My mom smiles before kissing me on the cheek and heading for the elevator. I close the door behind her and my mind slowly drifts back to Italy. How could I have forgotten? I’ve been looking forward to this for months, years even. All my hard work has brought me to this trip. How is it possible that for even one hour it slipped my mind?
Ryan.
That’s how it slipped my mind. Between him and my deadline, I’ve been able to think of little else. Ryan is this surprising, amazing force that is back in my life and it’s starting to get hard to remember what it was like without him.
But what about Italy? Do I really want to pack up and leave for six months now? We’ll be right back to where we left off in college. Am I willing to risk what we have all over again?
I have to decide what to do. I have to tell Ryan.
Soon.
16
The three long tables at Cristina and Jason’s rehearsal dinner are half-filled with guests as Ryan and I enter the private wine cellar at Del Frisco’s restaurant. The Edison bulbs dangling overhead cast an orange glow over the space, complementing the hundreds of wine bottles that are pristinely shelved behind the solid glass walls surrounding us. It feels like we’re in an upscale cave stocked with booze and I have to say, I’m into it.
Ryan and I look at each other, our eyebrows going up, mutually sayingfancy.
He gives me a quick wink before we walk deeper into the room, which is filled but not crowded with about thirty people. I hear a happy shriek and suddenly Cristina is grabbing me by the shoulders and giving me a fierce hug.
“I’m getting married tomorrow!” she almost sings.
“Yes, you are,” I say, stepping back and handing her the garment bag with her veil. “And you’re going to need this. I swear I only wore it around my apartment for a few hours and then one time to the gyno, super fast.”
“Totally understandable. Jason, come here,” she calls across the room before turning back around. “Seriously, thank you so much for picking this up. I almost lost my mind.”
Jason appears beside Cristina. I give him a beaming smile and am confused when he looks at Ryan and me with jumpy, uncomfortable eyes.
“Hey,” he says, sounding like he’s talking to a medical professional instead of his two biggest fans.
“Well,” Cristina chimes in, “you two look very sweet standing side by side. I was sure one of you would bury the other before the wedding but I’m glad I was wrong. Don’t they look good together, Jason?”
“Yeah, super great,” he agrees. He then turns to Ryan, still seeming jittery. “Hey, man, can I talk to you?”
Ryan barely says, “Sure,” before Jason pushes him off to the side and follows after him.
Cristina looks away from them and back to me. “I don’t know what’s going on with him. He’s been stressed out about Ryan for days.”
“Really?” I ask, looking over her shoulder.
“Yeah, but forget about Jason,” she says, pulling my hand and making me concentrate on her. “I’ve been so busy with wedding stuff, but I want to hear every detail about what’s been going on with you and Ryan. I kid you not, when you guys walked in, you looked in love.”
“We did not look in love,” I assert.
“Yes, you did, and I will die on that hill if you try to convince me otherwise. I watched you two coming down the stairs and you were straight-up dirty smiling and trying not to look at each other. If I wasn’t someone who was also in love, I would have thrown food at you in disgust.”
I think about denying it but decide against it. “What kind of food?” I ask instead.
“The kind of food an angry mob would throw. Maybe cabbage.”
“That’s actually really creative. I like the backstory behind your choice.”
“Thank you. Okay, go, tell me everything.” She crosses her arms and steps closer to me, trying to get comfortable.
“There’s not too much to tell. I think we’re together.”
Cristina’s eyes light up. There’s no way she’s not inwardly planning double dates for the rest of our lives and arranging marriages for all of our hypothetical children.
“Remember, this is all very new,” I remind her. “I have no idea how things are going to pan out, so don’t get carried away.”
