Page 6 of Amore
“We are.”
I said nothing else about the luggage as I put it into my Mustang. Since it was only a night, I had a little duffle bag. I’d stuffed a change of clothes, clean boxers and socks, and toiletries in it. I had a button-down shirt and a pair of slacks hanging in my backseat for dinner.
The hour and a half drive took two and a half hours. The traffic in LA was the worst of the drive, but once we got to the coast, it was smooth sailing. Candace had booked a tiny house behind a Mexican food restaurant to rent for the night. She had to have planned the trip before that morning. What would she have done if I had said I didn’t want to go on the trip?
“Are you sure you don’t want to just walk next door?” I asked, setting our bags on the bed in the upstairs loft.
“I made reservations at an Italian place on the water.” Of course she had.
“All right.” I wasn’t going to argue with her. I loved Italian food.
“Which, we better get ready because we have an hour to get there.”
We changed into our dinner clothes and got back into my car. Once we were at the restaurant, we were led to a table with an ocean view. If I hadn’t known better, I would have thought there was going to be a proposal because the restaurant wasthatnice. There was no chanceIwas proposing—I hadn’t planned a single thing about the trip—but there was no way I would say yes to Candace if she proposed after only six months. She’d told me many times she loved me, but I’d never said it back because I didn’t love her. I stayed with her because I had no one else to spend my time with, and if we were to break up, our shifts would suck.
Being in an Italian restaurant made me think of Frankie. A lot made me think of her, but Italian food made me remember how cute she was when she sang an old song wrong.
“When the moonhits your eye like a big piece of pie, that’s amore!” Frankie sang.
Lucy and I started laughing. “Those aren’t the lyrics,” I said.
“What are they?” Frankie asked, twirling a spaghetti noodle onto her fork.
“Like a big pizza pie.” I grinned and took a bite of spaghetti.
God, Frankie was so hot as she slurped a noodle into her mouth. I wanted to kiss her so badly. But I couldn’t because she was my older sister’s best friend and a senior in high school, and I was just a sophomore.
“That makes no sense. Why would you get hit with a pizza?” she asked.
Pie did make better sense since people were hit in the face with pie. “I don’t know,” I replied with a lift of my shoulder.
“Probably because it’s Italian?” Lucy suggested.
“Maybe the writer loves pizza more than pie?” Dad chimed in.
I had no idea, and I didn’t care. All I wanted was to listen to Frankie sing the song, wrong lyrics and all.
After we ordered,Candace peered out the window at the Pacific Ocean. The June sun was setting over the water. “Do you think you’ll get married one day?”
I choked on the red wine we’d ordered.
She grinned. “I’m not proposing.”Oh, thank God.“I’m just curious if this could go in that direction.”
Not knowing what the future held, I wasn’t certain where things would go with Candace. We weren’t going to be partners forever, but I’d only ever loved Frankie and had never given my heart to anyone else.
I had to choose my words wisely.
“I’ve never thought about marriage before.” At least not with anyone other than Frankie.
“Really?” Her mouth hung open.
There was no way I would tell my current girlfriend that there was only one person I’d want to marry. I hadn’t seen Frankie in person in nine years, but I’d seen her on the big screen. She was an up-and-coming actress while I was a measly beat cop. One day, I would be a detective, which was why I couldn’t use being partners as an excuse for not wanting to marry Candace. Being partners was temporary.
“You know I’m just working my way up in the ranks.”
“So am I, but you’re twenty-five. Don’t you want to start a family?”
I lifted a shoulder and looked out at the sun setting over the ocean. “Maybe eventually.”
