Page 28 of No Merciful Corruption

“I can take you,” Rian says but his eyes are on his brother.

Before Lyss can respond, Sasha already has his hand on the small of her back as he leads her out the door. “Didn’t you just say you have work to do?”

Rian opens his mouth to respond but Sasha gives his back to him and opens the door for Lyss to pass through. With a bewildered, almost vexed expression on his face, he turns to Damiano who throws up his hands and beelines straight for the mezzanine stairs.

I tsk as Alejandro holds out my coat for me. “Algo está pasando aquí,” I sing-song.

He kisses my temple. “I’ll tell you all about it on the way home.”

THE UNFORGIVABLE

Dahlia

“Ijust find it so strange Sasha reacted that way. And over Alyssa of all people.”

Alejandro closes the front door behind us and we move through the vestibule into the foyer. “Maybe they’re friends and we just didn’t know?”

I shake my head and walk down the hall until I reach the coat closet. I open the door and feel Alejandro’s hands on my shoulders as he helps me out of my scarf and long coat. “I doubt it. I mean, they know each other but I’ve only ever seen them interact in passing. Hellos and goodbyes. Nothing to justify a whole argument in the hospital waiting room.”

Alejandro hangs up my coat. “Ask Alyssa about it later. By the time I showed up, Rian and Sasha were being kept apart by a stressed out Damiano.”

I almost laugh but the sound stops short when I turn around and see he’s still in his coat. “Aren’t you staying?”

He hesitates. “I have some work to do.”

“Oh…” I swallow the lump in my throat. “Maybe you can do your work here?”

“I have to call Lettie and Diego.”

My chest aches at the mention of them. “Do you think they might come visit soon? You’ve been here for a while.”

Diego and Lettie know I was in the hospital—I’ve heard Alejandro on the phone with them talking about it. But they never came to visit and never called. I guess it’s wrong of me to expect so much of them. After all, I’m technically not part of their family anymore and none of us are in a good place right now. Still…it would be nice to know they cared.

He isn’t sure how to respond and rather than scrounge up a polite excuse, he stays silent.

“Do you have to go right now?” I ask. “I was thinking we could have lunch and then maybe⁠—”

“Are you hungry?” He’s already removing his coat before I can respond. “What do you want? I’ll make you something before I go.”

For some reason, the words catch in my throat. I watch him put his coat in the closet and he wraps his scarf around the hanger twice. In Barcelona, I always knew which coats and jackets in the hall closet were his by the way he wrapped up his scarf. Lettie kept most of her accessories color coded in her drawers and Diego couldn’t be bothered with things like hats, scarves, or gloves.

A pang of longing runs through me. A desire for a home that was as mine as it was temporary and a wistfulness for a moment in time we’ll never have again. Whatever the future has in store for Alejandro and me, it’ll never be the same as our first year together. Everything was new and wonderful and different before it became strange, painful, and terrifying. We’ll never fall in love with each other for the first time again.

I wish I’d held on to that year a little tighter. I wish I had appreciated it more than I did instead of taking the novelty of it for granted.

All I can manage is a smile and short nod as I follow him to the kitchen.

There’s so much I want to say except I don’t think I’m brave enough to even try.

* * *

“Todavía estoy in Nueva York…sí. Sí.”

Alejandro flips the grilled cheese one last time before transferring it to a plate. He cuts it in half just the way I like it.

“Estaba pensando en volver este fin de semana pero no lo he decidido.”

I have no idea who or what he’s talking about but from what I’ve gathered so far, it must be someone in Barcelona. Could it be Dimitrio? Mauricio? Maybe they’re wondering when he’s going back because Alejandro said as much. He just didn’t specify where he’d be going back to. Apparently he’s thinking of traveling this weekend.