Page 99 of Fallen Hearts

“Yeah.” He spoke slower and enunciated more clearly. “I know.”

I glared at him.

“Come on, Mace. Tell me you aren’t the only one who hasn’t figured that out yet?”

Cole looked back and forth between us, a disgusted look on his face, as if falling in love were one of the worst crimes a person could commit.

“Is she coming to O’Malley’s again?” Parker asked.

I put my phone away. “I don’t know,” I admitted. The urge to text her was strong, but so was escaping to the city with Cole and resuming my career where I’d left off. I had a good life in Manhattan. Had never wanted to run the inn. Or live in Cedar Falls.

Or fall in love.

But I wasn’t a complete idiot either. The guys were right, even if I’d chew off a finger before admitting it, especially to Cole.

I was in love with Pia Russo.

Fuck.

34

PIA

This was nuts.

Finally, after an agonizing night of staring at my phone, knowing Mason wasn’t going to text since I said I’d reach out to him, I got out of bed. Took a shower. Ate a banana. Picked up my phone, looked at it, started to text Mason and put it down.

Delaney thought I should march right down to the inn and simply talk to him. We’d gone out last night with Jules, who I liked a lot, and both women agreed it was being in limbo about our relationship that was driving me bonkers. They also thought avoiding Mason was probably not going to solve the problem.

But they didn’t know him like I did. If Mason had answers, he’d have given them to me. He honestly had no idea if he wanted to be a cop or an innkeeper. If he wanted to live in the big city or small-town Cedar Falls. One thing he did know for certain? He wasn’t ready for a serious relationship. So unless I was okay with status quo, or occasional hookups if he did go back, there was nothing much left to do except distance myself.

I’d been down heartbreak road already. It was a tangled, wild mess of a path that I was veering closer toward every day. Did we need to have a conversation? An official breakup? A “you were right, this was a bad idea from the start, let’s go back to being boss/employee” talk? I supposed, yes, and that was what I was avoiding.

I did everything you’re supposed to do when distracting yourself. Cleaned my apartment. Went for a long walk. Spent some time in nature, by the lake. But it all felt so hollow, visions of Mason and me together interfering every step of the way.

Still no text from Mason. As expected.

By the time I realized I’d skipped lunch, my stomach rumbled. I’d grab a hoagie at the deli, a bottle or two of wine from Emilio and go back to my apartment to watch movies about people falling in love. I might be a glutton for punishment, but romantic comedies always seemed to be the ultimate distractor for me.

Opening the door to the wine shop, I was immediately greeted with a smile. Usually Emilio’s cheerful “Buongiorno” would be enough to make me smile back. Instead, I was just reminded of my family, the home I’d left, the failed promotion, Mason’s rejection…

I tried to smile back, truly. But it must not have worked. Emilio came around from the counter and grabbed my shoulders as if he were my great-uncle, concern etched in every feature of his face.

“Signora, where is your smile?”

I tried again. “Here?”

“No, no. That is not a smile.” He looked toward the door. “No boss today?”

That did it. Embarrassingly, tears formed in my eyes. I immediately wiped them away and then laughed, remembering the first time Delaney and I met. Emilio was not much more than a stranger to me, and here I was about to burst into tears because of a guy.

Shameful.

“La mia povera ragazza,” he said.

I had no idea what that meant.

“Tell me.” He guided me toward the register and went back to his seat. Thankfully there were no other customers at the moment. “Go on.”

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