She was falling, but as scary as it was, it made her feel light as air.
The next day was a flurry of activity at the publishing house. Aria was excited when Natalia emailed her that she was finally finished with the first round of edits for Michael’s book.
Aria was headed for some coffee when her phone alerted her to a text.
Alex:Good morning. I wanted to see if you were free tomorrow for lunch at my dad's.
Aria:I'd love that.
They made plans for him to pick her up the following day. She was excited to spend the evening with Corinna, dodging her curious texts all day.
Aria had gotten so wrapped up at work, she arrived at the restaurant a few minutes late and saw Corinna waiting at the bar.
“Hey, sorry, sorry,” she said as she rushed in.
“It’s fine. Waiting for a table to become available.”
Apologizing again, Aria settled in the seat next to her friend.
After ordering a glass of white wine, Aria explained what Alex shared with her about Bella, thanking the bartender when he delivered her drink.
“And you feel certain he’s telling the truth?” Corinna asked, sipping on her red wine.
“Yeah, I do,” Aria said, nodding enthusiastically, taking a sip of her wine.
“Then I trust your judgment. Oh, before you go on, give me Alex's number. Looks like you guys are going to be spending time together. Just in case of an emergency,” Corinna said as she set down her glass and slid her phone to Aria to airdrop it.
Ever since Nicholas' accident, Corinna was nervous about not being able to get in touch with Aria if something happened to her.
“So, anyway, he met me at this path that led down to his house. He was holding another bunch of flowers. He had lit candles in glass lanterns all the way down the path,” she recounted with a dreamy smile.
“Oh, man. Rossi is pulling out the big guns romantically.”
“He was nervous, I was nervous. I hardly said a word at first.”
“Serves him right,” Corinna deadpanned, making Aria giggle.
“His house is on the water and, wow, you can see all the love he put into it. Said it was an old shack. I can’t imagine that from being inside it now. Wide open concept. Bright tiles, wooden mantel. Oh, and his photographs are amazing. He's so talented,” she said as she remembered the photos of the villagers in Africa.
“So, did he kiss you?”
“I was just getting to that. Hang on, now. First, he gave me the painting that I fell in love with at the gallery.”
“Oh, the one you guys were looking at. That's sweet.”
“It was. I was so surprised. He wanted in exchange for the scarf I accidentally left behind the night I was on his…” Aria said, her words trailing off.
“Got it, let’s move on from that night,” Corinna said, patting her hand.
“Yeah, don’t want to go back there. Anyway, I let him have it. Crazy but...”
“Kind of sweet, though. He wants something that’s yours. I think it’s romantic.”
“Shy at first but yes, very romantic,” Aria said with a goofy grin. “We’re sitting on his sofa and he’s staring at me, making me all kinds of nervous, so I askedhim to let’s walk on the beach, which we did. And then he stops, and I feel like I’m going to faint ‘cause he’s looking at me with these smoldering eyes.”
“Man, I love the smoldering eyes,” Corinna said, drink halfway up to her mouth, completely caught up in the story.
Aria said, sighing with her hand over her chest, “And then it happened. He pulled me in close, gazed into my eyes and?—”
