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‘Yes, but it’s so late, Alessandro. I’ve already made dinner…’
‘It will keep, won’t it?’
Mia blinked at his brusque tone. No explanations, no apologies, just that edge of impatience to his voice, as if she was wasting his time.
‘That’s not the point, Alessandro,’ she said, trying to keep her voice even. ‘This is the fourth night you’ve missed dinner—’
‘I’m working.’ There was no mistaking the edge now. ‘Surely you can understand that, Mia. I shouldn’t have to justify it to you.’
‘I’m not asking you to justify it,’ she protested, startled by the definite coolness in his voice. ‘Alessandro…what’s going on?’
‘What do you mean by that? Nothing is going on.’
‘You’ve been so distant…’
‘I’m working.’
Gone was even the pretence of the gentle, kind and attentive lover Mia had grown to know and love these last few weeks, making her wonder if it had all been a mirage.
‘I know that,’ she said quietly.
‘Then there’s no problem,’ Alessandro answered, his voice clipped, and before Mia could say another word he disconnected the call.
She stood there for a moment, stunned by what had just happened, and yet somehow not surprised at all. Hadn’t some part of her been waiting for this? For the mask to fall away, the true man to be revealed? All her fears to be realised?
She hadn’t had the courage to confront Alessandro, and when she’d tried, he’d put her in her place, brushing off her concerns as if they were of no importance. The same way her father had.
It didn’t have to be a big deal, Mia told herself. It was one phone conversation. All couples had arguments. She was overreacting, she knew that. And yet…
But she knew it wasn’t one conversation; it was everything that had and hadn’t happened in the last month. On their wedding day—and night—she’d felt so wonderfully close to him, and the last month had been a sliding away from that, inch by infinitesimal inch.
Alessandro had been becoming more remote, and, worse, she had become more needy. More desperate. She’d heard it in her voice; she felt it in herself.
Drawing in a ragged breath, Mia reached for the pan of sauce simmering on the stove and recklessly she scraped it all into the bin.
She didn’t want it to keep. Alessandro would most likely come home late tomorrow night as well. And the night after that…the night after that…
She couldn’t live this way.
The realisation came suddenly, starkly, and was completely overwhelming, every fear she’d ever had rising restlessly to the fore. Here she was, just like her mother, miserable and alone, having just been told off by the man she was coming to love.
In her seat, Ella let out a happy gurgle, startling Mia out of her unhappy thoughts. She picked Ella up, pacing the kitchen, before she decided she couldn’t stay in this villa for another moment. It felt like a mausoleum—a mausoleum of her fragile, fledgling hopes and dreams. As melodramatic as she knew that sounded, even in her own head, she also knew she needed some space.
Quickly Mia went upstairs and packed a case for both her and Ella. She needed to get out of here, get some perspective.
And, she acknowledged, she wanted to show Alessandro that he wasn’t the only one who could change plans.
It didn’t take long to pack what she needed and ring a taxi. While waiting for the car to arrive, she’d checked out a family-friendly hotel in nearby Assisi. She’d go there for the night, she decided. Perhaps in the morning, things would feel and look better, and she’d know what to do. How to feel.
As the taxi sped away from the villa, Ella dozing in her car seat by her side, Mia glanced down at her phone. Alessandro hadn’t called or texted again, but she knew he deserved at least some explanation as to her absence.
Needed to think, she texted,
And then waited for a reply that never came.
Alessandro glanced moodily at his phone. Needed to think? What was that supposed to mean? He hadn’t bothered to reply, because he didn’t know what to say. In truth, he hadn’t known what to say for weeks now, as he fought the feeling that had been growing between them, stronger every day, and more alarming.
After the soul-changing encounter on their wedding night, when he’d realised just how far he’d fallen, he’d found himself inexorably withdrawing, trying to create a safe distance between him and Mia while pretending to her that it wasn’t there.
