Page 32 of The Road to You
“Damn right, I am,” I say. “But I brought you here for a reason. You know the tradition, don’t you?”
She gives me a skeptical look. “Throwing money into a fountain and making a wish?” She gestures around to the dozen people doing exactly that.
I gasp in mock horror. “Lena, please. It’s notjustthrowing money. You have to do it properly. Right hand over the left shoulder. Otherwise, it doesn’t count.”
Her lips twitch, fighting another smile. “Oh, well, I wouldn’t want to anger the wish gods,” she jokes, and I finally start to see the old Lena, the one who laughs, smiles, and is happy.
“Exactly. Now, come on.” I fish a coin out of my pocket and hand it to her before grabbing one for myself.
She holds it between her fingers, thoughtful. “So…what do I even wish for?”
She seems really concerned about messing this thing up, and I can’t hide a small smile.
“They say that if you throw one, you will be back in Rome. If you throw two, you will find love, and three, you will marry in Rome,” I explain.
She seems to think about it for a long moment, staring at the fountain like it can give her some answers. I find myself curious about what she’ll choose. Considering she’s just had her heart broken, maybe it wasn’t the best idea to come here, but she doesn’t seem too upset.
“I’m not ready for three, but coming back here would be fantastic, and two…” She lets out a sigh and looks at me with questioning eyes. “What should I choose? One or two?”
I don’t have an answer for that because I don’t have one for myself either. I always thought that finding love was more or less an obligation. If you’re thirty and never married, a lot of people start wondering what’s wrong with you. But now, beside this beautiful woman, I wonder if I’ve been missing something. I grab other coins from my pocket and open my hand in front of her.
“That’s for you to figure out. But make it a good one. Once you throw it, there’s no taking it back.”
She grabs another coin from my hand, closes her eyes, and for a second, I just watch her. The way her brows furrow in concentration, the way her lips part slightly as if she’s whispering her wish in her mind. There’s something about Lena that makes it impossible to look away.
I force myself to turn toward the fountain, gripping my own coin. What do I wish for? One or two coins? I’ve never forced a relationship. I never needed to be in one to be satisfied, but love is entirely another story. I’ve never been in love with a woman. I cared about my exes, sure, but never to the point of thinking of spending the rest of my life with them. Maybe it’s time to toss the two coins and make a wish while I’m here. You don’t toss it for that reason, but you never know.
For the past year, my life has been a mess. The injury. The uncertainty. The constant question of what comes next. I take a slow breath and toss the two coins.Let everything resolve. Let me finally find a solution for my life and my future…and maybe also love.
I look back at Lena just as she flicks her coins into the fountain. She opens her eyes, catching me watching her, and for a second, we just stand there, the sounds of the crowd around us fading into the background.
I want to kiss her.
The realization hits me with the force of a freight train. It’s not just because she’s beautiful or because she’s standing here in front of one of the most romantic places in the world. It’s everything. The way she teases me like we’ve known each other forever. The way she doesn’t take my crap. The way she can be sharp one moment and soft the next.
I shove my hands into my pockets, forcing myself to focus.Walk, Michele, before you do something stupid.
We start walking again, making our way towardPiazza di Spagna, the Spanish Steps rising before us in all their historicglory. Lena sighs, pleased, and I swear I can feel the tension from that phone call slowly fading from her.
After a few minutes of comfortable silence, she tilts her head toward me. “You’re quiet. What’s on your mind?”
I glance at her, then ahead again. There’s no point in lying. It’s what I’m thinking more and more these days, and I don’t see the point of hiding it from her. We already kissed once; she knows how I feel about that.
“I want to kiss you,” I admit with a certainty and a calm that surprises even me.
She stumbles slightly mid-step and whips her head toward me. “Excuse me?”
She seems surprised, like she is not sure she heard it right. While we never talked about that kiss, it doesn’t mean that I’ve forgotten it. It was the most amazing kiss of my life. It’s impossible to forget something that turned my chest upside down.
I chuckle. “You asked. I answered.”
Her lips part like she’s trying to figure out if I’m joking or not. “And you just…say things like that out loud?”
I shrug. “Why not? It’s the truth. You should be used to the fact that I don’t tiptoe around things.”
She studies me for a long moment, maybe trying to figure out if I’ve gone mad or if I’m just joking, but there is no doubt in what I want to do with her. I have craved that kiss since I tasted her for the first time, and this desire is not going away anytime soon. And I’m almost certain she feels the same way. You can’t not notice the tension between us.
She lets out a breath, shaking her head. “And when exactly were you planning to act on this grand revelation?”
