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Chapter Forty-Four
As he walked towards me, I was still in a state of shock. A wave of emotions were pulsing through my brain: surprise, elation, confusion, desire and, of course, anger.
He lookedgorgeous. Tired but just breathtaking. I felt my knees go weak.
He leant over to kiss me gently on the lips.
‘I sorry I am late,’ he said, taking my hands into his. ‘My flight was delayed by hours. I thought I would not make it, but I had to. I promised you I would be here, so I could not break it. You look beautiful, Sophia.’
I was so glad he was there, but also stunned that he’d only apologised for being late and not for disappearing fortwo monthswithout so much as a text message or phone call. I dropped my hands and placed them on my hips. The look of desire and happiness I had shown when I had first seen him had now gone. I was now scowling like a Rottweiler, wondering how he could be so insensitive.
‘I should not have come?’ he asked, realising that I was livid. ‘You are not happy to see me?’
Unbelievable!
I could feel various eyes burning straight through us, notably Charlie’s, but I had to find out what had happened.
‘Lorenzo,’ I said as calmly as I could manage, when really I wanted to scream at him. ‘We need to talk. Come with me.’
I led him out of the living room, down the end of the hall, into my aunt’s bedroom, through the patio doors and onto her balcony. The minute we stepped outside, he pulled me towards him and started kissing me.
Nooooo! I’m supposed to be angry at you, and I can’t if you kiss me…
Oh this man. He did it to meeverytime. How did he always make me feel sogooooood?
Stop it, Sophia.
‘Lorenzo, no, stop!’ I said, echoing Reasanna’s concerns and pushing him away. ‘You can’t just disappear without even bothering to call me, send me a message or anything fortwo fucking monthsand then just rock up to my birthday party and start kissing me like nothing happened. Why the fuck did you just up and leave me?’
‘But I don’t understand, Sophia. Why are you angry?’ he said, frowning deeply. ‘I wrote you long letter explaining why I had to leave. I told you that my ex-girlfriend tried to find out where I was and threatened to go after my mother and contact Taste Holidays, so I had to rush back to Italy.’ He was speaking rapidly, desperate to get the words out.
‘What?’ I asked, completely confused.
‘I explained that I was happy about the baby and, like you, I believed that it must be mine, but I still needed time to think and prepare. To be ready for the big responsibility.’ He stroked my stomach gently. ‘I said it may take time and I needed to focus, so if you did not hear from me for many weeks, you must not think I had forgotten you. That when I saw you I would explain properly, that I was just not strong enough to talk about it now, but that I love you and even if I took a long time to fix things back home, I promise I would be there at your party. I even left a new email address to contact me if it was urgent.’
‘You left me a new email address?’ I asked again with no idea what he was talking about.
‘Yes!’ he replied. I looked into his eyes. He didseemsincere. ‘The crazy woman tried to track my phone. That’s why I wrote a letter. When I called him from my friend’s phone in Italy, Gino told me he told you that I left a letter for you at the flat, and Jack told me he left the letter for you on the coffee table, and when he locked up the letter was gone, so I thought you read it and that you understood, no?’
‘I’ve told you, Lorenzo. I have no idea what letter you’re going on about!’ I scoffed, brushing off his hand as he tried to stroke my shoulder. ‘Gino told me you’d left something for me at the flat, but not a letter. All that was on the bed was my clothes and make-up bag.’
‘No, I told you!’ he said, exasperated. ‘Jack left the letter on the coffee table. I rushed to get my plane as I was worried about my mother and the woman. I locked up the flat, went outside, then I remembered the letter was in my pocket and not on the bed with your clothes. I ran back quickly and buzzed Jack. He came down, took the letter, which I told him was important, and the keys so I could go to the airport, and when I called, he told me he left it on the coffee table by the sofa.’
I paused and did a mental scan of what I remembered seeing in the flat.
Yes, I did remember there being a letter on the coffee table when I got there, but I didn’t think to look at it. I was in shock. And why would I think he would write me a letter? Who writes bloody letters these days? Especially if English isn’t even your first language? I got he had explained why he didn’t want to use his phone to me now, but otherwise I’d never have considered that in a million years.
When I thought about it, the coffee tablehadlooked emptier when I’d left. I knew something was different, but I couldn’t put my finger on it.
Hold on a moment.
When I had come out of the bathroom, Charlie had been pushing something into his pocket was acting suspiciously.
Bastard!
He must have seen the letter, read it and hidden it from me.
All this time! All this time, I’d been hurting, thinking that Lorenzo had just left me without even giving me an explanation. That I must have been wrong and he didn’t love me at all. And all along, Charlie had known the truth.
