Say Yes (Nostalgic Summer Romance)

“I miss them,” he whispered, his nostrils flaring with the admission. “My mom, and my grandma. I want to make amends with them, and with Julie.” Just saying her name brought him an immense amount of pain. I could see it in the way his eyes closed, his shoulders slouching like he’d been socked in the gut. “I want them back in my life, but it feels impossible now.”

“It’s not,” I assured him, reaching over to rest my hand on his arm. “It’s never too late.”

“You don’t know what I did to them,” he said, shaking his head. “How I left them when they needed me the most, how I walked out on them when all they needed was someone to stay and assure them it would all be okay. They lost men who meant the world to them, and then they looked to me to take over, to handle it, to protect them and care for them, and instead, I… left.”

He said the word like he couldn’t believe it, like he was telling a far-fetched fairytale instead of the story of his life.

“It’s never too late,” I said again, waiting until he looked at me again. “You can call them, or email them. Explain. They will understand.”

“How could they? I don’t even understand,” he said. “It’s been five years of all of us trying to heal. If I show back up, I’ll rip their wounds back open. And my own, too.” Liam shook his head. “I can’t do that to them. To me.”

“What if instead of making them bleed more, you showing back up is the last stitch they need to truly heal?”

Liam looked back at the water.

“It’s not my decision, and I could never pretend to know what you feel, because I’ve never been through what you have,” I said, sliding my hand down his arm until I could lace my fingers over his. “But I can say that my life is better with you in it,” I whispered. “Which leads me to believe they would be happier to have you back than to live on without you.”

Liam rolled his lips together, his gaze focused ahead.

“I’m here,” I added, squeezing his hand. “You’re not alone.”

That made him close his eyes on a deep exhale, and on the next breath, he swept me into a crushing hug, his arms wrapped so much around me, it felt as though we were one in the same.

I held him back in earnest, resting my head on his shoulder and squeezing him tight.

“Pardon me,” a little voice said, breaking our embrace. We both turned to find a bashful Paolo with his hands behind his back. “Lunch is ready.”

“Thanks for letting us know, little man,” Liam said, reluctantly releasing me.

“I’m not little,” he defended with a frown, puffing his chest. “I’m big man.”

Liam smirked, standing before helping me do the same. “You are, aren’t you? Have you ever arm wrestled before?”

Paolo wrinkled his nose.

“Like this,” Liam said, demonstrating with my arm and his.

Paolo shook his head.

“Ah, well, after lunch, you and I will arm wrestle. See how strong you are.”

That lit up his face with excitement, and he ran ahead of us screaming to his parents in Italian what I could only imagine was something a mother didn’t want to hear about her child wrestling a stranger.

Still, the table was alive with laughter when we took our chairs at the end just in time for Antonella to pass us the salad. She winked at me, and then continued on with the story of how she and Elio met.

I passed the salad to Liam next, and as soon as it was gone, I felt his hand slide over my knee under the table with a soft squeeze.

When I turned to look at him, his eyes were laced with an unreadable expression, something between pain and sorrow, and yet somehow outlined in unmistakable wonder.

“Thank you,” he mouthed.

And I smiled, and squeezed his hand in return, and admitted to myself for the first time that I was in way deeper than I could swim.

The next day, we took full advantage of the first pool we’d been to in Italy.

We were sprawled out in deck chairs by nine in the morning, having had a traditional Tuscan farmer’s breakfast with Elio and Antonella, along with some fresh-squeezed orange juice. It was just me and Liam by the pool at first, and we would take a refreshing dip, only to lay out in the sun, neither of us feeling like we needed to fill the quiet space between us. It was another glorious day, blue skies and puffy white pillow clouds.

Around ten, Paolo came thrashing out of the house and across the yard toward the pool with an inflated blue tube around his waist. I was hanging on the edge of the pool, and he jumped over my head and splashed down between me and Liam, spraying both of us.