Page 51 of Miles Apart
What if Miles comes to California?
What if we develop feelings that reach beyond sex?
What if I don’t want him to leave?
My eyes drift to the waves outside the window that recede before crashing into hard rock. A steady pressure building until it demands release.
Miles and I could establish terms and conditions to keep our emotions at bay. Neither one of us would leave unscathed once it came to an end.
“This conversation is taking too long. Your father and I have a play to attend,” my mother huffs. “No need to hide him, Emma. Your father confirmed Miles starts with Carrillo tomorrow. He’s far from an ideal match but will have to do…for now.”
My mother ends the call with annoyance as her only parting gift. It remains unclear what wedged us apart and put this much tension between us, but I stopped trying to solve that mystery decades ago.
I allow myself to float back to Italy, and an idea forms.
Chapter 24
Miles
“Took you long enough.”
Lorenzo snatches the champagne out of my hand and scurries off to the kitchen. It’s a row of white cabinets and a light granite countertop that he manages to keep clean between the mixing bowls and scattered groceries. He’s serious about many things, and cooking is one of them. I’d clown him about the waist apron over his khaki pants, but not at the expense of dinner.
“You act like I was gone all day. Chill.” I peek at the fish he’s frying on the stove. “Why’d you need champagne so bad, anyway?”
He shrugs and puts a golden-brown piece on the wire rack. “Just goes with the shit. I like it with mychilaquilesin the morning, so you saved me a trip.” He dips another piece of fish into the batter bowl, shakes off the excess to dip into a bowl with flour, and drops it into the oil. “Isabel loved that champagne. It stuck.”
Lorenzo doesn’t talk about his late wife often, but he doesn’t have to. He keeps Isabel’s memory alive by cooking the foods sheloved in the house he bought after he lost her to breast cancer. What little money he had at the time went to her treatments, but he promised her the gated bungalow she saw on the bus route to her job.
They met at sixteen and got married at twenty. By the time he was thirty-three, he started teaching at college, and she was gone. We met at Bodie a year later and haven’t stopped annoying the shit out of each other ever since.
“You should be thankful. There was only one left in that bougie-ass store. Guess you aren’t the only one who likes that brand.” I sit at the wooden dining room table.
I got to LA a couple hours ago and am already running errands. But Zo is letting me crash here, so I can’t complain.
We rarely see each other living on different coasts. When Zo is in DC, he’s knee-deep in public official duties. Not that I’m around. Work keeps my suitcase on the ready at all times.
Once the fish is done, we grab trays loaded with tacos, rice, and refried beans to take outside. Zo doubles back for a flannel and the drinks. The backyard is a small, covered deck next to an even smaller yard. Tall hedges border the perimeter for privacy, with pots of marguerite daisies, Isabel’s favorite flower Zo gave to her. He has a condo he uses to entertain “company,” and he’ll stay there while I’m here.
“We good for tomorrow?” I grunt at the fish taco that’s playing with my emotions. Zo dressed all of them in lime juice, chipotle sauce, shredded cabbage, andpico de gallo. Shit is good.
“You know where to pull up. I have a new intern who will work with you.”
“Bet.”
“No seas pendejo.”
I brush down my hoodie and blow out a breath.Here comes the bullshit.“What you on?”
Zo focuses on the champagne glass in his hand and chuckles. “You’re in the same city as Emma since you hopped on a flight to follow her to Italy and have nothing to say.”
“Technically, the samecounty. She’s in Malibu,” I say to be a smartass. A little over thirty-two miles separate us. Not that I’m counting.
He waves it off with a hand. “The point is, you’re bound to run into her again.”
“Not necessarily,” I mumble around a bite.
“Please. You chase Emma to Italy after you ran into her at a bar in New York with a woman you ditched for her.” Zo chuckles. “That shit is serendipitous.”
