Corinna waved from a corner table, indulging in a large cup of coffee.
“Hey, girl,” Corinna said when she put her cup down.
Kissing her cheeks, Aria answered, “Hey. Sheesh, almost lost Alex to Susanna’s granddaughter.”
Aria sat in the cold metal chair opposite her friend with a huff.
“What?Oh, never mind that. Tell me about last night! How did your parents take the news? What did they think of Alex?” Corinna asked, her hands drumming the table anxiously.
Aria thanked the server when she sat her breakfast down before speaking.
“It went better than expected. Sorry I didn’t call after they went to bed. We stayed up late talking. Anyway, I had no reason to worry. They were so happy to hear that I was seeing him. He won their hearts just like I knew he would.”
Looking jubilantly up to the ceiling, her hands waving wildly, Corinna replied, “Ah, that’s amazing. I know you’ve got to be relieved.”
“I am. I knew they’d be happy but wasn’t sure how they’d react to our relationship moving so quickly,” said before taking a long sip of the delicious elixir.
“So, are you ready to admit you’re falling in love with him?”
“You know I am, I just. I’ve never told anyone I loved them except for Nicholas.”
“Look, I know that’s hard, but there’s nothing keeping you from telling him now that he’s not leaving anymore,” Corinna, a satisfied look on her face.
Aria dropped her pastry on her plate, the powdered sugar coating the table like snow.
“I, I don’t understand. You said something like that the other night that I wanted to ask you about today.”
Corinna’s face pinched in concern.
“He didn’t tell you?”
Sitting up straighter in her chair, Aria raised her voice.
“Tell mewhat, Corinna?”
“Aria, I thought he would have told you. I wondered why you hadn’t mentioned it. He canceled his next assignment to stay and spend more time with you.”
“What are you talking about?” Aria asked, her eyebrows hovering low.
“Well, the night I got his number from you, I called him.”
“What?” Aria screeched.
“Hey, hey, you know I was going to threaten his life atsomepoint, right? This shouldn't be a surprise to you,” she answered, her hands held up in surrender. “Anyway, he told me that he wasn't going anywhere. To make his point about his intentions, he mentioned he had canceled his next assignment.”
“He didn’t tell me. He’s been waiting for that project in Argentina for months. When we first started talking, he said how important it was to him…” Aria said, her voice trailing off.
“I’m sure he meant to tell you. And I know you’ve been worried about when he’d leave so now you don’t have to.”
“I don’twanthim to give up any part of his career for me. I'dneverallow him to do that, as much as I’d like him to stay.”
“Shouldn’themake that decision, though?”
“Corinna, he may feel that way now but what’s he going to do, huh? Not take any jobs outside of Italy? Don’t you see? He’ll grow to resent me,” Aria replied, her voice growing in intensity and volume.
Looking around, Corinna tried to calm her, reaching over and rubbing her hand.
“Hey, hey, listen. You’re getting ahead of yourself. Just talk to him.”
