Love Like Ours

Chapter Three

Keira woke to the shrill sound of her alarm clock. It read seven a.m, but thanks to the jetlag and the relatively small proportion of time she and Cristiano had used the bed for sleeping, her body felt like it was still the middle of the night. She felt groggy, like she’d had a very badly timed nap in the middle of the day.

But despite the physical discomfort, mentally she was incredibly excited for the day ahead. She leaped straight out of bed, powered by excitement and exhaustion-induced adrenaline.

She looked back at Cristiano. He was still sleeping soundly.

“Wake up,” she said, leaning over him and kissing his forehead.

His eyes fluttered open. “Do I have to?” he said, yawning. “That long flight exhausted me.”

“It was the flight that exhausted you, huh?” Keira said suggestively, with a wink.

But she realized Cristiano had fallen straight back to sleep!

She decided to leave him to rest and went to freshen up for the day.

She crept into the living area. It was dark and Bryn was snoring loudly. Careful to be as quiet as possible and not waking the sleeping beast, she tiptoed past her sister and took a quick shower, cleaning away the airplane residue and last remnants of Italy from her skin.

When she made it back to the bedroom, she saw that Cristiano was still in a deep, peaceful sleep. She sighed and decided she may as well take her dirty clothes down to the laundrette on the corner. No point wasting this time, since she was back in the office tomorrow.

She quickly emptied her case and collected last night’s strewn clothes, adding them to the bundle before hurrying out of the apartment, along the corridor, down the steps, and onto the streets.

It was an exceptionally chilly morning, and she felt a wonderful sense of nostalgia. She had spent next to no time in New York over the last two months and it felt really great to be home; the familiar sound of traffic, the familiar smell of fumes. It made her think of Thanksgiving, and she smiled to herself knowing she didn’t have too long to wait until her favorite holiday. This year would be extra special with Cristiano there to enjoy it with them. If he stayed that long, anyway.

It was empty inside the laundrette, and Keira loaded several weeks worth of dirty clothes into the machine, filled the drawer with detergent, and added some quarters. She only had enough change on her for a quick wash – she’d not yet had time to get any local currency – but a thirty minute spin was better than nothing.

Once the machine was spinning, she scurried back out, wanting to get back to Cristiano, to wake him and usher him from Bryn’s apartment (and claws) as soon as possible.

But once back in the bedroom, she discovered that Cristiano was still in a very deep sleep. She kissed him again to try and wake him.

“Sleeping beauty” she said, more brightly this time, her a voice a little louder, more obnoxiously demanded. “We have to get up and get going!”

Cristiano groaned. “Can’t we have a lazy day in bed?” he moaned. “We’ve been on the go for weeks. We deserve to relax for one morning, don’t we?”

Keira shook her head, thinking of Bryn in the other room. They had to make their escape before she woke up.

“Nope,” she replied. “The whole of New York is waiting for us!”

Cristiano yawned, turning away from her loud voice. “And it will still be there in the afternoon after breakfast.”

“But it’s best enjoyed in the morning,” Keira contested, heaving the covers off of him. “Take it from a local.”

Cristiano gave up arguing, and, shivering, got out of bed.

“Why are you in such a hurry?” he moaned.

“Because there’s so much to do!” she replied, quickly pulling on a pair of Bryn’s winter boots. All her winter footwear was stored in a box somewhere, her stuff from Zach’s apartment strewn in various locations from her room in her mom’s house, to Shelby and David’s attic, to Bryn’s closet. There was even a sneaky box under her desk at Viatorum.

“Can I have a shower at least?” Cristiano asked.

Keira chewed her lip. Every minute wasted was another minute closer to Bryn waking up and attempting to get her talons into Cristiano. But Keira couldn’t deny him his basic human needs.

“Of course,” she said, brightly, feigning calmness. She went over to Bryn’s closet and pulled out a fluffy towel. “Here,” she said, handing it to him along with some shampoo and shower gel from her luggage. “The shower is just down the hall.”

He kissed her in thanks and disappeared from the room. Keira slumped to sitting on the bed, already exhausted. This was not going to be easy. She would need to find a new apartment as soon as possible. Like yesterday.

But that relied on getting her deposit back from Zach for their old apartment. She didn’t really want to initiate contact but it was clearly the lesser of two evils in this particular situation. She grabbed her cellphone and fired off a text.

Any news on the deposit? K

Against her better judgment, she added a x on the end. Buttering Zachary up wasn’t something she enjoyed doing, but if it meant she got her deposit back then it was worth it.

She peeked out the bedroom door into the living area. The blinds were still down and the room was black. The only sounds were the shower from the other end of the corridor and Bryn’s loud snoring. Luckily Cristiano hadn’t woken her on his way past either.

But she began to grow impatient. Cristiano was sure taking his time! She checked her watch and saw that her clothes in the laundrette would soon be reaching the end of their cycle. She decided to fetch them, rather than run the risk of some local stealing them the moment the lock clicked open on the machine’s door. Even at seven thirty on a Sunday morning you could never be too careful!

She left the apartment again and hurried to the laundrette. There were a couple of people in there now, both organized-looking middle aged women clearly attempting to beat the queues. Keira collected her warm, damp clothes. She didn’t have enough change for the drier so would have to hang them up around Bryn’s apartment.

She left, heading back along the street towards Bryn’s. It felt really good to do normal chores again, to be a normal person again rather than a travel writer in an exciting foreign land. There really was such a thing as too much of a good thing, it turned out.

Her phone vibrated in her pocket just as she began climbing the stairs up to Bryn’s apartment. It was a text from Zach. She bit her lip with anticipation then read what he’d written.

Bon jour Keira! I’m in France for work. A week long conference event starting tomorrow! Can we chat about $ when I’m back?

She sighed with frustration. It would be another week before they could speak about it, not that she could even understand what there was to speak about! It should be a simple case of transferring her share of the money into her bank but of course he wasn’t going to make this easy on her.

Her eyes still on her cell phone, Keira went into Bryn’s apartment. She was immediately surprised by the sound of laughter, and looked up.

Everything had changed. The blinds were open, the lights on, the coffee machine bubbling away, and there was Bryn in the kitchen, looking far more awake than someone who had spent the last day drinking ought to. Perched with his back against the counter was Cristiano, his bare torso glistening with water droplets, nothing but a towel tied around his waist to protect his modesty.

“What’s going on?” Keira cried, startled.

Bryn looked over at her, and frowned, amused by Keira’s paranoid tone. “I’m making coffee,” she said, stating the obvious. “Where have you been?”

“I went to the laundrette,” Keira said, holding up her heavy bag of damp clothes. “I was only gone two minutes.”

Two minutes, clearly, was all it took for Bryn to take the opportunity to feast her eyes upon Cristiano’s well honed body.

“Babe,” Keira said forcefully, looking at him. “We’d better get dressed. We have to go.”

“We have time for a coffee don’t we?” he asked. “While you’re hanging your clothes up to dry?”

Keira dropped the bag on the floor, nonchalantly, and tried to sound light-hearted as she went over and steered him by his shoulders towards the bedroom.

“But I want to take you to the best coffee place in the whole of New York,” she said. “Small batch. Freshly ground. Much nicer than Bryn’s machine made coffee.”

“Oh… oh, okay…” Cristiano said, putting up no resistance. “But… your clothes?”

As she ushered him into the safety of the bedroom, Keira glanced over her shoulder at Bryn. She was watching, smirking, clearly amused by her sister’s flustered haste. Keira gave her a stern expression, a warning look to leave Cristiano alone.

“I can hang your clothes,” Bryn said with a sweet, knowing smile.

“Thank you,” Keira replied, tersely.

She went to shut the door but Bryn wasn’t done.

“Hun, if you think I’m bad,” she chuckled, “Wait until you get him out there.” She pointed to the window. “You’re going to find a whole lot worse than me. Trust me.”

Her body tense all over, Keira shut the door.

Chapter Four

Their first stop was the Upper West Side where they grabbed bagels and coffee to eat on the move. It was a far cry from the long, lazy meals they had shared in Italy, but Keira wanted Cristiano to really get a feel for what life was like in New York City.

“So this is the best coffee in New York, is it?” Cristiano asked, sipping from the paper cup with careful consideration. He didn’t look convinced.

“Oh, yeah, the best,” Keira told him, remembering the lie she’d blurted out this morning. It was good but it wasn’t the small batch, freshly ground coffee she had promised. “In my opinion, anyway.”

Cristiano just shrugged.

They strolled along the sidewalk hand in hand towards the Hudson River. Keira was acutely aware of the amounts of stares Cristiano garnered. She knew there was a discrepancy between their respective attractiveness, but she felt even more like the plain Jane back in New York, because here Cristiano was more than just a catch, he was a rare beast. Bryn had been right. There were far worse than her in the city. Having him here was going to be exhausting.

“What do you think about my sister?” she asked.

Cristiano laughed. “She’s interesting.”

“Interesting how?”

There was a pause, during which Cristiano was clearly trying to choose his words carefully. Finally he settled on; “Pazza.”

“What does that mean?” Keira asked, her mind conjuring up all kinds of options; beautiful, wonderful, alluring, mesmerizing.

“Crazy,” Cristiano said.

Keira laughed. It was a relief to hear him say as much. Unless he had a secret thing for crazy, she was probably safe. From Bryn, at least. There was still the rest of the female population of New York City to contend with.

They walked through Riverside Park, looking at the beautiful river, then headed towards Central Park. Since Cristiano had noticed it from the air as their plane had flown over, Keira deduced that he would also appreciate seeing it from ground level.

“This is so amazing,” he said, looking at the distant skyscrapers that surrounded them. “It doesn’t seem real.”

Keira smiled, remembering how she had said very similar things to him about Italy. It was cool to see him so entranced by her hometown, to see him marvel at things she had long ago forgotten to be inspired by.

They headed eastward, towards the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The culture in Italy had been astounding but Keira was competitive by nature and didn’t want Cristiano to think that his ancient European country had more going for it than New York City did! But there was so much to pack in to the day, they were only inside for an hour or so before Cristiano asked to see more of the actual city.

They took a subway to fifth avenue so Keira could show him Times Square, then headed to eleventh avenue for a stroll along the High Line so he could really take in the sights of the Manhattan skyline. They bought more coffee from one of the vendors along the bridge.

As the afternoon drew on, Keira took Cristiano to SoHo where they grabbed some lunch in one of the cafes. Cristiano seemed to especially like this part of the city, particularly all the fashionistas and interesting clothes shops. In fact, he fit right in in his Italian clothes, and found himself a new jacket that looked remarkably similar to the cut-price one they’d bought from the outlet beside the airport, the main difference being that this one cost fifty dollars instead of ten.

While they were eating lunch, Keira’s phone started ringing. Her first instinct was Bryn trying to find some way to lure them back to the apartment. But when Keira looked at her phone, she saw it was her mom calling. She answered the call.

“Darling, I’ve just been speaking to your sister,” her mom announced. “You have to bring Cristiano around tonight for dinner.”

“No, mom,” Keira said with a wince. “We want to spend the day together. We’ve planned everything out.”

“But I’ve already been to the store,” Mallory replied with a sad whine to her voice. I’ve bought everything to make lasagne.”

“Why?” Keira hissed. “You didn’t even ask me.”

She knew why. If her mom had asked her first she’d have no leverage, no way to bargain and nothing to guilt trip Keira with. This way, she had the upper hand. Keira’s refusal made her look spoiled and ungrateful.

From across the table, Cristiano looked concerned. “Is everything okay?” he asked.

Keira nodded, trying to play it cool. She spoke again into the phone. “Mom, I have to go now. We’ll do dinner another time.”

Her mom sighed loudly. “Have you even asked Cristiano if he’d like to meet me? Because it doesn’t sound like you’ve given him the choice.”

Keira grit her teeth. Rolling her eyes, she looked up at Cristiano. “My mom wants us to go around there for dinner tonight. But we were planning on going to that meatball restaurant, weren’t we? So I’m just telling her we’ll take a rain check.”

But rather than the response she was hoping to get from him, Cristiano looked thrilled by the prospect of meeting Keira’s mom.

“We can get meatballs anytime,” he said with a shrug. “If your mom wants to cook for us, we should really let her. I’d love to meet her.”

Keira let her head drop into her hands. With a sigh, she relented.

“Fine,” she said into the phone. “You win, mom. We’ll be round at eight.”

“Seven,” her mom corrected.

“Seven,” Keira repeated glumly.

“Oh how wonderful!” her mom gushed. But Keira cut the call off before she’d even finished speaking. She looked up at Cristiano. “You don’t need to be so polite, you know.”

He laughed. “Politeness isn’t my motivation, Keira. I’d very much like to meet your mom.”

“She’s cooking lasagne,” Keira added in a dry voice. “I can only assume because you’re Italian.”

“Well that’s perfect,” he replied. “Because I love lasagne.”

Keira sighed. Cristiano may be ready to meet more of her pazza family members but she certainly wasn’t. Having him here was becoming more and more stressful for her by the second.

Chapter Five

Mallory Swanson still lived in the same apartment where she’d raised her two daughters. Keira always felt a strange sense of nostalgia whenever she returned home. Though her childhood had been filled with love and laughter, the absence of her father was always presence. That he’d lived in that house with Bryn and her mom before she had been born was always at the back of her mind, because shortly after she’d been born, he’d left the family. She’d always grown up feeling like his shadows lurked in the house, like things just weren’t quite at they were supposed to be.

She and Cristiano took a cab straight from town. Keira hadn’t wanted to return to Bryn’s apartment first and have to endure the journey with all three of them in the cramped conditions, so had told her sister just to meet them there. At least Bryn’s ability to keep time was useless so they’d have a bit of breathing space on arrival.

They walked up the steps to the red brick apartment building. The basement apartment was owned by the same old woman who had been living there for her whole life. Her numerous cats lay out on the sidewalk or sat perched on the railings meowing at them.

Keira rang the bell and a moment later, her mom appeared at the door. She was wearing a stained apron over her clothes and her hair was in disarray.

“There she is! My wandering nomad of a daughter!” Mallory cried. She flung her arms around Keira and squeezed tightly. Then she released her and looked at Cristiano. “Well, aren’t you handsome?” she gushed. She hugged him too. “Now, quick, everyone inside. I left the lasagne in the oven and I don’t want it to burn.”

She ushered them inside. Keira walked up the dingy staircase that led to the first floor apartment. It seemed narrower than usual, the dark green walls more stained than she remembered. It didn’t help that most of the bulbs in the corridor had blown. It gave the corridor a horror film vibe.

They made it into the apartment and were immediately assaulted by heat radiating from the oven. The smell of strong cheese permeated the air.

“So this is where you grew up?” Cristiano asked, looking politely around Mallory’s modest apartment.

Keira nodded. It was a far cry from his parent’s villa in the hillsides of Florence. There wasn’t a single piece of furniture in the house that looked like it belonged on the pages of a designer furniture magazine. It couldn’t even be claimed that the house was shabby-chic. It was just shabby.

Keira felt the weight of embarrassment pressing down on her. She had worked so hard at school and college specifically to leave this sort of life behind. She worried that the impression Cristiano was getting of her must be a million miles away from what he’d been expecting when he first agreed to get on that plane with her. So much for the high flying reporter from New York City. There was no way of hiding that she’d come from humble beginnings now.

“Why don’t you take a seat?” Mallory yelled over her shoulder as she busied herself in the kitchen.

Keira gestured to the table. Her mom had covered it in a weird vinyl table cloth. Cristiano sat in one of the chairs. Keira noticed it wobbling beneath him but of course he was too polite to say anything.

Mallory came over with a steaming dish and placed it on the table. The lasagne was a mess to look at, the tomato sauce bubbling up through the pasta, the cheese burned to a crisp at the edges. It was probably a world away from what Cristiano was used to eating back home in Italy!

“What are those?” Keira asked, pointing at small, round balls on the top.

“Hazelnuts,” Mallory said.

“On a lasagne?” Keira asked, frowning.

“I read it in a magazine,” Mallory replied ambivalently.

Keira felt her body growing heavier and heavier.

“Shouldn’t we wait for Bryn?” she asked her mom.

“I told her seven,” Mallory replied. “She can read a clock. It’s her fault if she’s not here on time.” She grinned at Cristiano and poured a glass of wine for him. “I hope you like rosé.”

Keira hunkered in her seat, remembering how much of a wine connoisseur Cristiano was, how he knew what wine to have with what dish. You didn’t need to be a connoisseur to know that rosé didn’t compliment anything!

Politely, he picked up his glass of pink colored wine.

“To our handsome guest,” Mallory announced, and they all clinked glasses.

Keira was so embarrassed she wanted to disappear.

The door opened then and in waltzed Bryn. Any signs of the hangover she ought to be sufferings were completely gone. Her eyes were bright, her hair clean and glowing, and she’d dressed to impress.

Keira couldn’t help the jealousy she sometimes felt over her beautiful older sister. She had years of memories of boys swooning over Bryn to back it up. The only saving grace was that her sister was a bit on the unstable side. You just wouldn’t know it to look at her. To look at her, you’d think she was a supermodel, all grace and poise.

Bryn sat down at the table with flourish and helped herself to a large portion of lasagne.

“I did an hour and a half in the gym today,” she boasted. “I’m allowed to treat myself.”

Keira couldn't remember the last time she herself had been to the gym. In fact, the last two months had been a blur of eating and drinking. From all the Guinness and fried breakfasts in Ireland, to the pastas and gelatos of Italy, she was quite frankly surprised to have not yet become obese. It was only thanks to all those hills in Italy and muddy walks in Ireland that she’d managed to stay in any kind of shape at all.

“Do you work out a lot?” Cristiano asked Bryn. He seemed interested rather than suggestive, which relieved Keira, although she couldn’t understand why he’d want to know.

Bryn nodded. “Spinning is my main thing. Oh, and climbing. They have a great wall at my local.”

Cristiano looked excited. “I love to climb!”

“You do?” Keira asked, surprised. Somehow that had never come up in conversation.

“Yes,” he said, nodding excitedly before turning his attention back to Bryn. “You will have to take me sometime.”

“I’d love to,” Bryn replied.

Keira cringed. This whole conversation was putting her on edge. She wanted to put as much distance between her sister and Cristiano as possible.

Mallory seemed suitably impressed by Cristiano’s climbing background. “What else can you do, then?” she asked. “Physically?”

“Mom,” Keira groaned. “What kind of a question is that?”

“I like to swim,” Cristiano replied. Then with a wink at Keira, he added, “And dance the night away.”

“Really?” Mallory asked. “Do you Flamenco?”

“That’s Spanish, mom!” Keira cried.

Cristiano burst out laughing. Bryn chuckled too. Even Mallory seemed to find her error amusing. Keira was the only one who didn’t. Maybe Bryn was right about her being uptight?

“So how was your Italian adventure?” Mallory asked Keira, leaning over the table to pat her hand. “Another success?” Her eyes darted to Cristiano.

Keira felt the blush rise in her cheeks. “It was beautiful,” she said, trying to steer the conversation away from the fact she’d instigated another romance and towards the country itself. “The scenery is out of this world. The food is incredible. And the culture!”

“Don’t forget the men,” Bryn added, wiggling her eyebrows.

Keira shot her a look. “Yes, the people are wonderful too. Cristiano took me to meet his parents in Florence. They were super friendly.”

Mallory looked over at Cristiano, impressed. “You’re close with your family?”

He smiled and nodded. “Very. Apart from when I’m working out of town, I see them at least once a week.”

“That’s so nice,” Mallory said, looking down contemplatively at her lasagne. “My girls are always too busy to see me. I’m only a cab ride away but I may as well live in Canada.”

Bryn rolled her eyes. “We’re modern women, mom. We work.”

“I’ve spent about forty eight hours in New York City in the last two months!” Keira added.

Mallory just shrugged, keeping the wounded expression on her face for maximum effect. Bryn seemed immune to that sort of thing, but it always irked Keira. She felt like her relationship with her mom was pretty good. She certainly spoke to her on the phone a lot, and visited her frequently. And it was hardly like Mallory was a lonely old woman sitting at home all day! She may be retired now but she had friends a plenty and all kinds of hobbies to occupy herself with.

“How’s your lasagne?” Mallory asked Cristiano then. “I suppose it doesn’t compare to your super mom’s recipe, does it?”

Bryn just laughed at her mom’s forlorn tone. Keira wasn’t in the mood to mollycoddle her. She responded before Cristiano even had the chance to, attempting to relieve him of an awkward social encounter.

“Of course it doesn’t,” she said. “Our food is completely different. Most of it is imported. I mean the Italian ingredients are so fresh and nutritious.” She prodded her rubbery pasta with her fork. “Even the tomatoes taste different in Italy.”

“But American food is good too,” Cristiano added diplomatically. “Keira and I had bagels for breakfast this morning. It was very exciting.”

Bryn made a face that indicated she found Cristiano's bagel excitement adorable. Keira couldn’t stand the way she was looking at Cristiano like he was a cute puppy.

“And how long are you staying in New York?” Mallory asked.

‘Great,’ Keira thought. ‘That question again.’

“I don’t know yet,” Cristiano replied. “I have no reason to rush off though.”

A small furrow appeared on Mallory’s forehead. “No? Don’t you have a job at home to get back to?”

Cristiano shook his head nonchalantly. “I only do casual work and most of that is during the summer. Tour guiding. Waiting tables. That sort of thing.”

Keira noted the way the furrow on her mom’s forehead deepened.

“Casual work?” she repeated, the tone in her voice betraying her distaste.

“Things are different over there,” Keira explained. “The culture is different. People aren’t clamoring over each other for promotions like they are here.”

“But he’s not a kid anymore,” Mallory said with exasperation to Keira. “Shouldn’t he have some idea what he wants to do with his life?”

“Mom!” Keira cried.

Cristiano just laughed, somehow finding humor in the situation. “I’ll find my path one day, Mallory,” he reassured her. “I’m not in a hurry.”

He turned his serene gaze down to his lasagne. Over his head, Mallory shot Keira a pained expression. If she thought Keira was leaving it late to settle down and have kids, what on earth must she think about the fact Cristiano hadn’t found a career path yet?

With their plates empty, Mallory went to fetch dessert. Ice-cream. Keira had eaten so much gelato in Italy it was the last thing she wanted, especially the poor American substitute her mom bought. But Cristiano was as polite as ever and made all the appropriate noises as he ate.

“Are you all squeezed into Bryn’s apartment at the moment?” Mallory asked.

“I’m letting them have the bed,” Bryn said, looking proud of herself for actually putting someone else’s needs before her own for possibly the first time in her life.

“Why don’t you stay here?” Mallory suggested. “Keira’s has her own bedroom.”

“You do?” Cristiano asked, frowning slightly as though he couldn’t understand why Keira had chosen her sister’s couch over her own room.

Keira shook her head. “It’s not a good idea,” she told him under her breath. “The commute to work from here is such a pain.”

“What’s she saying?” Mallory asked Cristiano in a loud voice. “Let me guess. The commute. It’s always the commute. When she moved out of her apartment with Zach she went straight to Bryn’s! As if I didn’t even exist. And when I ask why, oh, it’s the commute.”

“Mom, it takes me over an hour to get to work from here,” Keira told her for what must have been the millionth time.

“An hour is standard,” Bryn replied. “You were just lucky before with where your apartment was. And that’s only because Zach paid for most of it.”

“Bryn!” Keira scolded her. Then, folding her arms stubbornly, she added in a quieter voice, “It belonged to his cousin. We both got cheap rent.”

Cristiano looked very confused. “Who is Zach?”

“No one,” Keira told him. She cast appealing glances at her mom and sister, willing them to keep their big mouths shut for once.

Mallory smiled at Cristiano. “You’d like to stay here for a bit, wouldn’t you, hun? I can show you around the local areas tomorrow.”

Keira’s eyes widened. “No way, mom. Cristiano has better things to do with his time.” The thought of her mom having him for the whole day filled her with dread.

“What things?” Bryn challenged her with a laugh. “Someone has to show him around. Keep him entertained. You know I could always do it.” She crossed one of her lean legs over the other.

“No!” Keira said more forcefully. She did not trust either of them around Cristiano!

“Actually, I’d like to explore by myself,” Cristiano said, finally getting a chance to get his own voice heard. “When I’m in a new city, anyway. Is that okay, Mallory?”

“Of course,” she chuckled. Then with a grin, she added to no one in particular, “He is so polite.”

“But I do think it would be nice to take up your offer of us staying here,” he added. “Keira got to see my home and I would love to see her old room too.”

Keira buried her head in her hands. This was about the last thing she wanted to happen! But then she thought about the complete lack of privacy they had at Bryn’s. Even with her offering up her bed to them it was still very crowded. Not to mention messy and noisy. At least here Mallory would go to bed early and they’d get a bit of space and privacy.

“Fine,” Keira finally replied. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d slept over at her mom’s. But thanks to Cristiano it was about to happen for the first time in years. “We’ll stay.”

“Wonderful!” Mallory cried, and she topped up everyone’s wine glasses with more sickly pink wine.

* * *

Keira and Cristiano shared a cab with Bryn to her apartment so they could collect some things. Cristiano stuffed his clothes into his satchel, and Keira collected toiletries, fresh underwear, her makeup, perfume, and an outfit for work, including heels, something she’d not worn for the entire time she’d been in Italy!

When they left, Keira was relieved that it was just the two of them again.

“I’m sorry about today,” Keira told Cristiano as she curled up beside him in the back of the cab.

“Sorry?” he asked. “What for?”

“For my family. They’re nuts.”

He laughed. “I actually really like them.”

Keira pondered over whether he just meant he liked Bryn but tried not to dwell on it.

“And are you sure you’re going to be okay on your own tomorrow?” she added. “I could see whether one of my friends might be around to meet up with you?”

As she said it, she thought of Shelby who was very safely engaged. But Shelby would definitely be at work. Maxine would be free, but she was single. Keira just didn’t trust this relationship enough yet to loosen the reins.

“I’m very sure,” Cristiano told her decisively. “I already said I like to explore. I made it my job, didn’t I?”

“Yes,” Keira admitted, “But New York City is kind of different to Italy.”