Page 42 of The Fall Affair

“Are you still friendly with her?”

I saw the look on Matteo’s face and pressed my lips together. “Sorry. I shouldn’t have asked that. Bad habit. Sometimes I start asking questions and forget it’s rude to dig when the person isn’t my client.”

“It’s fine. We didn’t speak for a couple of years after the divorce. But then she got sick and…” Matteo trailed off. “Suddenly holding a grudge didn’t seem important anymore. She moved back in for a short time, and I took care of her until da end. Izzy died two years ago. She had idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, a progressive lung disease. It wasn’t discovered until she contracted pneumonia while traveling in the Philippines.”

“Oh my God. I’m so sorry.”

Matteo nodded. He finished chopping, rinsed his hands, and came to sit across from me with his wine again. “What about you?” he said. “Any men missing you back home?”

“I hear Jude Ellington misses me.”

Matteo’s jaw clenched, just slightly, on one side. “Is it serious?”

I grinned. “He’s an ex-client who wants me to take on his case again. But to answer your question: There isn’t anyone special missing me back in New York.”

“Why not? You’re beautiful and smart. It can’t be for lack of opportunity.”

I smiled sadly. “Thank you. I guess it’s because I don’t have the best track record with men, and I spend my days dealing with ugly divorces, so it’s a constant reminder of how things can turn out when you let your guard down.”

“Were you ever married?”

I shook my head. “I’ve had two long-term relationships. The last one ended six months ago, and I’m still a little charred from how badly I got burned.”

“You need me to fly to New York to kick his ass?”

I smiled. “Don’t tempt me.”

“Do you want to talk about what happened?”

I sighed. “Noah and I dated for a year and a half. I thought everything was going great. We didn’t see each other a lot because of my work schedule, but he used to send me these sweet playlists on Spotify to let me know he was thinking of me. It felt like the modern-day version of a mix tape—with all these thoughtful songs. They were always titled My Allegra. One night I was at his apartment, and what I thought was my laptop pinged while he was in the shower. We both had the same MacBook. I opened it to find that someone had liked a song in one of his playlists. It was called My Kara. I clicked in and also found a My Ashley playlist. The dates of the songs added were all within the last few months.”

“Mi dispiace.” He frowned. I’m sorry.

“I added a few songs to each of their lists, like ‘Stupid HOE’ by Nikki Minaj and ‘Used to Love H.E.R.’ by Common before he got out of the shower. After, I interrogated him until he admitted he’d been cheating.” I drank my wine. “The worst part is that he told me it was my fault because I worked too much, and for a while I let myself believe it.”

“He was an idiot.”

The timer on the stove went off, and Matteo got up and took the pie out of the oven. He finished chopping the salad ingredients while it set. Dinner conversation was light and easy, and after we finished, we sat around talking some more. I was pretty shocked when I looked at the time on my phone and saw it was almost midnight.

“I can’t believe how late it is.”

Matteo pinched his fingers together. “Il tempo è un ladro in buona compagnia.”

“I only understood the word time.” I smiled. Or maybe I swooned. “But I like it when you speak Italian.”

“It means, time is a thief when you’re in good company. And I’ll be speaking in my native language more often if it makes you smile like that.” He brushed a lock of hair from my face. “Your eyes, they look like the sunflower fields we have all over Toscano. Warm with gold at the edges.”

I felt his words in my chest, and they left me a little breathless.

“Have dinner with me?” He took my hand. “I don’t mean like tonight where you cook, and my sister has her ear up against the guest bedroom door. Let me take you out, yes?”

My heart rate sped up. I was undeniably attracted to this man, and I genuinely enjoyed his company. But still… I shook my head. “I’m not sure that’s a good idea. I’m only going to be here a few months.”

Matteo took the rejection in stride, offering a warm, easy smile. “If you change your mind, you know where to find me.”

It felt like the right moment to make my exit. He had an early start in the vineyard anyway, and I didn’t want to overstay my welcome. “I should get going.”

He looked like he wanted to protest but only nodded. “I’ll walk you.”