We putter along the switchback street up to the hotel past gelaterias with lines of tourists holding cups of creamy treats and tourist shops selling straw sandals and little bottles of pale limoncello. Behind us, the Tyrrhenian Sea we sailed across is a swathe of endless deep blue. Color and sunshine everywhere.
At the top of hill the hotel’s mid-century marquee, from its days as a cinema, glows faintly in the afternoon light and the original green and yellow tiles shimmer above the entrance. We had a grand old movie house like this in Alabama. My dad talked about dates with my mom there. But it was abandoned and eventually run-down. Here everything has been polished and restored. The original sign with elegant letters that spellCinema Luxglow in soft green neon and rise vertically above the building. Small light bulbs outline the words and twinkle slowly even in the sunshine. I can imagine post-war Italians coming here for a little fantasy and magic.
Inside, the details have been creatively repurposed. The old concession stand is now the check-in desk, with a glass counter displaying antique maps, herb-scented soaps from local farms, and vintage postcards. I see one of Frank Sinatra with Sammy Davis Jr. on the beach in Napoli and another of Sophia Loren giving side-eye to Jayne Mansfield. My dad loves that era so I make a note to pick a few up to take home.
The walls of the lobby are lined with movie paraphernalia. A black and white clapboard from a movie calledContempt, film reel spools and even a vintage director’s megaphone that must have been used on the set of silent movies.
“Do you smell that?” Brady asks, his sunburnt nose wiggling to catch the scent.
“Is it popcorn? Maybe it’s soaked into the walls.”
“Sort of,” Aisha says stepping toward us. “I worked on this hotel’s signature scent myself. This one is lemon zest, green fig and jasmine with a hint of sea salt and popcorn,” she says with pride in her voice. It sounds like a bizarre mix but here all the parts fit together beautifully. “Your luggage is already in your room. I’ve sent you an itinerary and we can regroup tomorrow or whenever. Take your time.” She straightens her compass necklace and smiles brightly, transforming into someone more carefree. “This is Capri, after all. It’s too beautiful to rush anything.” Aisha heads out of the lobby, puts her hand on the door to leave but turns back before she opens it. She looks at Brady, then at me, then at both of us. “Yes, there is definitely something different about you both.”
Chapter 42
Capri
Brady
The pool is on the roof of the former cinema, so the view catches the edge of the preserved signage with a sweeping expanse of sea beyond. Individual cabanas are cut into the cliff with white furniture and emerald striped cushions. One is reserved for us. Two bottles of sparkling water chill in a bucket of ice next to a charcuterie plate with bright orange melon wrapped in prosciutto, a variety of marbled cheeses, supple almonds and red berries. I drop my bag and take out my peach kimono made out of a gauzy-silky cotton to put over my lemon-yellow tank top and white jeans. The Italian sun is intense even in late afternoon. Hayes strips off his t-shirt so he’s only wearing his red square cut swim brief with racing stripes.
“I’m going to do some laps,” Hayes says and starts looking for his goggles.
“See, I told you they were a real couple,” a chubby, middle-aged man with balding grey hair in a mint green matching short set says to another man about his age but trimmer and with blond hair. The blond man squints and looks at both of us before the other one says, “Hi, I’m Phil. This is my husband, Will. Yes, we know. Phil and Will. We’re on vacation from Doylestown, Pennsylvania and we’ve been following you on social media this summer. Well, I have. Will says he doesn’t have social media but I always catch him watching funny videos.”
“I’m not proud of it but it makes me laugh when people fall down,” Will says with his hands in his pockets. He’s handsome in a distinguished, professorial sort of way.
Phil gives him a judgmental look and shakes his head. “My husband is going to hell for that, I’m sure. But we’ve been together for twenty-eight years so you learn to put up with things.” Will rests his head on Phil’s shoulder.
“I’m Brady and this is…” I pause. There isn’t anyone else around, so I don’t have to say it, but I want to. I wonder how Hayes will react. “This is my boyfriend, Hayes.” I turn to watch his face. Hayes puts his arm over my shoulder and kisses me on the cheek before grabbing my hand. There’s a fifty-fifty chance I might explode from happiness right there in the cabana.
“Oh, we know,” Phil says. “Anyway, we don’t want to bother you boys but I thought I recognized you. Will thought maybe you were models the hotel hired but I told him when you love someone, really love them, it just comes through.”
Phil takes Will’s hand. Could that be us in the future? Still playful with each other and obviously in love? I squeeze Hayes’ hand more tightly.
“Come on, Phil. I want to get back to that jewelry store near the port before someone snatches that ring I have my eye on. Let’s leave these two alone.” They put their arms around each other and head out.
“Well, I guess we fooled them on socials,” I say once they’re out of earshot.
“I don’t think we did,” Hayes says. “When we started, we said we were faking it, but I think I was faking faking it,” Hayes says.
“So does that mean it was real?”
“You do the math.” With that he puts his goggles on and walks to the edge of the pool. He bends his knees, stretches his arms in front before swinging them back about to dive. A split-second before the takeoff, he stops. He pulls down his goggles and walks back over to me. His eyes connect with mine. Then he kisses me on the mouth and says, “Brady, I love you.”
Then without missing a beat, he walks back and dives into the pool like a gull seeking a fish.
What just happened? For a second I think about jumping in the pool with everything I have on and asking him to repeat what he said. Instead, I sit with what I heard. Hayes said he loves me. He said it in college. Once. But things fell apart before I could really understand it. This is different. I touch my arm and can feel the hairs standing up. Excitement is part of the sensation, but there is also a sense of calm the allows a wide easy smile to spread across my face.
Hayes Carter loves me.
He’s swimming the length of the pool, head down, the muscles on his back shedding water as they rise above the ripples. I close my eyes and let the feeling wash over me. The feeling that we are together, that we feel the same way about each other. I open my eyes and the sea stretches before me in the distance beyond the pool, and then the blue sky. Not a single cloud around. Just rock, ocean and sky. I close my eyes again to seal in the tenderness. But this time when I open them, I can’t believe what is standing in front of me.
“Mother, what are you doing here?” I squint and make out the thin figure wearing a designer straw hat with a turquoise ribbon, thick gold bracelets and peach pants that happen to be the same exact fabric and shade as my coverup, a detail that does not thrill me.
“The wedding. The Beckenberg wedding is this week, in case you forgot.” No kiss hello. No hug. No questions about how the gig has gone. It’s never been part of our dynamic. It’s one of the reasons I make sure I cover Gemma with kisses and let her know she’s loved.
“That’s not until the weekend,” I say, squirming on the lounger.
