Sunlight filtersthrough the trees as we hike up the trail. The air is crisp, the scent of pine thick around us. I inhale, filling my lungs with it, the fresh air cleansing my soul.
Tall evergreens stretch toward the sky, their branches swaying lazily in the soft breeze. Every step is a mix of crunching pine needles and loose gravel shifting beneath my sneakers. I’ve stopped to fix my ponytail, my attention trained on the lake below us, when he steps up behind me.
“Keeping up okay, city girl?”
I glance at Dominic and shake my head. “You act like I didn’t do this when we were kids, or like Italy is some concrete jungle with no greenery or trees.”
That easy-but-devilish, sexy smile spreads across his lips, and I can’t look away. I assess him, my center throbbing. He’s dressed in a black hoodie, black sweatpants, and white sneakers. But the cherry on top? His backwards cap.
“You’re staring.”
“How can I not when the trail is this beautiful? I was looking at the trees; you’re just in the way.”
He chuckles. “In that case, shall we?” He holds out an arm. “I don’t want to interrupt your bonding time with Mother Nature.”
“That’s very generous of you.”
He stays true to his word, quietly walking beside me. Matt, Luna, Liam—who arrived this morning—Chiara, and Miles are all walking ahead of us. Their laughter and snippets of conversation reach us here and there, but mostly, it feels as if Dom and I are in our own little world.
This would be the perfect time to start the conversation we need to have. So, before I can change my mind, I blurt, “What really happened that night? At your place. With Remi.”
He turns his cap around, scanning the trail before he meets my gaze. “You saw what I wanted you to see.”
I figured that out a month or so after our breakup, when I realized they weren’t together like he claimed. But still, I ask, “What do you mean?”
“I asked her to help me. Brought her to my place, let her kiss my neck. You planned to come over that night, so I knew you’d see it.”
I let out a forcible breath and cock my head to the side, my body temperature rising. “Why? Because the bullshit you fed me the next day was exactly that—bullshit.”
He works his jaw from side to side, peering up at the sky. “Because,” he finally says, fiddling with the bill of his cap, “I thought you deserved better than me. You were working yourself into the ground, yet you always found time for me. And not just that—you spent what little free time you had creating designs for me. Then, there was Monica. Yeah, she always treated you badly, but it got so much worse after we got together. And every day, you looked more exhausted. You were losing weight and running on fumes. No matter what I said, you just kept going.”
As he chews on the inside of his cheek, I wait. My stomach is in knots. Anger and pain swim inside my chest.
“I told myself I wasn’t good enough for you, that I’d ruin your life, just like I ruined my dreams and Miles’ future. That I didn’t deserve you. Yet, I was too selfish to actually do something about it.” He kicks at a rock on the path. “Until Monica told me you were failing your classes. That’s what finally did it for me, and I figured if I didn’t break up with you right away, I’d let my selfishness take over again. I knew it wouldn’t be easy. I’d have to make you hate me to actually get you to leave. I figured once you did, you could have the life you deserve. I could watch you from afar, cheer you on, admire what you became when I was no longer holding you back.”
Vision blurring, I press my hand over my chest, suddenly finding it hard to breathe.
Mom was behind this?
“Mia? Dom?” Matt’s voice sounds so far away, muffled by the white noise in my ears. “You coming?”
I inhale through my nose and exhale through my mouth, repeating the simple exercise, hoping it might dampen the nausea in my stomach. It doesn’t, but at least I can see clearly now. I look over Dominic’s shoulder and see Matt and Luna watching us ahead.
I skirt him and hurry down the path, desperate to escape him before I do something stupid.
My brother and Luna turn and keep walking, peering over their shoulders questioningly but giving us space.
“Mia, wait.” Dominic catches up to me with ease. “I know what?—”
“You know nothing,” I snap, whipping around to face him. “It was hard for me, sure, but that was my choice. I needed my mom to see she couldn’t control me. Yes, the balancing act was exhausting, and it was affecting my grades, but my time with you was what made it all worth it. I was happy. I was in love. I felt like I could do anything when you were around.”
He drags a hand over his mouth, his eyebrows drawn together.
“That day, I spent hours studying. I emailed professors and made plans to redo assignments. I busted my ass on the projects I’d already started. I wasn’t going to let myself fail. You weren’t an obstacle along the path to a happy and successful life; you were the fucking destination. And you ruined it.”
“I did it for you,” he grits out, a vein pulsing in his neck.
“Keep telling yourself that.” I shake my head. Anger seeps from my pores, outweighing all the longing I have for him. “Because from where I’m standing, you did it for yourself. You did it to assuage your guilt. You decided what was best for me, like I was incapable of making my own choices.”
