"Why are you freaking out?"
"I... I don't know. I just am."
"Look, Amy. You're freaking out because you're acting like you're doing what you think other people want, rather than what you want." She paused. "So what if Sarah saidpleaseand looked like she needed you last night? And... so what that it happened? From what I can see, all its done is show you how much you like Luisa. That's a good thing, right?"
"I guess."
"So... here's where I'm going to tell you to stop being an idiot. You want as much as anything in the world to be with Luisa today, right? Regardless of whatever you did last night... that's what you want? Last night has only made you certain of that?"
"Right."
“And Luisa is in Italy, right?”
“Right.”
“You can work from home tomorrow?”
“Yeah…”
“Then you can work from Italy. The person you say you’re falling in love with and want to get to know even better is less than two hours flight away rather than her normal twelve hours, probably feeling roughly as desperate to see you as you are her. So go. You can get a flight this afternoon, be there tonight, and there’s a hotel room waiting for you. Everything else, Sarah included, is secondary. Sarah can wait until next week.”
Amy grinned and leaned over to hug Naomi.
“What’s that for?” Naomi asked, laughing.
“For being a brilliant friend. Thank you.”
“All I’ve done is make you see the obvious. Get booking.”
***
Late that afternoon, as her plane climbed through the cloud and broke into the sunshine above, Amy’s bank balance was considerably lighter but her spirits soared. It had been a mad few hours throwing her clothes and work items into a carry on case, getting the flight booked, just about remembering her passport, but she was sure she was doing the right thing.
Last night had made things complicated, but the desire to see Luisa, to somehow atone for it despite them being in their open relationship, was strong.
She wanted to be with Luisa, simply be there in her presence, and Naomi had been right: why sit in London when Luisa was only a couple of hours away?
Luisa
Amalfi
At six-thirty, half an hour before she was due to meet Bel, there was a knock on her door.
Luisa knew who it was before she even stood up, knew exactly what was going on.
She hesitated for a second, glancing at herself in the mirror. Her hair was still damp from the shower, her skin warm from the lingering heat of the day. She was wearing a pair of loose grey-blue shorts and a matching tank top and not a lot else, in all honesty what she normally wore to sleep in when on her own... she hadn't exactly been expecting company.
With a resigned sigh she opened the door.
Bel stood there, one hip leaning on the frame, an ice bucket in one hand with a bottle of rose wine inside, opened with the corkjammed back into the neck, two large glasses in the other. The sun had started to dip towards the horizon out to sea, flooding the room with golden light, and there was something about her that made Bel look almost supernatural, something about the way in which the gold mixed with her olive skin. Unlike Luisa she had dressed for a drink already, wearing a fashionable summer dress with a green and white pattern, and sandals.
"I thought we were meeting downstairs," Luisa said, not moving to let her in. She felt some of her bad mood from earlier starting to creep up on her again. For once she really didn’t have the time or inclination for Bel's games, not like she normally would.
Bel tilted her head, a faint, knowing smile on her lips. "We were. But then I thought..." She gestured with her head towards the setting sun. "What a shame to waste a sunset like this." She lifted the ice bucket. "I figured we could start here."
Luisa could have said no. Probably should. But it was the simplicity that did it, the appeal of not having to get dressed up or go out.
"One drink," she said sternly as she stepped back and Bel walked past her, grinning, into the room.
