“A little?”
“Seriously. Or should I say what do youwantto happen next week?”
“This is a conversation a little too deep to have before my second cup of coffee, man.” I plopped down the last chair harder than I meant to. “What do you want me to say? She lives in Brooklyn, I live here.”
“It’s not like she’s in another country.” He shrugged and rolled his eyes. “You can figure it out if you want to.”
I blew out a long breath. “She deserves better than what I have to offer her, which isn’t a hell of a lot. How many weekends can I just drop everything and head to Brooklyn? Even when the summer ends?”
“Maybe you could work something out. She could come out here sometimes.”
“It’s only been a week. Less than a week, in fact. I can’t ask her to change her life for me.” I made my way into the kitchen for some breakfast, knowing Dominic wouldn’t let this go and would be right on my damn heels.
“I think you’ve spent more time with her this week than you spent with Jill in the whole time you guys were dating. In fact, any woman you were with seemed like an afterthought to you, until this one.”
I grabbed a bagel off the counter before I turned back to Dominic. “What do you want me to do?”
“I’ll say one more thing, then I’ll drop it.”
I highly doubted that but nodded anyway.
“Stop blowing it off as temporary when you don’t want it to be. Ask her what she wants to do instead of assuming. Do you know whatyouwant?”
“Her.” My answer came quick and with zero hesitation.
“When you bought this place, and everyone told you how nuts you were, you said life was too short to not do what you want. Take your own advice, dude. So what if it’s quick? Don’t throw away something real just because you think it’s not supposed to be.”
I drew back, squinting at my best friend. “Since when did you get so philosophical?” I had to laugh.
“I’m the brainsandthe beauty around here. It’s exhausting.” He shook his head before pushing the door open. “Plus, I’m dreading next week, too. I’m the one who’s going to have to deal with the brunt of your heartbroken, cranky ass.”
Dominic’s words rattled around in my brain as I poured a cup of coffee. The annoying bastard was always right. Contemplating a future with her after the short time I’d known her seemed ridiculous, but it was all I could think about. I’d already mapped out the drive from Ocean Cove to Bay Ridge, Brooklyn a hundred times—three and a half hours. Maybe not across the country, but far enough to have completely separate lives.
Maybe we could work out a way to see each other—sometimes. The old me would love an arrangement like this: casual and part time, nothing dragging me from all the things in my life that needed to stay a priority.
But I already knew that when it came to Caterina, casual would never be enough.
22
Caterina
“Wow,”Claire gasped as we walked closer to Joe’s restaurant. “Good thing your boyfriend is the owner, or we’d never get in.”
“He’s not my…” They both turned to me with raised brows. “Ugh, just push the door open.”
Claire was right; this place was so packed, we could barely close the door behind us. I hadn’t seen this many people collectively in this town all week. Granted, my days were spent on the beach, and my nights were spent with Joe, but it still seemed like a much bigger crowd than I would have expected judging by the amount of people I’d seen out and about.
Joe didn’t give himself enough credit. He was smart enough to know how to keep a business in a summer tourist town going all year long by cashing in when it counted.
But…he wasn’t my boyfriend. Claire’s little quip upset me more than it should have. We were heading home on Saturday morning, and then what? Would Joe only be a memory, a hot and heavy fling I could reminisce about when I crossed the bridge back into Brooklyn and went back to my old life?
He was more than that. Or, I wanted him to be more. I’d caught him referring to our time together as limited, and he’d mentioned not wanting to talk about letting me go until he had to. Notifhe had to. It was an eventuality, not a possibility that whatever this crazy thing between us was would end. Thinking about it hurt more than I expected it to. I sucked in a shaky breath, needing a drink to numb the shitty feeling now lodged in the pit of my stomach.
“I’ll get us some drinks; you guys find a table.” I ambled away from my friends and headed to the bar, scanning the room for Joe but not finding him anywhere.
I searched the crowd to find where the girls were sitting, but my friends were already lost in the sea of patrons. It was dark and loud, the bass from the speakers echoing in my ears. The band sounded great, playing an old eighties cover with different guitar riffs.
“What can I get you?” I barely heard the bartender over the noise and my turbulent thoughts.
