The Playboy of Rome

She’d always prided herself on being able to contain her feelings behind a wall of indifference. And Dante wasn’t the first to criticize her skills. But he was the first whose opinion truly mattered to her on a deeply personal level. He was the first person she wanted to thoroughly impress.

The thought brought her up short. Since when had his thoughts and feelings come to mean so much to her? Was it the kiss? Had it changed everything? Or was it opening up to him in the car? Had their heart-to-heart made her vulnerable to him?

Panic clawed at her. She knew what happened when she let people too close and she opened up about her background. She’d been shunned most of her life. She couldn’t let Dante do that to her. She couldn’t stand the thought of him looking at her with pity while thinking that she was less than everyone else—after all, if her own parents couldn’t love her, how was anyone else supposed to?

Not that she wanted Dante to fall in love with her. Did she? No. That was the craziest idea to cross her mind in a long time—probably her craziest idea ever.

The walls started to close in on her. She needed space. Away from Dante. Away from his curious stare. “I need...need to make a phone call. I...I’ll clean this all up later.”

And with that, she raced for the door. She didn’t have to call Jules, but she did need the excuse to get away from him. It was as if he had some sort of magnetic field around him and it drew out her deepest feelings. She needed to stuff them back in the little box in her heart.

Being alone in a strange city in a country practically halfway around the world from her home made her choices quite limited. She thought of escaping back to the vineyard and visiting some more with Massimo. He was so easy to talk to. He was her friend. But he was also Dante’s grandfather. And the vineyard was Dante’s home.

Her shoulders slumped as she headed for the apartment. What she needed now was to talk to Jules. It would be good to hear a familiar voice. She made a beeline for her room and pulled out her phone. She knew the call would cost her a small fortune but this was an emergency.

She dialed the familiar number. The phone rang and rang. Just when she thought that it was going to switch to voice mail, she heard a familiar voice.

“Lizzie, is that you? What’s wrong?”

The concern in Jules’s voice had her rushing to reassure her. “I just wanted to check in.”

“But you said that we needed to watch how much we spend on the phone. You said we should only call when something was wrong. So what happened?”

“Nothing. I just wanted to hear your voice and make sure you are doing okay.”

There was a slight pause. “Lizzie, this is me. You can’t lie to me. Something is bothering you. So spill it.”

Calling Jules had been a mistake. She knew her far too well. And now Jules wasn’t going to let her off the hook. “It’s Dante. I think I just blew my chance to work with him.”

“Why? What did you do?”

“I...I overreacted. Instead of taking his feedback on my cooking like a professional, I acted like an oversensitive female.” Her thoughts drifted over the evening. “All I wanted to do was impress him and...and I failed.”

“Don’t worry about him. Just come home.”

“I can’t do that. Remember, I quit my job. And your tuition is due soon.”

“You don’t have to worry about that. I don’t have to go to grad school.”

“You do if you want to be a social worker and help other kids like us.” The remembrance of her promise to her foster sister put things in perspective. She couldn’t let her bruised ego get the best of her. She couldn’t walk away. “Just ignore what I said. I’m tired. Everything will work out.”

“But, Lizzie, if he’s making things impossible for you, what are you going to do?”

There was a knock at her bedroom door.

“Jules, I have to go. I’ll call you later.”

With a quick goodbye, she disconnected the call. She worried her bottom lip and waited. Maybe Dante would go away. She wasn’t ready to talk to him. Not yet.

Again the tap at the door. “I’m not going away until we talk.”

“I don’t have anything to say to you.”

“But I have plenty to say to you.”

That sparked her curiosity, but her bruised ego wasn’t ready to give in. She wanted to tell herself that his words and his opinions meant nothing. But that trip to the vineyard and that kiss in the morning sunshine had cast some sort of spell over her—over her heart.

“Lizzie, open the door.”