Page 201

I try.

But my eyes find her again.

Because somehow, standing here in the place that made her, looking at one of the most beautiful views I've ever seen, something about it feels incomplete without her in it.

Fuck.

I'm so screwed.

Eleonora

I wake up and for a few seconds I have absolutely no idea where I am.

The room is dark except for a thin line of moonlight coming through the shutters, and something is making noise outside.

A constant rush.

Then silence.

Another rush.

I blink at the ceiling.

The sea!

A smile pulls at my lips before I can stop it.

I'm home.

I reach for my phone on the nightstand and squint when the screen lights up.

3:07 a.m.

Fuck.

Beside me, Chiara is completely passed out, one leg sticking out from under the sheet and her mouth slightly open.

Some things never change.

I roll onto my side and close my eyes. Another wave rolls onto the beach. Then another.

There's no fucking way I'm going back to sleep.

I carefully push the sheet away and climb out of bed, grabbing the oversized T-shirt I threw over the chair earlier and pulling it on over my shorts.

The tiles are cool beneath my bare feet as I cross the room. I open the balcony door slowly, trying not to wake Chiara, and warm night air immediately brushes against my face.

God.

I step outside.

Everything is different at night.

The red flowers along the terrace have turned almost black beneath the moonlight, and beyond them the sea stretches into darkness, silver wherever the moon touches it. I walk to the railing and look out, trying to find where the water ends and the sky begins.

I can't.

There are stars everywhere.