“It’s okay. Your first reaction is pretty much what I said in my head when I saw my inbox,” Cris laughed. “It seems thatGMAcontacted her because they want to invite us on. Together.”
“Together?” Ellie closed up the empty suitcase and slid it onto the floor.
“Yes. I guess they keep getting a ton of emails asking for a follow-up to what happened between us. Apparently there’s a bit of a bet between the hosts about whether we ended up together.”
“And you didn’t respond yet?”
“Absolutely not. It’s also not even ten in the morning over there. I wanted to talk to you first.” He sat next to Ellie.
“Are you saying you want to do it?”
“At first I didn’t because my instincts hadn’t changed. I got to thinking that it would be another way to prove that I’m not afraid of anything or hiding. But then I went back to wondering why I would need to prove anything at this point.” He shrugged. “Of course, it’s not just me anymore. We haven’t talked about it in a while, but you never got to say anything publicly. This could be the chance to do that. If you wanted to.”
“So you would go back out there if I wanted to? Even though you hate it?”
“I would. Because I love you,” he said, taking her hand and squeezing.
“Well, thank you. It means a lot to me.” She squeezed back. “But what means more to me is how amazing things have been since I got out of that world. I have to pinch myself that I got an internship this year and still feel lucky knowing that exactly none of my conversations for the day will be recorded. It’s too good to let go of.” Over the last year, Ellie had embraced the idea that she was living a smaller life. It made her feel that she had a much better grasp of the big things—a sense of purpose, a feeling of pride, the deepest love. Inviting the media back in felt like a threat to all of that.
“And you’ve worked so hard to get there. Me, too, I think. One of the things I love about my job is that out there I am just one of the helpers. It doesn’t matter who I was back then, but who I am today.”
“It matters to me who you are,” said Ellie, sliding closer to him on the bed. “And who you were. And who you will be.”
“And yours is still the only opinion that counts.” Cris leaned forward, giving her a quick kiss.
“Well, I feel the same,” she said. “And I don’t need to know whatthe entire country thinks of my decisions or whether or not they want to ship us. We are, for all intents and purposes, private citizens now. Do we really want to give that up?”
“Our peaceful little nest? Never.”
“It’s so cozy.” She smiled.
“It is. So I’m telling Teena that we say ‘Thank you, but no thank you.’”
“Yes. Which really means ‘not on your life.’ For the record, I don’t mind if everyone knows that I love you.” She smiled.
“Well, everyone already knowsI love you.”
“Only everyone who was watching. And I will admit that the interview was easily the best five minutes of morning TV I’ve ever seen,” she said, “but it does not need repeating.”
“Just you and me, then.”
“Just you and me.” She nodded. “And about fifty of our closest friends and relatives who are waiting for us right now. Come on, let’s go. I have to grab my bathing suit.”
“Okay. Let me get my goggles.” Cris stood to walk back into the bathroom.
“You packed goggles? Are you going to—”
“Swim. Yeah. I thought I might give it a go.” He grinned. “No better place than here.” She looked up at him, unsure of how to respond. In all of their time as an official couple, he hadn’t mentioned wanting to swim again once. “I’m not planning on any threshold sets or anything,” he said, laughing. “I may not even get my hair wet.” He was smiling, trying to be funny, but she knew that he would never be able to even think about swimming if there wasn’t a serious part of him that was making peace with his past. It certainly was time.
“Maybe it will be fun,” she said, looking up at him.
“Maybe it will.”
“Eccoli!” Graziella tapped Simone’s arm and called across the terrace of the Bagni Delfino. She stood, clasping her hands, as the rest of the table turned to watch Ellie and Cris stride into the beach club for the first time in their lives—together. Ellie smiled, but felt a twinge of nerves and glanced over at Cris. He turned on his own smile and slid his hand to the small of her back as they prepared for the many kisses and hugs that welcomed them home from Simone, Maria Elena, Renata, Pina, Ugo, Franco, Lucrezia, Mario, and any of the other elders that were holding court. The slight splash of anxiety at being around so many people would probably never go away entirely, but she was less likely to pay attention to it these days. Still, some nervous quirks were justher.And though Cris didn’t erase them, being in love had smoothed a few.
“Are you comfortable in the room? The new bed is nice, no? You look so beautiful,tesoro mio. This year looks good on you,” said Graziella, holding both of Ellie’s hands.
“Everything is perfect, Grandma. We are very comfortable, thank you.” Ellie beamed.
