Luke laughed, and I could hear his feet shuffling as he walked. “Just saying. I haven’t heard you talk about a woman like that since…”
I huffed out a breath. “You can say her name. Funny you mention her. Was thinking about her this morning looking at MJ. They’re so similar.”
“Well, I think it’s time you move on. When was the last time you even went on a date?”
“Not everyone gets what you have with Sofia. And when exactly am I supposed to date with all I have going on right now?” I asked, unable to keep the pain from my voice. My sharp words made his footsteps halt.
“Miles, you deserve to be happy. I know she did a number on you, but you have to move past that.Shewas at fault, not you,” he said sharply. I knew he and my family blamed Katy for what happened, but I knew the truth.
I wasn’t enough. I wasn’t what she wanted. Over the years, I hardly dated, my days consumed by being a new father, but deep down I believed something was missing in me that made her leave.
“Miles?”
Clearing my throat to suppress those dark emotions, I answered, “Yeah, still here. I failed her. Failed MJ. I couldn’t keep our family together. Not sure what I deserve after that.”
“I hate when you talk like this. How could you have failed when she was the one who left?Choseto leave, chose divorce instead of fighting for you and her daughter? That’s on her, not you,” he growled. “She was the one who hardly checked in with you and MJ for years. Has she even gotten any better?”
“Some, I guess. Her parents still check in on Christmas and her birthday, but of course, they sided with Katy.” I rubbed my temple, a headache starting from the tension of this conversation. “Listen, I need to get back to work. A coder called out, and I’m behind already.”
“Sorry, man, didn’t mean to upset you,” he said, his voice lowering.
“Well, thanks for having my back. Hug Sofia for me. Oh, the plan is still to come back here after the trip to Positano to have the baby, right?”
Like sunshine cracking through dark clouds, his voice brightened. “Yes and I can’t wait. I can’t believe it sometimes. This joy that I didn’t expect. You’ll find it too. I’m sure of it. Maybe even with the lovely Vicky,” he teased with a wicked laugh. I could almost see his eyebrows waggling.
I hung up on him before he could go any further.
Opening the coding file on my laptop, I couldn’t stop my mind frompulling the conversation with Katy from the deep recesses. She had said it was all a mistake. I winced at the memory.
That word stayed with me for a long time. I couldn’t shield my broken heart from the pain it caused me, but I’d never let MJ feel that way about herself.
I leaned back in my chair, making it squeak, trying to push the unpleasant memories from my mind.
Attempting to stem the tide of those overwhelming feelings, I let my brain snag on Luke’s other comment about Vicky.
Just for a moment. Can’t do any harm, right?
The woman in question was beautiful, with a smile that lit up a room. The first one in years that seemed to warm my cold, dead heart thanks to my ex. There was only one problem. Well, maybe two.
First, Victoria Lazzara was eight years younger than I was. Second, she lived in Rome. It was all for the best because having a chance with Vicky was never going to happen. Not in a million years. Not if her brother had anything to do with it.
two
. . .
Vicky
What does a girl have to do to get hired?
That thought rattled in my mind as I sat at the patio table in our backyard in Rome. I took a fortifying sip of espresso while scanning job openings in my field of interior design. I loved living in this eternal city, where the marriage of the ancient and the modern was evident in its buildings and homes. Twenty minutes away, I could visit monuments built hundreds of years ago, nestled beside sleek glass-and-metal structures.
Sighing, I thought about how I already missed my brother Enzo and his wife Corinna. They had just left a week ago, having come for a short visit from Positano, where they lived. My brother was older and acted like a father figure since Papa died when I started at the university. As an ex-pro boxer, that protectiveness naturally came out for all the women in his life. Sometimes it was just too much of a good thing. To say that I had been sheltered was an understatement.
We lived in a decidedly middle-class area, the only one Mama would allow Enzo to buy us a home in when Papa first passed away. She said she couldn’t stay at our old house after his passing and Enzo’s near-death experience that ended his boxing career. “Too many bad memories,” she’d said.
Mama had unwittingly forged a sense of independence since becoming a widow. Enzo would be pleased to know that not only had I never had a boyfriend at twenty-four, but I’d also never even beenkissed. A fact that made me sigh heavily as I continued to scan my laptop for job opportunities.
“Any luck, tesoro?” Mama asked, joining me in our tiny backyard. She had always called me her treasure and I loved the affirmation.
