Page 63 of Chasing You

I stab my fork into my meal, her words cutting straight to my insecurities. “Wow, thanks for that reminder, Ma.”

“I’m just saying, don’t you want to start a family soon? You do need a husband to do that.”

I just shake my head. Of course I want a family, she knows that. And watching everyone around me settle down does nothing but fill me with envy, with sadness that I haven’t found my person yet. Or that maybe I did, but he ruined our chances together.

“Vanessa,” Pa interrupts. “She’s twenty-six, not forty-five. Ease up.” I see Ma’s body tense up, just as mine relaxes. Pa grabs my hand that’s resting on the top of the table. “What is meant for you will find you,bambina. You don’t need to force anything, you don’t need to rush just because you can see others moving faster than you.”

My eyes well with tears. My pa has always had the ability to read my mind. Even when I was a teenager going through petty school dramas, he somehow always knew what I was thinking, and always knew the right thing to say.

“Life moves at different speeds for everyone. This lasagnatakes nearly an hour in the oven. Your Ma’s panna cotta, six hours at minimum in the fridge. Everything has its own time, and so do you.”

I just nod, giving his hand a squeeze, knowing if I try to speak, I’ll choke on my unshed tears. It’s everything I’ve needed to hear, and I didn’t even have to say a word.

I clear my throat after a long moment of silence across the table. “You guys have your anniversary coming up, right?”

Ma’s eyes brighten once more, any awkward feelings long gone. “In a few weeks, it will be forty years together.” They share a look that makes me smile, they share the purest form of love I’ve ever seen.

They set me up for failure really, giving me an example of a healthy relationship ever since I was young. Maybe that’s why I’ve always been so damn picky.

“Maybe you could help us organize something, we want to have a party,” she says.

“Hell yeah, let’s have a party!” I say, laughing, before I hear my phone ringing from where I left it discarded on the couch. My phone barely ever rings, so it makes me pause.

“Give me one second and we can start the party planning,” I say, excusing myself from the table and reaching for my phone. Isla’s name lights up the screen, and I frown before answering.

“Hey, what’s up?”

“It, uh…” Isla’s voice is shaky immediately, and my heart begins to pound in my chest without a second to waste. “Miles, um, he, uh…” I can hear frantic voices in the background, Caio’s voice standing out as he speaks sharply, but I can’t understand what he’s saying. Isla lets out a shaky breath and I can feel my body reacting, like alerts are blaring in my system. Something’s wrong. “Isla, what happened?”

“It’s Miles, he’s hurt.”

chapter twenty-seven

MARINA

PAST

I pacebehind the bar as I wait. The same way I’ve been waiting for the last three weeks.

I pull my phone out of my back pocket and check the notifications.

Nothing.

I huff a sigh, putting it back and walking down the other end of the bar once more.

I pour a refill for one of our regulars, having a conversation I can’t even recall before I’m pulling my phone out again.

“Oh my god, just call him already.” Rosalie’s voice comes from behind me.

“I have,” I sigh. “An embarrassing amount of times.” Twenty-two to be exact. Twenty-two calls in seventeen days might sound borderline psychotic, but when you’re used to more than twenty-two texts in a day, it seems a bit more reasonable. Especially because I haven’t heard from Miles once since he left.

The panic set in after day four with no word, so my anxiety is throughthe roof by now.

“He’s obsessed with you. He wouldn’t just leave and not say goodbye, maybe something has happened?”

“Don’t even put that out into the universe, Rosie!”

She holds her hands up. “Oh my god, okay, I’m sorry, it just doesn’t make sense.”

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