Page 74 of The Fall Affair

Bianca stepped down beside me and took off her helmet. “Wait, you’re Isabella, yes? His sister’s friend?”

Izzy held my eyes as she answered. “Yeah. I came over looking for her.”

“She’s not home,” I said flatly. “Won’t be back for hours.”

Izzy shrugged like she didn’t notice my attitude—either that or she didn’t care. “I’ve got nothing else to do. Mind if I wait?”

I looked at Bianca. She gave me a small, uncertain shrug, like your call. My stomach twisted. I didn’t want Izzy inside. I didn’t want her around at all. But I also couldn’t bring myself to make her walk away.

“Yeah,” I muttered. “Sure.”

Inside, the house was quiet. Bianca walked ahead, kicking off her sneakers with familiarity and heading to the kitchen. Izzy moved more slowly, glancing around like she’d forgotten what life here looked like.

I shut the door behind us and spoke to Izzy. “You can wait in the living room.”

She nodded and wandered that way, while I went in search of Bianca. I found her leaning against the kitchen counter. She whispered, “Immagino che i nostri piani siano cambiati.” I guess our plans have changed.

I shook my head. “No, non lo sono. Andiamo in camera mia.” No, they haven’t. Let’s go upstairs to my room.

“Non possiamo andare in camera tua, sai, quando quella ragazza è qui.” We can’t go to your room to, you know, when that girl is here.

That’s exactly what part of me wanted to do—go have loud sex with my hot girlfriend so Izzy had to listen to her moan my name. But the other part knew Bianca was right. And maybe deep down, I knew I’d never do that to Izzy either, and it was only the anger talking.

“Allora, cosa vuoi fare?” I asked. What do you want to do, then?

“Non lo so. Preparo del tè freddo e ci sediamo fuori nella loggia?” I don’t know. Why don’t I make us some iced tea and we can go sit outside in the loggia?

“Va bene.” Fine. I frowned. “Ma tu siediti. Lo preparo io.” But you go sit. I’ll make it.

My hands shook as I turned on the water to fill a pitcher. After, I opened the fridge and stared into it like answers were hiding behind the mayonnaise and yesterday’s leftovers. To my right, I heard footsteps. I didn’t have to look out the window to know they didn’t belong to Bianca. I stared at the hallway, hesitating, trying to talk myself out of following, but it was no use.

Muttering a string of curses, I followed the footsteps to the bathroom.

I knocked lightly, and the door creaked open like she’d been expecting me.

“What are you doing here?” I asked, voice low, as I walked in.

Izzy turned on the water and started washing her hands. Catching my eyes in the mirror, she tilted her head. “You look different.”

“Yeah, well, a lot changes in a year. Especially when you don’t know what happened to the other person because dey stopped writing back.”

Her smile turned sad. “I didn’t want to hurt you any more than I already had.”

I scoffed. “So da way to do that was to disappear and never write back? Because dat made me feel fuckin’ fantastic. It’s been almost a year, Izzy.”

“It doesn’t feel that long.”

“It does to me.” I shook my head. “It felt like forever. Every day I rushed home and waited for a letter. For months.”

She flinched. “I know. I’m sorry.”

A long silence stretched between us. It might’ve been an eternity since I’d seen her, but the memories were still just beneath the surface. “She’s my girlfriend.”

Izzy smiled. “I’m happy for you. She’s very pretty.”

“Are you?” My eyes narrowed. I was angry and wanted to wipe the smile from her face. “Because you’re interrupting my plans for da day. To fuck my girlfriend.”

That did it. Her smile fell. She twisted the knob on the faucet and grabbed a towel, haphazardly drying her hands. “I should go. This was a mistake.”