“My Nonna taught me,” she says, pride and warmth lacing her voice.
“Are you close to her?”
Just as she wants to discover everything about me, it’s the same for me.
She shrugs. “I’m close to everyone in my life…”
What she doesn’t say but rings just as loud is that none of them see her.
Shooting from my seat, I round the table, erasing the distance between us, and cup her face. “I see you. I will always see you, Viviana.”
Potent emotions shine in her eyes. “Promise?”
“I vow.”
No riches, no treasures, nothing compares to her smiling at me with her entire heart. She makes me feel like a better man than I am, want to become a better man than I thought I could be—for her.
Not caring about the dishes, I gather her in my arms, bringing her to the living room.
On the sofa, I drag her onto my lap, taking advantage of every minute with her. I hate to let her go, but I disapprove of her driving at night. The thought of something happening to her wrecks me.
“I’ll pick you up on Friday evening,” I say through kisses.
“Now, make it into a question and add a please. I know you can. I have full trust.”
I chuckle. This woman, I swear.
I roll my lip between my teeth. “I’d like to pick you up. May I?”
“Yes,” she breathes out.
“And your phone number.”
“Tristan,” she sighs, but it’s more for show.
I grin. “Please.”
9
VIVIANA
Between classes and texting with Tristan, the week has flown by while I am fully enveloped in the delusion bubble. I ignore reality with such proficiency that my lack of self-preservation edges on worrisome.
“You look way too happy about going home for the weekend,” Evie says, popping her head out from her notebooks spread on her bed.
A shot of guilt strikes through me, but I ignore that as well. I am terrified that if I tell anyone, including her, the bubble will pop, leaving me desolate.
I just wish this, whatever this marvelous thing is, to continue—unwilling to relinquish Tristan. I am not ready to return to a place where nothing blossoms, and everything is doomed to wither. No dreams, no passion, no life—done with existing in the desert of my life.
“I’m excited to see my niece,” I say, feeling like the shittiest friend for lying.
Someday I will confess and apologize, but today is not that day. I just hope I don’t lose her friendship, and she will understand. If someone can, it’s her. But I still feel bad.
“Kiss the cutie for me.”
Evie adores kids. That was why she decided to become a preschool teacher.
I miss Celia and my sister. But now that I have something just for myself, I rejoice in the forbidden, in all things Tristan related.
