“Oh no ...” Antonio’s eyes followed someone who’d stepped onto the terrace.
That caught my attention, so I followed his gaze.
Isabella had appeared on the terrace with some of her friends, my sister among them. All in dresses and flats. It seemed to be a girls’ night out. I never cared about Beatrice maintaining her friendship with Isabella, but now I was ticked that she couldn’t even bother to try with the woman I was going to marry because of some misplaced loyalty.
“Con can’t catch a break, can he?” Francesco said.
I grabbed my glass and finished my drink. “I’m sure they’re gathered to talk about what happened this morning.” And I would probably look like the asshole—and so would Aurelia. Because nothing we did made any fucking difference. “Let’s bounce before she sees me.” I got the attention of the waitress and motioned her over.
“Too late,” Antonio said as he quickly looked back at our table. “Yeah, she definitely saw you.”
“Then let’s find another spot.” I kept my focus away from Isabella’s direction, trying to blend into the background, praying that she didn’t want to revisit our previous conversation because she had too many drinks.
I continued to wait for the waitress to bring the tab, but it felt like a fucking lifetime.
“She keeps looking,” Francesco said.
“Then stop giving her something to look at,” I said quietly. I couldn’t believe I was in my fucking thirties but my life still felt like a teenage soap opera.
The waitress finally came over with the tab on a tray.
The guys pulled out their wallets to split the bill, but I threw my card into the tray. “Put it all on this.”
She could tell I was in a hurry, so she left again.
“I’ll get the next round,” Antonio said.
“You know I don’t give a shit. I just want to get out of here.”
The waitress took the tab to the stand to process it.
Fuck, I wished I had cash.
I rubbed my palms together as we waited. No one made conversation, all anxious to leave so I’d be myself again.
She finally came back, and I signed the check and we got to our feet. “Just head for the stairs and don’t look.”
“All right,” Francesco said.
The four of us beelined for the exit to get the fuck out of there. There was a set of stairs and then a platform halfway up. Once we made it to the main street, we’d be free of the dilemma.
But I only made it halfway up before I heard her voice from behind me.
“Con?”
Jesus fucking Christ, why is this happening to me?
The guys stopped on the stairs to look at me.
“Can’t talk, Issy,” I said as normally as I could. “We’re meeting some people.”
The guys made it to the street and turned back to me.
But Isabella caught up to me on the platform halfway. “Wait, wait.” She grabbed me by the forearm.
I spun out of that touch so fast. “I think we’ve talked enough for the day.”
The guys turned the corner to give us our privacy.
