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“Looking forward to it, Cohen.” Then he curves around me and brushes my shoulder with his, leaving me reeling.
As the week goes on, I start to settle into daily life here in Rome. I enjoy having time to myself in the mornings while the kids are in Latin class, I eat most meals in the dining hall, and excursions around town in the afternoon are always interesting. On my own Wednesday morning, I find a delightful little bookstore with an orange tabby cat curled up and sleeping in the window. After browsing the aisles for a bit, I unload my precarious stack of books onto the counter and notice the display of jigsaw puzzles nearby, each one a different Roman site. On a whim, I grab one showcasing the Colosseum, and once I’m back at the school, I set it up on a big round table in the common room between the kids’ hallway and ours. I expect to have to do the whole thing myself, but eventually I tempt a few Lindale kids to join me Wednesday evening.
“But what’s the point?” Millie asks. “Why’s this fun? What’s the incentive?”
“Like is this supposed to be ironic or something?” Kylie asks.
“Just sit there and start puzzling. You’ll see.”
And they do. Before long, I have three of them working on it with me.
Thursday morning, when I return to the puzzle to work on it for a few minutes while the kids are in Latin, I find a huge swath of blue sky pieced together. When Noah strolls by the table a bit later on his way to his room, I swear he’s wearing a proud little smirk.
Lorenzo finds me there near lunch time on Thursday morning. He was going to meet friends, he tells me, but he cancels on them and decides to stay and hang out with me. It’s a sweet gesture and I enjoy his company. It’s easy to sit with him. He’s an open book, talkative and happy. He tells me about his friends, all the trouble they got into when they were younger. We talk more about his family and I tell him about mine. He can’t wrap his head around how it’s only the three of us—my dad, my mom, and me.
“I have so many uncles and aunts I don’t know what to do with them all. You should see all of my cousins together on holidays. We barely fit into the house.”
I smile. “Sounds like a lot of fun.”
He nods and leans back. He’s not doing the puzzle. His feet are propped up on the table. His fingers are laced behind his head.
“So…when are you going to let me take you out again?” he asks, not the least bit nervous in his delivery.
I, of course, know the answer already. He’ll take me out again on Saturday, when we all go on a double date. I just…haven’t mentioned it to him yet.
I know Noah’s already asked Gabriella about it because I watched him do it yesterday during our group excursion in the afternoon. We were all spread out on the lawn in one of Rome’s public gardens. The kids were sprawled out on picnic blankets under trees, reading or drawing or talking or kicking around a soccer ball. I was people-watching mostly, basking in the whisper of a breeze that came every now and then. Lorenzo found me and presented me with a rosebud that had fallen off of a bush and was wilting on the ground. He said, “A rose for my rose,” or something equally cheesy. I felt strange accepting it, like I needed to tell him right then and there that we should pump the brakes.
Noah saw the exchange. He was only one blanket away, leaning back on his elbows, talking to Ashley and Gabriella. I felt his eyes on me as I smiled and thanked Lorenzo. A moment later, Lorenzo drifted off to check in on everyone and make sure they were enjoying themselves.
After he’d gone, that’s when Noah told Gabriella about the double date—just flat-out asked her about it in front of Ashley and me. I thought it was a little presumptuous of him to ask her on a second date before they’d even gone on their first one. If she felt the same, she didn’t show it. Her face lit up, in fact.
“That sounds really fun! Ashley, you don’t mind staying back, do you? I promise I’ll repay you!”
So here I am, in a position I should be incredibly happy with. Lorenzo is exactly the type of guy I want to be pursued by, and he’s making his intentions known. I really have no choice but to proceed forward.
When I tell him about the double date idea, he looks incredulous to say the least.
“Noah agreed to that?” He laughs.
“Yeah, I mean…I know you two have had kind of a weird start, but that’s mostly my fault. I think he’s projecting his hatred for me onto you.”
