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"A... okay," I said, confused.
"We..." he trailed off as the food showed up, got spread out in front of us. "We need to talk about two separate, but entwined things."
"Alright," I said, not sure where he was going with this.
"I don't know where your head is at right now. I don't know if you are even thinking about things like this with everything else going on. But I haven't been able to think about much else."
"What have you been thinking about?" I asked, belly tightening, worried this was the kiss of death conversation, him telling me it was time to get back to California, back to my old life. And all the wining and dining was just to soften the blow.
"Us," he said, half-confirming my fears. "And the future. Namely, that I want one. With you."
Oh.
Well then.
I was an idiot.
"Really?" I asked, trying not to sound desperate, to sound needy.
"Really," he said, nodding for emphasis.
"Are you sure you've thought about this enough?" I pressed. "You want me. In a future kind of way."
"I want you," he confirmed. "In a hopefully forever kind of way."
"Even after seeing me turn into a bed troll? Because I can't guarantee that won't happen again. With the straight up hair and everything."
"If the bed troll wasn't completely devastated, she would actually have been cute. Straight up hair and all."
"You're sure?"
"I'm sure, Romy. I haven't been this sure about something in awhile. I know this comes with complications. Your job, your apartment, your life that is clear across the country."
"I was let go," I admitted. "The call came in the day before yesterday. I never called to tell them I needed more time. They let me go. And I am probably about three weeks away from being evicted," I added, realizing what a mess my old life had become while I had inadvertently been building a new one. Dare I say it? A better one.
"Sounds like everything is falling into place then. I can have some guys out there this week to pack you up and get your things here."
"You can't make your men move me."
"Sure I can," he told me smirking. "I can make them do a late-night tampon and chocolate bar run if necessary."
"Oh, can it be Lucky? I asked, brightening to the idea. "And can we throw in something extra embarrassing? Like a 'Complete Idiot's Guide to Sex' if such a thing exists."
"It sounds like you just figured out how Lucky is going to be spending his next birthday," Luca said, grinning.
"Can I ask you something?" I asked a few minutes later, after we finally started eating.
"Of course."
"Why did you look at your father like that before?"
"Like what?" he asked.
"Like you were confused by him? I don't know how else to explain it."
"I was a little," he confessed. "The day of the sit down with Lorenzo, my father took off for a while. I didn't realize it was the anniversary of my mother's death. My mother's murder," he clarified, ripping my heart out for him, for his brother, his father, for the woman whose life was cut too short. "I found him. And we had a talk."
"You talked about me," I assumed.
