Her fist pounded against my chest as if it was the mallet and I was the sirloin. “You already knew. Before you asked me out, you already knew!”
I’d thought her anger would be easier to take, but when she raised her voice it pierced through me even worse.
“Why?” she cried.
I did not let her escape my embrace. I needed to feel her warmth, I just hoped deep down she wanted me to hold her, too. She was fighting me, though.
“Because I knew I would love you,” I told her. “I knew you would steal my heart, and I couldn’t not be with you.”
“But you’re leaving!! No matter what I say, you’re leaving anyway.”
“And I’m telling you, we can make it work. Long distance. Please, we can make it work. I love you.”
Fuck, I was a broken radio. I would be broken, period, if she refused to hear me out. She struggled less, so I repeated it again, “I love you, Haylee.”
She slumped against me, sobbing. After much too long, she finally whispered, “I want to believe you.”
Somehow, I managed to get Haylee to stay, but she didn’t hammer the meat happily any longer. She was hitting it as if she wished it was my face. I wished it was my face, too. Getting pounded at would’ve felt better than the stiff shoulder she was giving me. But she was still here. At least, she was still here.
My grandmother gave me a lecture when we settled back to cooking together. I deserved that.
“Fagiolo, are you even listening? That’s why you have a problem now. You don’t listen to yourNonni.”
I sighed. “I heard you.”
She clicked her tongue and kept muttering under her breath.
I turned my attention to Haylee, who was living her emotions out on a piece of meat. “I think this one has had enough already.”
She kept hitting it.
“Red Cheeks?”
She gave the sirloin another thump, then dropped the mallet.
“Sorry,” she muttered. “I don’t like feeling this way. Distract me.”
“Okay.” I reached out and took her hands in mine. Her skin was so soft I rubbed my thumb over it to memorize the feeling. Then I brought them up to my lips and kissed the back of both of her hands. When she didn’t pull away, I leaned in and kissed her lips.
Kissing her was bliss. I could forget all the time we didn’t have. And when I came up for air, she gave me a small smile, which was better than a frown. I’d take any kind of smile any day over a frown.
Haylee licked her lips and gave her head a slight shake. “You’re not a master distractor, that’s for sure.”
“No?” I asked, slightly amused. “I’ll show you.”
I wrapped my arms around her and hoisted her up on the counter right next to the meat rolls. She squealed when I found a ticklish spot on her neck and blew air on it before planting a kiss there and trailing more kisses all the way up to her lips. She was panting by the time I reached her mouth and sucked her lower lip between mine.
I looked her straight in the eyes and said, “I love you,” again.
Haylee closed her eyes and squirmed a little before replying so quietly I almost didn’t hear it at all. “I love you, too.”
My heart soared. Those four words were everything.
“Thank you.” I hummed, pulling her in for another kiss.
“For what?” she asked breathlessly after I released her lips. “I don’t have much of a choice in the matter to be honest.”
“Thank you anyway.”
