I sighed internally, wishing I’d come up with a better explanation for the trip since Mom first asked me about it. I didn’t often leave Mom behind—another reason a travel-filled life as a professional soccer player wouldn’t have worked out in the long run—and despite being grown and out of the house, I still felt the need to keep her up to date on my comings and goings.
“I needed a change of scenery,” I said vaguely, hoping she’d leave it at that.
“Not much of a change from LA,” she pointed out again.
“I just needed a little one.”
But my mother had a way of getting to the heart of things before you even realized she was digging. Rose Branchini was never one to leave things be, and her lips twitched.
“Hmm.” She pursed her lips, then grinned, as if she’d failed at holding it back. “Or is this about your wife?”
I nearly choked on my smoothie. “What?”
“Oh, don’t play dumb, Luca. I found your little photo book from Las Vegas. You two look so cute together!”
Shit.
“I don’t—how did you even?—?”
“A mother knows these things,” she said smugly, even as I started to theorize she’d seen it the last time she’d visited my new apartment under the guise of trying to help me unpack and decorate properly. My mom was practically a saint, but she wasn’t above snooping.
“That’s why you’re on this trip, isn’t it? You’re reconnecting with your lost love?”
I let out a slow breath, dragging a hand down my face. This was exactly the kind of romantic nonsense my mother lived for. She’d spent years trapped in a marriage with a man who never deserved her, clinging to the idea that love—real, consuming, life-altering love—could make everything better.
She wanted that for me. Needed to believe I would find it, the real thing, even if she never had. And the last thing I wanted was to disappoint her.
So instead of correcting her, instead of telling her this was all a huge mistake, I smiled. “Okay, you caught me. I’m…reconnecting with her.”
Her squeal of excitement was loud enough that the nearest table gave me a startled glance. “Oh, Luca, this is wonderful! Tell me everything. What’s her name?”
I hesitated only a beat. “Allie.”
“Allie.” She sighed dreamily, rolling the name over in her mouth like she was already picturing it in cursive on wedding invitations—never mind the fact that we were maybe already married. “And she’s wonderful, yes?”
I thought of Allie’s teasing smile, the way her body had felt beneath mine years ago. “Yeah,” I decided quietly. “She’s…she’s pretty great.”
My mother sighed again, completely enraptured. “I cannot wait to meet her.”
Yeah, as ifthatwas happening.
I managed to wrap up the conversation before I could dig myself into an even deeper hole, but the weight of my words settled in my chest like a rock. What the hell had I just done?
I grabbed my smoothie and stepped outside, still shaking my head at my own stupidity. And that’s when I saw her.
Allie stood outside the diner—how had I ended up basically next door to it without noticing?—sipping a to-go cup of coffee, the morning sun catching the coppery strands of her hair. She was wearing a Marv’s shirt, hadn’t even shed the apron that held her little order-taking notepad. On her break, I guessed, and something about the easy way she leaned against the wall made my pulse quicken. I followed my feet toward her, accepting that they were in control of this ship in a way my brain just wasn’t.
As I approached, Allie spotted me, lips twitching upward even as her eyes grew wider. “Luca,” she said first, the surprise evident in her tone even as she tried to shift toward casualness. “What are you doing here? Stalking me?”
“No!” I hurried to clarify, my face heating. Luckily, I was already a little red and sweaty from running, so I didn’t think she’d notice. I held up the cup in my hand for her to see. “I was, uh, in the area. On a run. Stopped for a smoothie next door. Didn’t realize I’d run into you.”
“Uh-huh,” she drawled. “And there are no other smoothie places in SoCal besides the one next to my place of work, I guess.”
I winced. “It does look bad. But I promise, I wasn’t trying to bug you.”
She sighed, gesturing for me to come stand beside her. I followed her lead, leaning against the side of Marv’s, close enough that I could smell her shampoo. Cherries and sugar.
“Well, you wouldn’t be the first of your little crew to do that. Cade stopped by yesterday. He was as charming as ever.”
