Page 42 of Lost Dreams

Lorelei pulled back to look at him. She’d expected him to bat the idea away. She’d expected him to remind her that he was Rome-born and Rome-bred, and he wasn’t going anywhere. But the look in his eye told her that he would consider any avenue forward, as long as it gave him his pride back.

“You would consider it?” She asked. “Working here at the Lodge? Moving here?”

Roberto smiled and kissed the tip of her nose. “I can’t seem to get you to come back to Italy, can I? I guess it means I’ll have to look into immigrating.”

Lorelei threw her arms around him and laughed. Her heart could hardly handle the love she felt for him.

21

That first night that Pino and Nadia were back on the island, Aurora led them to the beach long past nightfall, where they made a bonfire and sat around, talking about their parents’ marriage and what came next. “I’d prepared myself for the worst,” Aurora said, shaking her head. “But as it turns out, Papa’s just bad at business. Who knew?”

Pino cracked a rare smile, and Nadia laughed aloud.

“He didn’t want to admit he needed you,” Nadia said to Aurora.

At this, Pino’s eyes shifted. “I wanted to tell you. Rumors are going around Rome about you.” He explained that at Nico’s restaurant, several female staff members, from those in the kitchen to those hostessing and serving, had quit. They were calling Nico a creep, and they were suggesting that Aurora’s spontaneous departure—after helping the restaurant out so much—was a result of Nico’s creepiness. Aurora didn’t know what to say.

Her brother and sister looked at her openly, wanting to help her through whatever this was.

“If something happened,” Pino said gently, “it wasn’t your fault.”

“It wasn’t your fault,” Nadia chimed in.

Aurora watched as the firelight danced in her siblings’ eyes. She could see it already: they knew that something had happened to her, that that was part of the reason she’d run away. But Aurora didn’t want to get into it, not today. She wanted to talk about joyous things.

Three days after Roberto confessed that the restaurants were bankrupt, it was announced that Roberto would be taking over as head chef at the White Oak Lodge. A press release was sent around Nantucket and surrounding areas, and numerous travel magazines called to interview Roberto. In no article was it mentioned that Roberto was a failed restaurateur back in Italy. Rather, he was called the “iconic Italian chef, bringing his Roman flair to Nantucket Island.”

It didn’t matter that his businesses had failed. At his core, he was an artist, someone searching for brand-new ways to invigorate the palate.

Aurora found it beautiful to watch her father in the kitchen, experimenting with new recipes. The day after it was announced that he was going to be head chef, she and her siblings sat in the state-of-the-art kitchen at the White Oak Lodge and watched their father work. He made a black squid ink linguine, which he made them taste-test immediately after. It was divine.

More than that, Aurora thought it was better for her father’s creativity that he didn’t have to deal with the business side of things. She sensed a lightness about him. Already, despite his approaching business with immigration authorities and paperwork, he seemed to laugh more.

During the early part of July, Aurora sold three of her paintings to guests at the White Oak Lodge. Originally, she’d listed the paintings as fifty dollars each, but Grandma Francesca had insisted that she change the prices, reminding her that only “elite” guests stayed at the White Oak Lodge. “People want to feel like they’ve paid good money for something important,” Francesca explained. “Your work is important, so price it like it is.”

For this reason, those three paintings that Aurora sold brought in more than three thousand dollars. It was more money than she’d ever made at once. Her only real expense, just now, was painting supplies, so she opened up an American bank account and saved her money for a rainy day. Even better, she’d begun to work more frequently at the White Oak Lodge. She liked feeling a part of the texture of the place. She liked knowing all the staff members and helping her mother at the front desk.

Sometimes she passed by the stables, and her heart leaped at the idea that Oren or Kenny would come out and say hello. But Oren and Kenny were long gone, probably back in New York City, trying to squeeze their footage for anything interesting, anything they could spin into a story. She read cultural news often, and she searched through both Kenny’s and Oren’s social media accounts, wondering if they published anything about her family. So far, everything was quiet.

Midway through July, Nadia and Pino had to go back to Rome again. Aurora was devastated, as were Roberto and Lorelei. Over dinner the night before, Roberto kept suggesting various ways that Pino and Nadia could remain in the United States. “You’re American citizens, after all,” he said, spreading his arms out wide. “You could start over with us. You don’t have to be in Nantucket. You could go to New York City. Or Boston.”

But Nadia and Pino hadn’t agreed to start over, not yet. Their lives were in Rome.

Nadia wept quietly while she packed, glancing up several times at Aurora, who was busy cleaning her paintbrushes. Since Nadia had come to Nantucket, Aurora and Nadia had had far more heart-to-hearts than they ever had back in Rome. It was funny, Aurora thought. They were finally becoming friends. Aurora wondered what had triggered it. Was it just that their family was finally being honest with one another?

As they fell asleep that night, Nadia confessed to Aurora that she was in love with a guy back home. He went to her university, and he was studying philosophy. “Maybe if I wasn’t so curious about him, maybe then I would stay in the United States with all of you,” she said timidly.

Aurora sat up in bed and gazed at her sister through the darkness. “You have to see it through,” she said.

“I have to,” Nadia agreed.

Aurora remembered when she’d fallen in love with Sebastian, how sure of herself she’d been in her brand-new love.

“I thought I fell for someone this summer,” Aurora confessed. “But I was wrong.”

“Why do you think you were wrong?”

Aurora considered this, remembering the way Kenny had swum and then run away from her, despite the warmth they’d shared in their kiss, despite the adrenaline in her heart.