Page 161 of All at Once

“Yeah, sure.”

We park close to the ice cream place and walk just a few blocks to the boutique. “It’s right there. Have you been here?” I ask as we approach the door.

“To La Luna?” Luca says. “Yeah. Sofia actually told me to get the beads for the friendship bracelets from here. Before that, I hadn’t been here in a while.”

“I was wondering why the butterfly shaped ones looked a little familiar,” I say.

He grins at the reminder. “They have some pretty neat things.”

“Right? Everything is so beautiful.” I revel at all the nostalgic pieces, while sharing, “This place just took me back to my childhood. Do you remember those book fairs from when we were kids? The ones with all the stationary items, picture books, and novels?”

Luca’s smile resembles that of mine when I first stepped foot in this store. “I completely forgot about those.”

“This place instantly reminded me of them.”

He glances around the store. “Yeah, I can see that.”

As I scan the shelves, I ask, “Did you like those book fairs too?”

“I did. I’m guessing not as much asyouthough,” Luca says with an endearing curve to his lips as my attention turns toward the cookbooks.

“Oh I was genuinely obsessed with them,” I confess.

He chuckles. “I bet you loved buying all the dumb shit,” he guesses, alluding to things like the book marks that I’vestillkept to this day.

“Of course I did,” I confirm. “What were you doing at a book fair at age 7? PurchasingShakespeare?”

“Not until I turned 8,” he deadpans.

I laugh, now recalling an item that I purchased from one. “There was this mermaid cookbook that I got from a fair. I don’t remember much about it other than there being a cupcake recipe that had seafoam green frosting, and I made those for an entire summer.”

“Amermaidcookbook?” Luca snorts. “Now that explains why the frosting turned out so good that night.”

My mouth drops open at his remark from the cakes we made for the wedding. “I thought you said it tasted amazing.”

“It did.” He looks at me and licks his lips slowly. “It tasted unlikeanythingI’ve had before.”

“Are we still talking about the frosting?” I swallow the sudden lump in my throat, while almost dropping the book that’s currently in my hands.

He doesn’t reply right away. Instead he looks at the items in front of us before placing his lips an inch away from my ear, making sure I hear the vibration of his words as he whispers almost inaudibly, “No.”

Leaving me flustered in the middle of the aisle, he roams coyly throughout the rest of the store. “Were you just as clumsy back then?”

Trying my best to pretend like that didn’t just alter my brain chemistry, I reply, “Oh no, I’ve definitely improved in that regard.”

“Improved?That’s terrifying.” He laughs from across the aisle.

Before I can even roll my eyes, I notice the same older woman is sitting behind the register again. “The owner here is super sweet,” I tell Luca.

He smiles when he sees her as well before turning toward me. “Yeah everyone loves her. She used to be a teacher before she opened the shop actually. She was also my mom’s teacher for a few years as well.”

“Woah, really? That’s so cool. So she knows you then?” I ask, while smiling at the thought that the woman who gave me dating advice somehow had a connection to Luca.

“Not personally,” he says. “But yeah, I’ve come here enough where we remember each other when I stop by.”

When she waves at us, we both walk toward the register as Luca and her start speaking in Spanish.

I’m reminded of the time where Luca was greeting his friends at the club a few weeks ago and how confident he looked around everyone. I thought it was just the environment, since we were at a club, but I’ve quickly learned that his charm is beguiling enough to work on any age and at any setting.

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