Page 51 of Twice
“Nothing.”
“Nothing?”
“It would be like taking a stitch out of a tapestry. The whole thing could unravel.” She turned back to me. “I figure every little thing that happens is part of life or fate or God or whatever leading me to where I’m supposed to be.”
She shrugged her shoulders. “Who am I to undo that? It’s not finished yet.”
I nodded blankly. I felt sheepish.
“So should I go back and erase this whole conversation?”
She took my arm. “Yes, please. I really don’t want to think my boyfriend is insane.”
“OK.Twice.”
I snapped back two minutes.
“Don’t be hurt,” she was saying, squeezing my arm. “Destiny is patient.”
I looked straight into her eyes. “Yes, it is.”
She pushed my fingers onto the keys.
“Play,” she whispered.
I hit the first chord and sang the song she’d asked for.
“Try me, try me,
Darling tell me, I need you
Try me, try me,
And our love will always be true.”
Gianna laid her head on my shoulder, and on the last verse she whisper-sang along with me. We kissed at the end and she said “That was really good, Alfie” and I looked around at our cramped apartment and this beautiful woman on my shoulder and the wisdom she had that I clearly did not and I swallowed hard and thought,This is what they mean when they say “choked up,”because I really was, choked up, and I pulled Gianna close and she threw her arms around my neck and I lifted her as she squealed with joy.
We made love on the futon, not bothering to open it. Afterward, lying next to her, I felt as full as I’d ever felt after my best meal, as rested as after my best sleep.
“I love our little apartment,” Gianna whispered.
“Let’s get married,” I whispered back.
“Alfie,” she said, cupping my face in her hands, “Alfie, Alfie, Alfie...”
Nassau
“That was it?”
Alfie stopped and looked up.
“Yes. That was it.”
LaPorta stroked his chin.
“You’re right. Wasn’t much.”
“Did it need to be?”
