It was the last job that Luciana was scheduled to oversee at the Romano del Mare before needing to find something else. Thankfully, pools were notorious for taking much longer than people thought that they should, so she was still secure in her ongoing employment for at least another two months. After that, Paolo would join Gianpierre and the rest of Gianpierre’s personal crew in Dubai, and Luciana would have to line up some reliable work with someone else.
Have you heard from him? They were the words that sat on the tip of her tongue and she desperately wanted to ask them of Paolo. She herself had driven Gianpierre to the airport the day that he’d left for Dubai. He’d been sweet and she had stayed cheery and upbeat, but as soon as he’d left, she’d gone to her car and cried. Every day since then, she’d thought that she would hear from him. It was no matter that she’d told him not to call, emphatic that she did not want Natalia confused. He would be gone, and they would both have to accept it and move on—that’s what she’d told him—but she never in a million years thought that he would respect her wishes. She’d imagined that he’d call to tell her goodnight every night, that he would send a delivery boy with oranges for breakfast along with a bouquet of flowers, and that he would promise to be back as soon as he could. But he hadn’t done any of those things. None. In fact, she hadn’t heard from him at all… just as she’d asked. So, what right did she have to ask Paolo about him?
None.
Turning her back to the pool and the crew hired specifically to aid Paolo in its construction, Luciana made her way back toward the resort. She stepped carefully on the inlaid stones that made a winding path down the ground’s gentle slope, but the real reason she walked so slow was that her mind was elsewhere. She thought about all the decisions and choices that she’d had to make that had brought her to the moment she was in. She wondered if there was anything that she could have done differently that would have provided some protection to her heart, but she couldn’t think of a thing. She’d done it all the best she could. It hadn’t been her fault that she’d fallen in love with Gianpierre and that he hadn’t with her. If he didn’t love her, then he didn’t love her. On that, she had no control, just as she’d had no control over what had happened to her sister. With the passage of time, Luciana’s survivor’s guilt had eased, and now she looked forward to living with a desire to make every day the best that day could be.
“Signorina Vivaldi,” called a distant man’s voice. Luciana searched the path in front of her for its owner only to be surprised that it was Signore Barone himself.
Luciana hurried forward to meet him and they kissed on both cheeks in greeting. “Signore Barone, it’s wonderful to see you again, but what has brought you out this way?”
“Signorina,” he said with his hands on her arms and his brows pinched together. His eyes were, as always, kind and gentle. “I am so sorry. I had nothing to do with this, and I don’t know who lodged the complaint, but you must cease construction on the pool right away.”
“What?” Luciana couldn’t believe her ears, and it was with no shame that her mind went to herself first. If the pool’s construction was permanently stopped, she’d be out of a job in a matter of days instead of months. She’d done well to be able to cover all of the expenses that had come up so far, but she’d not had enough time to set aside any savings yet. Her and Natalia were still surviving paycheck to paycheck. Thankfully, Signora Esposito was still Natalia’s nanny and all funds covering her employment came from Gianpierre. He’d insisted and Luciana had been in no position to refuse. She had to put Natalia’s wellbeing before her own pride. So, at least letting the nanny go was not a conversation that Luciana was going to have to have.
“Signorina, I tried to stop the complaint’s impact, but I couldn’t.”
“Who made it?”
“I don’t know.” He pulled a letter out from the inside pocket of his stylish jacket and handed it over. “All I know is that all work must stop until a structural engineer has been brought in to oversee the process.”
Luciana’s mouth dropped open before she exclaimed, “Grantzky!”
“Who?”
“It’s Gianpierre’s main competitor. He’s trying to muscle in on Gianpierre’s turf now that he’s gone.” Gianpierre had been so mad when she’d tried to bring him in on the courtyard project. He hadn’t trusted the guy one ounce, and now she understood why. “That underhanded weasel.” With the stipulation that the pool’s construction could continue with the oversight of a structural engineer, Luciana knew that her job at least still had a chance of being able to continue—that was if Gianpierre would green light Grantzky coming on board, which of course he wouldn’t.
Dang it, she thought to herself. She was still out of a job!
The drive home was lonely without Gianpierre to keep her company. It was only a fifteen minute commute, but somehow the time that had flown by with Gian at her side felt futile and uncomfortable without him. Today the trip was made even longer because she’d stopped to pick up some of the supplies that Natalia had sworn she needed. There was glue, fuzzy sticks, molding clay, a rainbow variety of glitter, and five different colors of paint. Gian had left Natalia explicit instructions on how to finish the project without him, and to her credit, she was following them closely and slowly with an intense focus that she hadn’t realized the little girl was capable of.
With her arms loaded down, Luciana opted to take the elevator to the fourth floor rather than take the stairs. Then, a giggle reached her ears the second she stepped through the apartment door.
Luciana’s smile was instant. She hadn’t heart Natalia laugh like that since Gianpierre had left. That she was managing to find her happiness without him brought a thankfulness to Luciana’s heart that had her tiptoeing forward down the entryway so that she could spy on the little girl without interrupting her joy. She was no doubt working on the fairy castle that she and Gianpierre had started.
“Look! The drawbridge works backward.” A low voice chuckled, and Luciana froze in her tracks. Her heart forgot how to beat and it took her a second to remind herself to breathe. “It bends down into the water,” Gianpierre said, followed by another gale of high pitched laughter.
Luciana leaned forward so that she could peer around the corner to see them, and sure enough, there was Gianpierre, looking like he’d never left. She stepped into view but didn’t say anything. It took Gianpierre a moment to notice her, but once he did, his eyes went wide and the color in his cheeks deepened.
“I need to go talk to your Mama, Princess,” Gianpierre said as he leaned forward and kissed her hair. “I heard that she’s in need of a structural engineer.” He gave Luciana a wink.
Looking over her shoulder, Natalia gave Luciana a happy wave and a gleaming smile before refocusing all of her brain power on the task of making the fairy castle the best it could be.
Luciana put her bags down but she didn’t have a chance to utter an under-the-breath question before Gianpierre had her hand in his and was leading her up to the roof.
“What are you doing here? Did you stop the pool’s build? Was that you?” They were the first words out of Luciana’s mouth before the roof’s door even closed, but she didn’t have time for any others after that because she was in Gianpierre’s arms and his glorious mouth was on hers. Luciana murmured a small sound of complaint but then gave in, throwing her arms around his neck and arching her chest against his hard body. It didn’t just feel good to be enveloped by him again. It felt natural, easy… and good. Soooo good.
Finally, Gianpierre pulled far enough away that she was able to talk again, but she was thankful that he kept his arms wrapped
around her. She’d missed him so much.
“It was me. I had to do it. I’d forgotten something.”
Luciana’s joyful heart deflated, but she stayed as she was in his arms. Even if feeling this again—the strength and comfort of his steady, reassuring presence—was only hers for a moment, she wouldn’t throw that moment away. She’d enjoy it with all that she had in her before letting him go again. “What did you forget?”
“You.”
Luciana waited for the qualifier words to come, those words that would make his simple statement somehow less than the absolute answer that it was.