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My shoulders slouched as I relaxed. Alessandro was being so understanding. We went to the kitchen to pick out some pastries and fruit, bagged them up, and took them with us.
“The plane has drinks and coffee on board, but nothing like these to eat on quick flights.”
I nodded with a grin that I could barely get off my face as he led me outside and into the waiting car. I was surprised to see that there was a driver waiting as well. Not Gino like before, but someone who appeared to be a professional driver.
Alessandro helped me into the car before joining me in the backseat.
Once we were on the road, Alessandro turned to me. “I wanted to talk to you about what we were going to tell your father.”
“Tell him about what?”
“About who I am. Where you’ve been. I’m sure he’ll have questions.”
“He’s not always as clear-headed as he was when you saw him. He has more bad days than good now.”
“But just in case. It’s not something I want to be caught unprepared for.”
“Okay, did you have something in mind?”
“I think you should tell him that I’m your boyfriend.”
One single burst of laughter escaped me, and Alessandro scowled.
“Oh, you’re serious?”
“What other plausible reason would you have to disappear for days at a time and bring a man to meet your father at the home?”
“Well, I was thinking that maybe you could just drop me off there—”
“No. Not after our last trip together. I’m not leaving your side.”
“So, you want to pretend to be my boyfriend?”
Alessandro nodded. “I think it's the best option as far as covers go.”
“If he’s having one of his good days, we will never fool him.”
“Sure, we will. We just need to practice being comfortable with each other and get our story straight.”
"Why does it matter who you are?"
"Because if he gets suspicious, then we’d have to figure out some way of keeping him isolated, so he didn’t slip up and tell someone, especially in his diminished state and I know you don’t want that."
"No."
"Then we need to make this convincing."
“Okay...” I looked at Alessandro skeptically. “But we don’t have much time.”
“That’s why we need to start now, and we’ll need all the practice we can get.” He scooted closer to me and draped an arm casually over my shoulder and I tensed, pulling away.
“What are you doing?”
“Practicing. If we are going to be believable, you need to get used to not flinching at my touch."
"I don't—" He ran his knuckle down my cheek and I flinched. "Okay, maybe I do. But how am I going to get over that in the next couple of hours?"
"Exposure therapy."
