“I’ll have you, Sara Mancini. I’ll have you for the rest of my life.”
She kisses me on the lips. “That’s settled then. Now, go. You don’t want to keep Elio Rossi waiting.”
7
SARA
Halle watchesme sit down at my station in the salon and get ready for my first appointment. I try not to make eye contact, afraid that one glance will give everything away.
“So,” she says finally, “when are you seeing him again?”
The question is unexpected. I know I’m going to see Romeo again, every day for the rest of my life if he meant what he said, but we have no specific plans. I kissed him goodbye when he left to meet Elio earlier, and he promised that he would be back.
I make the mistake of meeting her gaze and her eyes widen. “Oh. My. God. You fucked him, didn’t you?”
“Shh, keep your voice down.”
Mary, our boss, pokes her head around the corner from the office out the back, skims my face and narrows her eyes, her lash extensions fanning her cheeks. She smiles. “I knew it. I knew he was going to be the one.”
I’m grinning too. There’s no way either of them could’ve known that Romeo would crash into my life like a wrecking ball and turn it upside down, but they’re smiling, which means they’re both happy for me, which means that his job means nothing to them. Not that I need to justify it to myself or to anyone else. Romeo is a whole lot more than just his job. But it makes me feel warm inside, nonetheless, knowing that my friends want this for me too.
“What did you do last night?” Mary asks.
“We went swimming. In the river.”
“And after that?” Mary arches an immaculate eyebrow.
My cheeks grow hot. “We went back to his.”
Halle squeals. “We want all the details.”
“No. Na-hah. Absolutely not.”
She slants her eyes wickedly, and I know what’s coming even before she asks, “Is he as big in that department as he is everywhere else?” She points to her crotch with one glossy nude acrylic.
“I’m not talking about it.”
I line up nail polishes on my worktop, cutting the conversation short. Romeo would never show his face in here again if he thought that I’d told them everything.
But Halle is still twitching with curiosity. “You’ve been at it all night, haven’t you?”
My cheeks grow even hotter.
“Does he have a brother?” Halle isn’t giving up. “Please tell me that he has a brother. A single brother. You can tell him that I like ice cream, no dairy intolerance here.”
“Okay, I think that’s enough,” Mary interjects, saving me from the painful interrogation. “You don’t have to tell us anything, Sara, but I’m happy for you.” She means it. “Are you seeing him again tonight?”
“Yes.” My stomach lurches, and my heart tumbles with it.
I told Romeo that I would beg God to bring him home to me every day, but what if God isn’t listening? What if saving Romeo is out of his remit because of his involvement with the Rossis? It was easy to say with conviction when we were both naked in his bed with his arms around me, but in the cold light of day, I’m suddenly gripped by fear.
“Wow, he’s keen. And rightly so. You’re a catch, Sara, and he knows it.” Mary disappears out the back.
“I’m happy for you,” Halle whispers from her own station. “Jealous but happy.”
But the glow inside me is starting to fade. I don’t know where Romeo is today. I don’t know when he expects to be back—when he left this morning, next-date details felt so trivial that we didn’t bother with them. We’re both in this for the long haul. No second-guessing, no backing out now. But I realize that we haven’t even exchanged cell numbers because Romeo knows where to find me.
Only, I don’t know where to find him when he isn’t home.
