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“Thanks.” They left the restaurant together. She stopped on the curb to say goodbye, but Sam gestured toward her apartment. “My car is parked your direction, on the next block.”
They walked together. Gianna stopped when she spotted his car, surprised she hadn’t noticed it on her way to Sal’s.
“I’ll walk you the whole way,” he said.
“It’s just a block, Sam. You don’t have to do that.”
“I know, but I’m going to anyway.”
She knew what this was. Felt it as strongly as he did.
This was it. The end.
They stopped outside her apartment building, and she turned to face him. “So…” she started.
He gave her a smile. “You know I’m always going to love you.”
She blinked a few times, determined that she wasn’t going to cry as she looked at his sad, beloved face. Sam had been her first love. They’d been children when they met, and they’d grown into adulthood together.
“I know.” Perhaps if more time had gone by, she could have offered him those same words back, but the wounds, though healing, were still too fresh. “Goodbye, Sam.”
“Goodbye, Gianna.” He opened his arms, but he didn’t reach for her. He let the decision be hers.
She stepped forward, accepting the hug, happy for this closure, even as her thoughts turned to Elio…and how much better his hugs were.
Then she pulled away, gave him a small wave, and walked inside.
* * *
Elio sat in his truck, watching Gianna and Sam embrace. He’d driven to Philly right after practice this afternoon, anxious to see her and share his news.
Yesterday, he’d signed the paperwork on an investment, one that he’d thought was the perfect plan for his future.
Today, he’d told management that this was his last year. He was hanging up his skates.
Plus…it was his birthday.
Elio had picked up the phone to call her, to share all of it, then decided a trifecta like that was worth a two-hour drive. He’d wanted to see her, talk to her. He was tired of the distance between them. In just a few short months, he would be home for good and he’d hoped…
Elio sighed. Well, he had hoped the two of them could pick up things right where they’d left them in the cabin.
Now…
It was clear Gianna and Sam had been on a date. And while the man hadn’t kissed her good night, Elio could tell he’d wanted to.
In his mind, Sam had made an unforgivable mistake, but everyone’s threshold for forgiveness was different. Eleven years was a long time to date someone. Elio had told Gianna that very thing one morning as they’d talked about her life plans.
She’d shared nearly half her life with Sam. That was a lot of history, a fuck-ton of memories.
All he’d had with her was five days in a cabin. In comparison, it was nothing. Though God knew, to him, it felt like everything.
He’d been a fool to drive here, to think…to think she’d be waiting for him, pining for him. He’d promised her nothing, told her nothing about his feelings.
Meanwhile, Sam had been standing there, right in front of her, wearing his heart on his sleeve. Elio was all the way across the street and even he could see that.
So he couldn’t be angry or hurt that Gianna was back with her ex because at least the jackass had figured out what he’d lost and somehow found a way to make it right.
Elio rested his forehead against the steering wheel and closed his eyes, overwhelmed with a pain he’d never experienced.
