Ringing?
Why? Why? Why call me?
A text comes in while my phone is still ringing.
Lucca: I know you’re there, Maggie Pie. Pick up.
I peer down at my pajama shirt—because, of course, this is a FaceTime call.
“Ughhh,” I groan. “Fine.” I sit back against my childhood headboard, cross my legs, and answer my phone. “Hello, Lucca,” I say, teeth gritting. My hair pokes up in the back, where I’d been lying on it.Aw, man.I cringe, but quickly turn that frown into a grin. Yep, I’m leaving the chaotic cowlick. That wild patch is going to fuel my aspiration of convincing Lucca that we should never, ever, ever date.
“Hello, Maggie. Can I tell you a little about my life? Something I know about myself and something I discovered?”
My heart thumps in my chest. I want to know this. I want to know whatever it is he wants to tell me so very bad. “I guess,” I say.
“I told you my father died and my mother left.”
I nod, afraid to speak.
“My friends know this. They know about my vovó. But there is something they don’t know.”
The pounding in my heart moves to my throat. I press my lips together and watch Lucca through my phone. “Okay,” I say, when he doesn’t continue.
“While I was an infant when my mother left, it still impacted me as a child and an adult. You called me a ladies’ man.”
“Lucca,” I say, ready to take it all back. “I shouldn’t have labeled you. I wasn’t trying to judge or offend.”
“And I suppose I have been.” His brows knit. “Women like me. It’s understandable?—”
“Lucca,” I groan through a tired laugh.
He smothers a laugh. “What? They do. And yes, I’ve dated a lot of women. I have never wanted to date only one woman. My mother made sure of that.”
My voice is small. “Your mother?”
“Yes. She didn’t want me. So, I made sure all other women did. I also promised myself I’d never be hurt by another woman. She’d be the last to hurt me. I told myself there would only ever be one constant girl in my life.”
“Vovó,” I whisper.
But he hears me. “Vovó. She loved me for me. She made me believe I was perfect exactly as I was. I knew from a very young age that she would be the only woman I could ever truly love.”
A shaky breath falls from my lips.
“And then I met you.”
The thumping in my chest and throat starts to beat in my ears. I’m stuck on him truly loving Vovó and no one else.
“And you drove me crazy.”
I laugh, realizing for the first time since he started talking that there are tears in my eyes.
“But you also reminded me of her—” His nose wrinkles. “In a non-creepy way.” He coughs. “Let me make myself clear, I loved my grandmother in a very grandmotherly, appropriate way. She was my mother and father in one.”
I breathe out a small laugh and force all the liquid in my eyeballs to stay put. “I know that, Lucca.”
“The thing is, when you started to like me—because you do, Maggie Pie…”
I roll my eyes at him, dramatic and very adolescent.
