Page 103 of When Love Gives You Lemons
I won’t let him ruin tonight.
Especially as the most stunning dishes I’ve ever seen are set in front of us. It’sTop Chefcome to life. Seared tuna with candied lemon that electrifies my taste buds, tomato gazpacho that simultaneously feels like being home during a snowy winter day with the brightness of running around Nonna’s yard in the summer sun, Gragnano linguine with clams in a roasted zucchini pesto with scorza di limone that reminds me of a dish Nonna made when I was young, a pasta called “fagotelli” stuffed with beef with sauteed onions and fresh-shaved black truffle (the name alone makes me, Matty, and Benny howl with laughter—and, unironically, Jenni Lee scowls, finding our enjoyment “offensive” and “hypocritical”), and fresh-caught branzino that takes me back to the first time I had seafood in Maine with Dad.
I devour everything with a fervor. My palate lights up in ways I can’t describe. I feel myself lift off the floor and soar into the space above our table.
Orgasmic. Wet dream material.
To share it with the people I love most in the world is what matters. That’s what food does, it brings people together, and the laughter and conversation around the table is vibrant and infectious. I want to prepare dishes the way these chefs do, to make peoplefeelwith food.
Ricky savors every bite too, and I wish more than anything I was next to him, asking him what flavors he tastes, testing his palate, talking about what dishes we liked best. That was alwaysmy favorite part:us, our ability to talk about anything.Possibility.
What happened to that? Were we ever a possibility?
Monroe and Tyler snuggle up close, and it makes me smile seeing their possibility—how nearly a week ago, they didn’t even know each other, and now they’re blossoming into something real and beautiful. I want to knowtheirstory.
After dessert—an apricot tart with white chocolate mousse and almond gelato—Topher gives me the go-ahead.
The plan—as Topher, Ricky, and I had mapped it out days ago—is simple: slip out of the rehearsal dinner after dessert, grab the bags Topher packed for their night on Capri, head to the docks, meet some man called Giovanni who will supposedly have a gozzo outfitted with fairy lights and white rose petals. I’m to make sure everything is in place before Topher arrives. Shortly after he gets there, Ricky will bring Sienna, and boom. They’ll head to Capri to the Gardens of Augustus, where Topher will surprise Sienna with a telescope he has set up staring directly at a star whose coordinates are perfectly visible from the gardens. The clincher—Topher named the star “Sienna” for her.
Standing up, I announce, “I’m going to the restroom!”
“Salud!” Nonna shouts back, raising a wineglass.
Probably not the stealthiest way to sneak out of La Sponda, but it works. I grab Topher’s bags from the car like a pack mule and make my way to the piers to meet his event planner, who gives me said bag of rose petals and puts me to work, stringing up lights and laying out blankets.
We move lightning fast because time is of the essence!
I barely have time to obsess think about the fact that as soon as this is done, I’m going to have to face Ricky and his decision, and I wonder:
Which one of us will he talk to first?
Me, or Cam?
Between moonlight and cobblestone streets, set against fairy light lanterns and glittering black water, will this be our final massacre, or the greatest love story ever told?
RICKY DELUCA
“The Point of No Return”
Deep breath in, I center myself.
No time for fear. Not anymore. This is a point of no return, and I intend to tackle this head-on. I’ve done enough damage to Fielder and Cam, and I won’t do more.
At the very least, I owe them both that.
When I step outside La Sponda, straighten the collar of my suit jacket, and see Cam underneath the lit restaurant sign in a delicate script hung on beautiful blush pink Italian tile that spills down to the ground, for the first time in a long time, the dense fog in my head clears.
“You knew where to meet me.” I hold out my hand to him, and together we walk to the railing overlooking Positano. The cascading town built into mountains littered with lights looks like a world from a fantasy movie.
“Did you know La Sponda translates to ‘The Shore’ in Italian. Didn’t takeThe DaVinci Codeto crack your message.” Camrecalls my message after the poem, mimicking my voice. “Meet me at the place they call The Shore overlooking the sea. Clever. And romantic.” He threads and rethreads his fingers with mine, and I look down at our hands and smile.
The shoreline, with rippling gold-tipped waves falling in soft whooshes against the sand, comes into view. In the distance, on one of the docks, a gozzo is outfitted with lights.
Two shadowy figures wait, the captain and Fielder Lemon.
I hold my breath as I make my way onto the dock.
“Uh, surprise?” Fielder says, confused. “Where’s Sienna? You were supposed to bring her. Did you forget your part of the plan? Topher is on his way literally right now; he’s going to freak out . . .” His mouth is going a million miles an hour like Monroe, and I can’t help but laugh because it’s adorable. “Why are you laughing? This isn’t funny, we had one job to do!” He starts pacing back and forth, and I have to stop him before he flings himself off the edge of the pier.
