“One day you buy the bunch,si?” The woman called with a grin, and Kate smiled. At least, she did her best to impersonate the kind of smile she’d seen on other people. It seemed to be similar to what she remembered doing, before Benedetto.
Something kicked inside of her and she sighed. How she loved flowers. Only now, even they reminded her of him. More specifically, of the farm house in Tuscany. She pushed one foot in front of the other, moving closer and closer to the flat. But she was unable to control her mind as well as she could her legs.
The farm house was only perhaps thirty minutes from Florence. She’d thought about hiring a car and driving past it, to see how strong she was. But it was too difficult to imagine. How could she bear to see that house? The house she’d come to love, as sheloved Benedetto?
“Buongiorno.” She waved at her neighbor and then fumbled for her keys in her bag. She slid the heavy brass key into the lock and pushed the door inwards.
There was no relief from the frigid cold there. She bent down to pick up a pile of letters on the floor and sifted through them. None of the envelopes bore her name. Then again, that was hardly surprising. Melania was the only person who knew where Kate had moved to, and only because she’d allowed Kate to stay on doing basic administrative jobs from the safety and privacy of her home.
Kate placed the pile of mail neatly on the communal table and took the stairs quickly. She unlocked her own door and opened it, rubbing her hands together as she stepped inside, before pulling the door shut behind her.
A frown flickered across her face as she saw the flowers in the middle of the table.
Flowers just like she admired every day at the little street cart in the alley.
Her heart began to race as her eyes quickly scanned the room.
And there he was.
Benedetto Arnaud, conjured from her memories, standing in her small kitchen, staring back at her as though he too couldn’t believe his eyes.
She loosened her scarf self-consciously, leaving it hanging around her neck and down her front. He looked so good; dressed in a charcoal suit with a crisp white shirt unbuttoned at the throat to reveal his thick column of neck and hair roughened chest. She swallowed, pushing down on the instant flash of desire.
That was a base physical reaction. It had no place in what she should feel for him.
“What are you doing here?” She demanded, dropping her handbag to the floor and taking another step into the flat.
“You need to start living in apartments that have better security,” he responded, attempting a joke to ease both of their discomforts.
But Kate didn’t smile.
She couldn’t. She couldn’t see Benedetto again. Not now, not ever. She swallowed and took a step away from him, towards the wall on the other side of the room.
“You have no right to be here.” She shook her head. “You broke into myapartment.”
“I had to see you.”
Her enormous eyes were closed to him. She was cold and unavailable, as he’d believed her to be when first he’d met her.
“No, you didn’t,” she responded caustically. “Ben … I can’t …” Kate felt as though she’d been winded. She dug her hands in her pockets, simply for something to do. Her heart was pounding so fast she couldn’t believe that he didn’t hear it. “I just can’t do this.”
“Can’t do what, Kate?” He murmured, taking a step towards her. She flinched as though he’d struck her and Ben felt pain slash his core.
“This is over. You and I said … we’re over. You can’t be here. My father …”
“You cannot live your entire life in hiding. You cannot fear him forever,cara.”
“Don’t. Don’t call me that,” she snapped angrily, pacing away from him. “And I was doing better until I met you. Do you know how long it took me to settle into life in Rome? How long it took me to feel like I finally had a place that was my own? A little slice of earth I could call home? And you ruined that. You’re going to ruin it again.”
A muscle jerked in his cheek. “I did not come here to ruin your life.”
“Then why did you?” She stalked over to the windows, and stared down at the street below. The beautiful street that she had come to love, would soon form another part of her past. How could she stay here now? “No one is meant to know where I am.”
“No one does. Except me.”
“If you found me, he will too.”
Benedetto raised a hand in front of him, imperiously commanding her to be quiet. But Kate’s emotions were going haywire.
