He thought of the way he’d lashed out at her that last day. The look of sheer hurt on her face when his dagger-like words had found their intended targets. What he’d done that day only proved his point: he was unworthy of the love someone like Maya had to give. And incapable of providing all that she deserved.
He slammed his paper down on the table in disgust. This whole conversation was so terribly pointless. “What difference does it make in any case? She’s gone. She’ll be in Florence by now, then off to the rest of her adventures through Europe.”
Leo frowned. “Florence is less than a day’s travel.” Then he glanced at his watch. “And it’s still fairly early.”
Vito slowly shook his head. “No. I’m afraid it’s too late, Leo. I said some things I can’t take back. I doubt very much that she’ll forgive me for them.” Vito cringed when he thought again of how he’d hurt her in order to ultimately spare her.
“Don’t decide that for her, cousin,” Leo said. “And it’s never too late.”
* * *
“I’m afraid you’re too late, sir. You’ve just missed Signorina Talbot.”
Vito cursed out loud so viciously, the poor young woman at the Grand Hotel Firenze took a startled step back.
He muttered a clipped apology before turning away. Maya was gone. This time for good. She must have altered her plans and left Florence several days early.
Before she returned to Boston, Vito had no way of locating where she was.
He had no choice but to turn around and go back to Venice. Alone.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
HER AUNT WAS waiting for her at the luggage turnstile at Logan International Airport when Maya deplaned after leaving Florence half a day earlier. A wealth of emotion immediately had tears pooling in Maya’s eyes when she saw her. Maya swiped at them before they could fall. She had to resist the urge to run into the older woman’s arms and make a spectacle of herself in front of all her fellow travelers.
“Aunt Talley, what are you doing here? I had a car service arranged.”
Her aunt gave her a warm smile. “I canceled it, dear. You know you could have asked any one of us to drive you home. Why did you arrange for a car and driver?”
“I didn’t want to be a burden.”
Her aunt took her by the elbow and walked her to some of the more isolated seats in the arrivals area. “Maybe it’s time we had a little talk about that.”
“About what?”
“This notion you have that you might be a burden in any way, shape or form to any of us.”
Uh-oh. Maya could guess where this was coming from. In her anguish and sorrow when she’d spoken with her cousins over the phone from Florence, she’d overshared all that Vito had said to her. Clearly, word of it all had gotten to her aunt.
As annoyed as she was at her cousins for spilling the proverbial beans, Maya had to concede they’d only had her best interests at heart. She must have sounded like a mess during that call for Zelda and Lexie to have called in the big heavy. As much as Maya loved and respected her uncle, Aunt Talley was the true guiding force behind the Talbot family.
“I was just upset the other day, Aunt Talley,” Maya began as they sat down. “I shouldn’t have said all that to Zelda and Lexie. I wish they hadn’t burdened you with any of it.”
Her aunt sighed. “There you go again. Using that word.”
“Oops.”
“But is it true?”
Maya started to deny it. But Vito’s harsh words echoed in her head. How could she deny that she’d taken up an area of study that she otherwise might not have if her uncle hadn’t needed help with his business? Or that she might have pursued a different career with a bigger company after graduation considering how heavily she’d been recruited? Or even whether she would have started dating Matt if her uncle hadn’t been so fond of him?
The truth was, she didn’t really know anymore how to answer her aunt’s question. In so many ways that she hadn’t even acknowledged to herself, she supposed she had considered herself something of an unwanted burden upon the family that had taken her in. Subconsciously, she’d been trying most of her life to make sure they never felt that way about her.