Bel smiled slightly. “It’s ok, I understand. Now go!”
Luisa headed out into the warm night armed only with her mobile phone and a vague notion that Amy would be somewhere in town.
***
Luisa’s breath came fast, loud in her ears as she hurried into town, half running, half walking. Her mind was a jumble of thoughts, the look of shock on Amy’s face, the way that Amy had coldly told her to take as long as she needed… she never wanted to experience that side of Amy ever again.
She needed to see her, to talk to her, to make her understand and make sure that they were ok.
As she hit the centre of town she tried her phone again, straight to voicemail. Breathlessly she left a message, imploring Amy to just call her back and tell her where she was, and then after she hung up she tried her three more times.
After that she started to walk aimlessly, looking into every restaurant, bar and cafe, trying to see Amy in any of them, but she didn’t see her at all. It was like Amy had vanished.
As the minutes passed Luisa felt her desperation and helplessness rise… where could Amy be?
Amy
Amalfi
Amy took a sip of her red wine, feeling it calm her emotions. Not that there wasn’t a lot still racing through her head, but the immediate reactions, the shock, the jealousy, the occasional flashes of anger, they’d subsided for now.
The hotel that she’d gone to had been nice, quite old fashioned, a small room but with a big bed, characterful, clean, stylish. In any other circumstances it would have been a pleasure, but not so much that night.
Now, an hour on from when she’d left Luisa’s room in such a rush, she was sat, her phone switched off, not daring to turn it on again.
Initially she’d turned it off because she didn’t trust herself not to say something she’d regret, something she couldn’t take back. But now that she was calm she was terrified of turning it back onnot because she didn’t want to speak to Luisa, but from the fear that Luisa hadn’t wanted to speak to her.
What if there had been no missed calls? No desperate answer phone messages? No exclamations of her undying love for Amy?
What if she’d just shrugged and gone back to bed with that other woman? The thought that she might next see Luisa tomorrow, after her night with the other woman, filled Amy with terror, and she was too scared to find out which was true.
The bar she was in was small, on a side street, and Amy had sat herself at a table outside, just her in the semi-dark and her glass of wine. She sat and watched… watched people at other tables, watched families out taking the evening air, watched the life of the town go on around her. But at that moment she felt alone.
Then… she saw her. Luisa, walking fast round the corner, phone to her ear and then putting it down and saying something that made her glad she couldn’t lip read in Spanish.
Amy’s heart leapt at the sight of her, the joy that she’d come to find Amy rather than stay with the other woman eclipsing everything else at that moment, and then Luisa saw her too…
The look, that initial look that Luisa gave her when their eyes met, was one of fear. She looked scared, lost. She looked like she needed a hug.
Amy stood and smiled, not a broad smile, not a happy smile, but a conciliatory smile, one that said no matter what just happened, what I just saw, I want to be with you right now. A smile that invited her to come over.
Luisa smiled back, the same kind of smile, and walked over slowly until she was stood in front of Amy next to her table.
They looked at each other for a few moments, then Amy said, “My hoodie looks good on you…” Luisa broke into a grin and started to cry at the same time, Amy too, and then Luisa stepped closer and hugged her, held her tight, both saying to each other, “I’m sorry,” and, “I love you,” quietly again and again while their tears fell.
What the other patrons made of this Amy didn’t know, and in all honesty she didn’t care either. Luisa had chosen her, and in that moment that was all that mattered.
***
When they finally parted Amy suggested they have a drink, and Luisa happily agreed. Glasses of wine in front of them, the background buzz of conversations around, they looked at each other across the table. They were sat close, it was intimate, but Amy knew that there was a difficult conversation to have.
As, it seemed, did Luisa, who said, “I think we need to be honest with each other. If we really do love each other we owe it to ourselves.”
Amy nodded. “Yeah, we do. Where do we start?”
Luisa took a deep breath. “She’s called Bel.” Amy felt her stomach tighten at knowing the other woman’s name but only nodded. She took Luisa’s hand across the table, wanting to reassure her that the truth was good. “It wasn’t our first time, we go back years.” Amy’s grip tightened involuntarily, andLuisa must have felt it, adding quickly, “But not in any sort of relationship. Just… casually. On location.”
Luisa stopped talking and was looking at Amy while Amy processed that new information.
