Page 21 of Better Than Gelato (Ciao Bella #1)

The game room has a pool table, a foosball table, and a ping pong table.

And on one wall, waiting for me like an old friend, hangs a dart board.

A tingle of excitement fizzes in my veins.

I suck at pool, but I’m great at darts. We played for hours growing up.

In college, I discovered I could make an easy twenty bucks off the jocks in the common room if I played things right.

“Let’s try one more boys against girls,” I say. It’s been a few months, but I think I’ve still got it.

I don’t suggest darts, but I try to get us there.

“How about ping pong?” Diego suggests.

“Doesn’t work for six people,” I say.

“Plus, we would demolish the girls,” Paolo says.

“How about foosball?” Diego asks.

“That’s four people at most,” Carmen says.

“And also, we would demolish you,” Paolo says again.

Finally Jake says, “How about darts?”

I hold my breath and keep quiet until everyone else agrees.

“Prepare to be demolished,” Paolo tells us.

“Actually,” I say, “I think me and my girls can take you three pretty easily.”

“Care to place money on it?” Paolo says. He grins at me, and I grin right back.

“I couldn’t take your money, Paolo. We’re besties.” I take a step closer. “But I could allow you to treat the girls to dinner tonight. To thank us for teaching you a lesson in humility.”

“Ooooohh,” Diego and Jake say, and it sounds like the beginning of a junior high fight.

“Losers pay for dinner? We absolutely accept those terms,” Paolo says. “I think I’ll order the lobster.”

I look at the girls. “What do you ladies say?”

Valentina is shaking her head, but Carmen says, “We absolutely accept those terms.” There’s a fire blazing in her eyes.

“All right, let’s get started,” Diego says like the announcer at a sporting event.

“Three oh one,” Paolo says. Then he turns to me. “Each team starts with three hundred and one points. You throw three darts per turn. The first team to get to exactly zero wins.” I nod and pretend I don’t know the rules by heart.

The boys grab some darts, and my hands start to sweat. I take a breath. I’ve got this.

Diego goes first, and his dart misses the board completely.

“Just warming up,” he says. He rubs his right wrist. I saw him rubbing it earlier.

I think he must have hurt it in the snowball fight.

He throws two more and earns a total of fourteen points for his team. My brain pulls up their score, 287.

Valentina goes next, and her first two darts bounce off the board. Her third manages to hang on in the 20 spot.

“Pulling out to an early lead,” Carmen says to Paolo and gives me a high five.

Paolo goes next, easily beating Valentina’s score.

“Hope you enjoyed your lead while it lasted,” Paolo says.

Carmen goes next, then Jake. They both throw just fine, but clearly they’re not dart players.

When it’s my turn, the score is Girls 255, Boy 247.

Carmen hands me some darts. She looks nervous, but I feel calm.

I take a breath and throw. Triple 20. Another breath and throw.

Triple 20. Last breath, last throw. Triple 20.

180. It’s a perfect turn. I only pulled that off twice last year. I just dropped our score to 75.

I can’t help smiling a little. Then I turn to look at the gang and smile a lot.

Paolo, Diego, Jake, and Valentina wear identical expressions of shock.

Eyes wide, mouths open, like a surprised barbershop quartet.

Carmen is pumping her fists in victory and looking happier than I’ve seen her in a while.

Jake comes over and gives me a kiss. “Have you played this game before?” he asks with a smile.

“Maybe once or twice,” I say.

Diego has a bad first shot, but his next two are decent.

Valentina, apparently inspired by our tremendous lead, earns us 30.

We’re at 56. Paolo and Jake take their second turns, and they’re better than their firsts, but nowhere close to overtaking us.

After Carmen takes a turn and hands me the darts and we’re down to 26.

I pick up a dart and look at the board. I try for the double 12, but I’m off just a hair and land on single 12.

It’s okay. I’ve got two more . I take a deep breath and aim in the exact same spot.

My second dart lands just a sliver away from my first dart.

Alright, 2 points left. Paolo starts to say something, to psych me out I’m sure, but I pay him no attention.

My last dart lands in the black of the 2 with a satisfying thunk. It’s the sound of victory.

“Well, it looks like that’s the game,” Jake says with a laugh.

“That’s the fastest game of darts I’ve ever played,” Diego says.

“Can you really call what you were doing, playing?” Carmen asks.

“Do they serve lobster and steak at this restaurant?” I ask Paolo. “Something about crushing victory makes me crave seafood and red meat.”

Jake comes over and gives me a big kiss, and Diego mumbles something about kissing the enemy. He’s taking the loss pretty hard. Paolo actually gives him a hug, and Paolo never hugs anyone.

“You were incredible,” Jake says. “I had no idea you could play like that.”

“I can,” I say simply.

The girls do some more celebrating and gloating and then we head upstairs to get ready for dinner.

On the way, I stop Carmen and apologize.

“I’m sorry about earlier. I didn’t mean to be so accusing.”

“No, it was my fault,” she says. “I was angry about some other stuff. Anyway, after handing us that win, you are forgiven of all things.”

“Carmen, if you ever want to talk about other stuff, I’m here,” I say.

“Maybe. For now, let's go celebrate.”

We take showers and change into nice dresses.

I curl Valentina’s hair, then Carmen does my eye makeup. By the time we meet the boys in the lobby, we look pretty amazing. It feels like a double victory to look this good after beating them so bad.

“The lovely champions have arrived,” Jake says, and I give him a big smile. Diego still looks sad about losing, but Paolo is looking at Valentina, and he is definitely not thinking about darts.

The restaurant has soaring ceilings, full-length windows, and at least three large fireplaces that I can see.

The food is excellent. Instead of steak and lobster, I get a Swiss dish I can’t pronounce that involves a lot of potatoes and cheese and a very tender meat.

Jake and Paolo pick up the bill, which makes everything taste even better.

* * *

The next morning, I wake up to the sun reflecting off the frozen lake outside our lodge, lighting up our whole room. Carmen and Valentina are still asleep, and I tiptoe to the bathroom. I pause when I see a slip of paper on the floor by the door.

Juliet,

Not sure if you’re an early riser, but if you’re awake meet me in the library.

-J

A thrill of excitement zings through me.

I brush my teeth and put on a bra. Then I slip out the door and head to the library.

The wood floor is chilly on my bare feet, and I shiver.

Jake is waiting in the big chair. He’s wearing faded jeans and a dark blue sweater.

I don’t say a word, just fall into his lap and start kissing him.

This is better than sleeping in. This is better than anything, actually.

“I got your note,” I whisper.

“I see that,” he whispers back. He smells clean and fresh, like the snow outside. But he’s all warmth, his arms and his lips. I feel my muscles warming up and relaxing, my whole body melting into his.

“This is a very good way to start the day,” he says. His voice is low and rough.

I imagine waking up this morning next to Jake instead of Carmen. The picture in my head is so clear it makes my cheeks flush. Jake’s eyes look into mine, two shades darker than normal, and I wonder if the same thought has popped into his head.

He leans in and kisses a trail from my collarbone to my jawline, then to my mouth. The world outside the two of us is distant and irrelevant as we kiss in the early morning light. As usual, it’s Jake who breaks away first. His breathing is fast and shallow. He runs a shaky hand through his hair.

“So, libraries, huh?”

“Pretty hot,” I agree.

“I think kissing you is pretty hot wherever we happen to be.”

“Sure. But isn’t there something about the two of us tucked away in a tiny library in a rustic lodge in the Alps?”

He shakes his head and gives me one more slow kiss. “You aren’t making this easy for me.”

I climb off his lap and give him a big smile. Then I start dancing the Floss.

“What are you doing?” he says with a bemused smile.

“I’m making it easier for you.”

He bursts out laughing. “By doing the Floss dance?”

“Yes. The least sexy dance in the world. Is it helping?”

He laughs. “You do look much less seductive than you did one minute ago.”

“Not fair. You can’t leave me a note to meet you in the library in the early morning hours and then call me seductive. This one’s on you.”

“Okay, you’re right. I take full credit for the brilliant idea of luring you here.”

“As long as we’re straight on who’s luring who.”

Jake stands up and starts doing the Floss next to me. We look ridiculous, I know, but I have not ripped all his clothes off, so I’ll call that a win.

And that’s when the other four members of our group walk into the lobby and see us in the library.

Diego trips into Valentina. Carmen bursts out laughing. And Paolo says, “I was under an entirely different impression of your activities when the two of you sneak away together.”

They’re all dressed and ready for the day.

“We were just coming down for some breakfast,” Valentina says. I can tell she’s trying hard not to laugh.

“Yes, well, so were we. We just thought we should get some morning exercise to really work up an appetite. But we’re ready now. Let’s eat.”

“Aren’t you wearing pajamas?” Diego asks me.

I am, in fact, wearing pajamas. They’re purple flannel. With stripes. But instead of doing the smart thing and admitting it, I dig in.

“To the untrained eye, I can see how these might look like pajamas. But they’re very much day clothes. They just match a lot. It’s called color blocking. Very trendy right now.”

I shoot a glance at Carmen, who manages to keep a straight face and say, “Color blocking. Yes. Trendy.”

And so we all go to the dining room, and I eat a delicious Swiss breakfast in my pajamas in a room full of fully clothed guests.

After breakfast, we choose sleds from a pile behind the lodge.

We hike to a nearby hill, and Jake is the first one to go down, whooping and hollering the whole way.

Carmen and I follow him. The hill starts off steep and then turns into a gentle slope at the end.

A perfect sledding hill. I rush down, barely passing Jake at the end, and we both end up in a snowbank.

I haven’t been sledding since a family reunion in Idaho a decade ago. I forgot how exhilarating it is.

The other three come sledding down right after us and two of them land in the same snowbank we did. Diego somehow lands in a bush ten feet away.

“How do you steer these things?” he asks, tromping through the snow towards us.

“You can’t,” Jake says cheerfully. “You just point them and go.”

We hike to the top of the hill for another go.

Diego ends up in the bushes again, and Jake offers to switch sleds.

Which begins the game, ‘Will Diego End Up in the Bushes No Matter Which Sled He’s On?

’ The short answer is yes. We swap our various sleds, some hard plastic saucers, some wooden with rails.

It doesn’t seem to matter. Diego ends up in the bushes every time, but he’s unhurt and seems to be having just as much fun as the rest of us.

The sun is near blinding, reflected off the white snow, and the sky is a bright blue. I don’t know how many times we go down that hill, but we’re wet and exhausted by the time lunch rolls around. And too tired to do much else for the rest of the day.

We watch a movie on the giant screen in the game room. Valentina sits next to Paolo, and the romantic vibes from those two are bouncing off the walls. I think again about Carmen being the odd girl out. I make a note to talk to her about it.

That night, Paolo convinces the proprietors of our lodge to start a fire in the outdoor fire pit for our little group. I zip upstairs to change my socks, which have gotten wet yet again.

I’m slipping on some dry ones when Carmen comes in. She doesn’t see me at first because she’s looking at her phone. Her face is twisted in anger and worry and when she finally notices me she startles.

“Sorry,” I say. “Just getting some dry socks.”

“No problem.”

She doesn’t say anything else, and neither do I. I slip into some boots and head to the door.

“Are you coming down?” I ask.

“I’m going to call it a night.”

“It’s only 9:30.”

“Yeah, I just don’t feel like hanging out with everyone right now.”

She’s tired of hanging out with a bunch of couples. I knew it.

“Hey, it seems like this weekend has been hard for you,” I say.

She narrows her eyes but doesn’t say anything, so I continue.

“With the group splitting into couples it can be easy to think, ‘Why aren’t I dating anyone?’ I just want to remind you that you’re smart and beautiful and funny. You’re going to find someone wonderful.”

Carmen looks at me a moment, then bursts out laughing. There’s a note of bitterness to her laughter.

“You think I feel bad because everyone in the group is dating someone and I’m not?”

“I did…until exactly this moment.”

“Julieta, I’m married.”

There’s no sound except my jaw hitting the floor.

“I’m married to a lunatic. That’s why I left Peru.”

I can’t make any words come out of my mouth.

Carmen flops onto the bed. “Our divorce was supposed to be final this weekend, but apparently some of the paperwork was filed incorrectly.”

“I had no idea.”

“Yeah, no one does. It’s a part of my past I’d like to keep in the past.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Me too.” She smiles a little. “It’s sweet of you to be concerned, but I’ve spent the last two years trying to undo the last romantic mistake I made. I’m not trying to make new ones.”

“Can I…are you…is there anything I can do?”

Another faintly bitter smile. “Nope.”

She reaches out and squeezes my hand. “But thanks for asking.”

“Sure,” I reply lamely. “Enjoy your night in.”

I head to the back patio, still trying to process this news. Carmen married? Boy did I misread that one!

We spend a couple of hours by the fire. Diego tells ghost stories, and in the firelight, his face looks eerily pale. But the stories aren’t scary because he keeps mixing up the endings and forgetting parts. Paolo plays the guitar, and he’s very good at it.

Sometime after midnight we call it a night. Instead of following me upstairs to the rooms Jake takes my hand and leads me back to the library.

He pulls me onto his lap. His lips meet mine and everything around us disappears.