Love & Gelato(52)

“Mom,” I whispered. Her sadness was smeared across the journal like paint that had never had the chance to dry. How was it possible that she’d had her heart smashed to smithereens in a Rome train station and never even mentioned it to me? Had I even known this woman?

I scanned through the last few entries again. No doubt about it, X had been a serious jerk. I especially hated that he’d told her he needed “new creative space.” What kind of a line was that? And it was awful that she hadn’t seen the end coming, especially when it was so obvious from the outside that the relationship wasn’t going anywhere. Reading those last few entries had been like watching a train wreck in slow motion.

And then there was Howard. I rested my finger on the entry about him and Adrienne. He’d definitely had something going on behind the scenes too. Had he and Adrienne been dating and broken up just before my mom and X? Had both my parents been interested in other people and just sort of fallen together for a while? Is that why they hadn’t lasted? And what had been so special about X, anyway?

I wanted to keep reading, but my eyelids insisted on doing this slow downward drag. Finally I gave up, tucking the journal into the nightstand and switching out the light.





Chapter 16




“I NEED YOUR HELP.” I’D woken that morning with a brilliant idea, and even though I’d waited until a socially acceptable hour, I’d still had to practically drag Ren out of his bed. Now we were sitting on his front porch and he looked only about thirty percent awake.

“Couldn’t it have waited?” He was wearing black sweatpants and a faded T-shirt and, like usual, had to keep shaking his hair out of his face. It was probably just the morning light, but he looked cute. Like way cuter than someone with bed head should.

He caught me staring. “What?”

I quickly looked away. “Nothing. I just need your help with one last thing.”

“Listen, you know I’m all about this Howard-Hadley mystery. But can’t I take a nap first?”

“No! Ren, why are you so tired?”

“I was on the phone with Mimi until like three.”

The sun was suddenly way too bright. “Was she really mad about what I said last night?”

“Yeah. It was pretty ugly.” He sighed. “But let’s not talk about that. What do you need help with?”

“Could you give me a ride to FAAF?”

“Your mom’s school?”

“Yes. I called them this morning. They moved to a new location a few years ago, but I want to go and see if I can get any info on Francesca.”

“Fashion police Francesca?”

“I think she’s my best bet for tracking down X. Turns out she knew about him all along.”

“Whoa, slow down. We’re tracking down X? Why?”

“Because my mom had this whole life I didn’t know about, and I want to know what was so great about X that she couldn’t get over him and had to break Howard’s heart.”

“But wait. That’s still just a theory, right? What if that isn’t the reason she left Italy?”

I groaned. “Ren, come on. Don’t you want to know who the mysterious X is? He was so awful when he broke up with her. It totally destroyed her. I just want to know what the big deal was. I think it will help me understand it all better.”

“Hmm.” He yawned and dropped his head onto my shoulder.

“So will you help me?”

“Of course I will. When do you want to go?”

“As soon as possible.” His skin was warm and he had that puppy-dog sleeping boy-smell.

“You smell good,” he said, echoing my thoughts.

“No, I don’t. I ran six miles this morning and haven’t showered yet.”

“You still smell good.”

Apparently that tiny little butterfly was alive and well. And it was definitely making the rounds. I quickly moved away.



Don’t. Think. About. Ren.

I ran hard back to the cemetery. I had enough to think about without complicating things with some stupid crush on one of the best friends I’d ever had. Also, he was dating a Swedish supermodel. With anger issues. And let’s not forget that I’d just given my number to the best-looking guy I’d ever met.

When I got to the house my heart practically fell out of my chest. Howard was sitting on the porch swing with a cup of coffee, looking like such a nice guy. It was cosmically unfair that the whole “Love Stinks” cycle had left him alone in a cemetery with his terrible muffins and old music. It made me want to buy him balloons or something.

“Good morning, Lina.”

“Morning.”

He gave me a funny look. Probably because I was looking at him like he was an injured baby duck.

“I was just at Ren’s,” I offered.

“Do you two have any plans today?”

“Yeah, he’s coming to get me in a little bit.”

“For what?”

“Uh, I think we’re just going to get some lunch or something.” Should I invite him? Wait. We weren’t actually going to lunch.

“Fun. Well, I was thinking that if you two are up for it, we could go to a movie tonight. One of the nearby towns has an outdoor theater that plays films in their original language, and this week they’re showing one of my favorites.”