Page 142 of Matteo

Are we okay? She’s asking.

I nod, giving her thigh a gentle squeeze. She scoots closer to me, and my arm goes easily around her shoulder. She snuggles closer, fitting perfectly alongside me and I have a feeling that this vacation might not be so bad after all.

Chapter 34

ELIZABETH

This morning, there's a different vibe between us. The big bed, the overtiredness, and hours of making love and talking, until we drifted asleep, leaves Matteo and I feeling more connected than ever.

We didn’t go to the dinner last night, even though Matteo was fine about going. He left the decision to me, and I decided to give it a miss. I told Vlad that we were tired, and that it had been a long day.

I’d already felt the change in Matteo’s mood when he joined us at the bar. He seemed calmer, and we slowly found our way back to one another. When he stepped away for a few moments, needing to take a phone call, I told Vlad to stop talking about the group and the past. He’d let a few things slip and it surprised me, because he's usually guarded, and discreet.

I need to keep the two of them apart today. Tomorrow, Vlad will be so busy at his own wedding, he and Matteo will barely get a chance to talk.

As for the two days after that? I’m hoping the newlyweds will only have eyes for one another. But Matteo is observant, and he takes in a lot without saying much, so I need to watch my step.

After breakfast we amble around the Old Town. The day is warm enough that I don't need a jacket. The sun is out, and it feels like perfect vacation weather.

Dubrovnik is beautiful. This walled medieval city nestling on the Adriatic, with its white stone streets and terracotta rooftops, is breathtakingly stunning. We walk along cobbled streets and narrow alleyways, and every now and then we get a flash of the azure blue sea which peeps out like a majestic backdrop against old buildings.

Everywhere we turn gives a perfect postcard view of the city and it feels like a million miles away from the tech lab. Here, in our own private little world, we finally learn to relax.

I snap away happily, taking photos of us and I feel the happiest I’ve been in a long time. After stopping at a café for coffee and fresh pastries, we walk along a narrow street which suddenly fans out overlooking a stretch of sea so blue, it almost looks unreal. If this were a photo, it would look filtered, but it’s not. This is raw beauty, completely untouched, and it takes my breath away. I snuggle up to Matteo and hold out my phone to take a selfie of us.

“Smile.”

“Another one?” Matteo chuckles, before planting a kiss on my head. He dutifully slides his arm lazily around my shoulder.

“Would you like me to take a—Elizabeth?”

I gawk at the young man in front of us, tendrils of recognition swirling in my mind. I can’t easily place him at first, then something about his face clicks into place. The sharpness of his features, the dark hair peppered with blond streaks falling slightly into his eyes. It’s the expression I recognize most. The dark eyes now staring at me and the mischievous grin.

“Takumi?” I cry, shocked and happy, and on guard all at once. I haven’t seen him in years, not since he went back home to Japan.

“It is you,” he exclaims. “I thought it was, that's why I offered to take your photo, to take a better look.”

We hug one another, but my heart starts to thud, and my anxiety spikes. From my periphery I feel Matteo watching and waiting for an explanation.

“Allow me.” Takumi motions for me to hand my cell phone over, which I obediently do. He snaps a few photos, but when Matteo and I throw our arms around one another, it’s different this time. Cooler, stiffer. Distant.

“Thanks,” I say, when Takumi hands my phone back to me. He nods and I know that he’s missed nothing. He hugs me again, like he’s as surprised and as overjoyed to see me, as I am him. It’s unexpected, too, after all this time.

I wonder how many of the old gang will be here, and now my stomach fills with dread. Takumi was part of the group when we got caught, and he was also there when I first met Vlad at the diner.

“It's so good to see you, Echo2001,” he says, stepping back and looking at me again.

“Echo2001?” Matteo asks

I chuckle, nervously. “We don't talk about that anymore.”

“Chicago was a long time ago. You still look the same,” Takumi says.

“You haven’t changed either.” I try to shoot him a warning look, but he misses it.

“We never met after that,” he adds.

The muscles in my face tense.