’m not interested. Okay? He’s not for me. No chemistry. He chatted with me for a good ten minutes back there before I realized he was trying to lay on the charm.”

“Give him a chance. He’s probably just nervous.”

“Why don’t you date him if you’re so keen on him?”

“Don’t be ridiculous.”

“You’re the one being ridiculous!”

We walked on for a bit longer then, in brooding silence.

Then, finally, she turned and grilled me.

“What happened with Gianluca?”

I hesitated before telling her the truth. Her words flashed through my mind—she’d warned me to keep away from Gianluca, to protect my heart against him. She’d said that out of every man in Vernazza, Gianluca was the last one I should I fancy. What would she say if she knew we were sleeping together again? That I was still so in love with him it blinded me to all logic and reason.

I sighed before replying. “We talked and neither one of us wants to throw in the towel just yet—”

“Oh good GOD!”

“What?!”

“Nothing.” She shook her head and tried to move past me. “C’mon, let’s just catch up with the others.”

I reached for her arm to tug her back. “No! Say it!”

“You’re fooling yourself, Georgie! You’re being so bloody stupid!”

It felt as if she’d just slapped me cross the face. “No I’m not!”

“You’re telling me you won’t even give a lovely guy a chance because you’re ‘not ready to throw in the towel’? HOW ROMANTIC!”

“Oh, just sod off. That’s not how it is.”

“Then tell me! How is it? You’re okay with just being Gianluca’s f*ck buddy?!”

I shoved away from her then, so hard she fell back against the brush beside the trail. “You have no idea what you’re talking about! How dare you judge my choices. You think I should walk away from the man I love because some other guy walks up and says hi?”

“Oh bloody hell. You love him?! What about all the crap you wanted?! You had a list a mile long of all the things you cared about! You’re going to toss all that away?”

“I don’t care about any of that stuff! I don’t care if Taylor reads every miserable book on the planet! I want Gianluca and I want him enough to deal with the baggage. So, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got to continue on—it’s my f*ck buddy’s birthday!”





I HEARD KATERINA and Georgie shouting at one another—actually, we all heard them. The mountain, like most mountains, was deserted, and sound carried readily. We’d stopped to wait for them and then I listened carefully, bristling as Katerina tried to push Taylor on Georgie. My mates had the good sense to pretend they couldn’t hear it, but it was no use. Taylor wouldn’t meet my eyes, Massimo was watching me with pity, and Matteo and Paolo, the arseholes, were doing their best to contain their snickering. Apparently they enjoyed hearing the girls shouting about f*ck buddies.

I didn’t.

I felt for Georgie in that moment. Having to defend her choice to be with me was hard to hear, especially when I hadn’t given her much to use in way of defense. I was angry with Katerina for assuming I wasn’t good enough for Georgie, for trying to convince her to give Taylor a chance. I was angry because she was right. I wasn’t good enough for Georgie, but more than anything, I wanted to be. I wanted to change. I wanted to be the man Georgie Archibald deserved to marry.

To marry.

I stared up at the sky and laughed a sort of crazy chuckle at how correct Allie had been.

“By the time you’re thirty, you’ll be happy again and madly in love. I promise. I’ll work some kind of cosmic magic to make it happen, just you wait and see.”

I guess you win, Allie.

You win.

“You want to go on, Luca?” Massimo asked, coming up to drop his hand on my shoulder. “We can give them a bit of privacy?”