Stella paused, looking at Marco from a distance. Smiling, she said, ‘Ci provo.’
‘Good.Arrivederci. Ciao.’
‘Ciao.’ Slowly, she brought her hand down and stashed the pretend phone in her pocket.
Marco did the same and gestured for her to meet him by the opening of the piazza.
He began to walk, but it took her a moment to get going.
‘Destinowill keep you in Roma.’
If only it were that simple.
She watched him button up his coat and search for his keys as the gelid winter’s breeze tousled his wavy hair. And in that moment, Stella’s mind jumped to a place she had never allowed it to venture.
No; she wasn’t ready. She couldn’t think or even dream of it. She needed Marco beside her right now, and in anuncomplicatedway.
Before stepping away to catch up with him, she leaned into the wall and whispered, ‘What are you doing to me, Marco Luna?’
The echo reverberated along its length, evaporating into thin air upon its release, heard by not a soul except that little corner of her heart which dared speak his name.
trentuno
At their first stop on her tour of Rome, watching Marco move around the Villa di Livia, Stella was glad she had never shared it with Vincent. Timing had denied Vincent the opportunity of tainting this for her, and Stella would be eternally grateful.
It washersacred space. Somewhere she could be busy with her thoughts, while completely still and alone. Her little slice of ancient history. Her all-encompassing happy place, plucked from the ruins. She knew every inch of the frescoes by heart, and could recreate them in her mind. This brought her great comfort, allowing her to retreat into her memories to reset and reconnect when the madness and chaos of life threatened otherwise.
This week, she needed it more than ever.
Stella sat cross-legged on the long black vinyl bench, and Marco tucked himself closely beside her. The wash of green and blue hues encircled them, muting the edges of reality, while the soft lines and shadows blurred and drowned out Rome.
‘È tutto bellissimo,’ he said, continuing to turn and pivot on the spot, being sure to capture all the details. ‘I understand why you come here to think.’
Stella’s gaze skimmed over the walls, and she smiled. ‘I feel very safe here. I feel mymost mehere.’
He gave her shoulder the most gentle and reassuring bump. ‘You deserve to be yourmost youeverywhere, Stella.’
There was something to the way his eyes seemed to study her that made Stella suddenly feel a little self-conscious. A glimmer of a different kind of intensity seemed to flicker behind his eyes. Stella couldn’t read if it were melancholic or contemplative, but something about Marco appeared to shift.
Feeling the need to change the air between them, she said, ‘That’s laurel.Alloro.’ She gestured to one particular depiction of a tree. ‘One of the most important symbols of Ancient Rome.’
Marco nodded his acknowledgement, but didn’t look to the tree. On a steeled breath, he said, ‘Stella, I will miss you. If you go.’
She turned, and the expression on Marco’s drawn face was now indisputably one of sadness. ‘What do you—?’
‘In April.’
Stella swallowed as his hands took hers in a tight squeeze. ‘Marco, I—’
‘You are very important to me,’ he said, now gazing at their interlocked fingers. ‘I would miss you immeasurably. You are such a big part of my life here in Roma. I don’t know if it would be the same without you.’
His sentiment was honest and pure, and part of Stella melted, the part that dared to admit to her subconscious just how importanthewas – and could yet be – to her.
Smiling, she said, ‘Marco, I don’t know what the next few months will bring. But I know for a fact that you are a big part of the reason the last few have been so special.’
He brought her hands to his lips and dropped a kiss on her skin. ‘The feeling is mutual.’
Both turned to face the laurel tree, and Stella’s now clammy hands were hers once more. She tucked them tightly between her thighs, noting how this pushed her leg against Marco’s. Neither flinched at the realisation.
