Say Yes (Nostalgic Summer Romance)

She chuckled. “No, but the wine my husband has lined up for you to taste might.”

“No complaints here,” Liam said.

Antonella wiped her hands on her apron, letting Liam take over completely. “This is my grandmother’s recipe,” she said with a distant smile. “I remember standing on a box to reach the kitchen counter and help her. I would have cocoa dust all over my cheeks,” she said, touching her cheeks with a reminiscent look in her eyes. “She always said there was nothing tiramisu and red wine couldn’t fix, and I’ve found that to be very true throughout my life.”

Liam and I shared a smile.

“She was a good woman,” Antonella added with sigh. “What about you, Liam? Does your grandmother have a special dish?”

Liam’s hand froze where he was dipping a ladyfinger in the espresso, but just for a split second, so quick that Antonella might not have noticed at all.

“Crab cakes,” he said, clearing his throat when the words came out soft and quiet. “She makes the best crab cakes.”

“Crab cake,” Antonella repeated, testing the words on her tongue. “Is that a dessert?”

He smiled. “No, it’s more of an appetizer, or it can be your whole dinner, depending on your taste for it. They’re little patties of crab meat and breadcrumbs and different seasonings, and you dip them in a sauce — grandma always does hers with her famous remoulade.” He laughed a little under his breath. “We’d have them every Christmas Eve, but otherwise only in the summer. When I was little, I used to say Grandma brought summer as her gift to Jesus.”

I smiled. “That’s really sweet.”

“Sounds deliziosa, too,” Antonella added.

“It is,” Liam said with a frown, his hands stilling again. “I haven’t had it in so long… I don’t remember what the remoulade tastes like anymore. I used to just think of it and I… I could taste it,” he explained, his fingers and thumb coming together like he had it on a spoon in his hands. He frowned even more. “I can’t taste it anymore.”

My chest squeezed, Antonella giving me a curious glance before she tried a smile and rested her hand on Liam’s wrist. “Memory is… how do you say…” She looked up at the ceiling for a moment before saying, “tricky.” She shrugged. “That is why we must soak up every moment while we have it.”

Liam nodded, a thick swallow bobbing his Adam’s apple as he wiped his hands on a dish towel. “Excuse me.”

He left without another look in either of our directions, disappearing out the open door onto the porch before he was rounding the house and out of view altogether.

I frowned, finishing laying the last of the dough over the blueberry dessert. It looked a little like the apple pies my mom used to make for Thanksgiving.

“I can finish here,” Antonella said to me, taking over where Liam had left off on the tiramisu. “We have some time before lunch will be served.” She nodded toward the door Liam had disappeared through with a soft smile, encouraging me to go after him.

“Thank you,” I said, and after a quick rinse of my hands, I jogged out the door and around the house.

I found Liam sitting on the edge of the pool, the deep blue water rippling in the breeze as he looked out over the Tuscan landscape. The sun was high overhead, making him squint when he wasn’t looking down at the water, and he’d kicked off his shoes, his bare feet idly swinging back and forth in the water.

I’d never seen a pool with a better view.

I was silent as I slipped off my sandals and lowered down next to him, dipping my toes into the chilly water. I rested back on my palms, taking in the expansive view of green and gold foliage that covered the hills around us.

The conversation and intermittent laughter floated on the breeze from the house out to where we sat, but neither of us said a word for a long while. We just sat there, side by side, kicking our feet in the water.

“For the last five years, I’ve felt like everything I’ve been running from has been coming right up on my heels behind me,” Liam said when the sun disappeared behind a fluffy white cloud. “It was just one or two things at first, but then more piled up, one on top of another until it all blended together like a giant snowball chasing me downhill.” He swallowed, shaking his head with his eyes still fixed on the hills. “I think it’s caught up to me now. I think… I think I’m being crushed.”

He looked at me, and I hadn’t noticed his bloodshot eyes until they were fixed right on me. Had he slept last night? Was he as restless as I was?