Page 30 of The Summer You Were Mine

“Thank you. I don’t often get to wear things like this.

” It was true. She’d chosen this dress, a flowing navy blue with a deep V neck, just so she could wear the vintage gold necklaces Graziella had given her years ago.

Wearing them all together was pretty over-the-top for most occasions back in the States and drew way more attention than she ever wanted at a social event.

But here in Italy, no one would blink an eye at that much bling.

Still, she could see the confused look on his face.

“Gotta take advantage of Italian fashion sensibilities to wear what I want without judgment,” she added. “Anyway, we are so late.”

“You’re right. Kind of funny that we are late together, though,” Cris said, falling into step next to her.

“Except that now we are two disruptions,” she said.

“I doubt anyone will notice. They’re probably on the terrace having drinks and won’t even see us walk in.”

“They notice everything.”

“How many times do you think this crew has seen you and me walking into something together in our lives?”

“When we were ten.”

“Don’t stress,” he said with a smile. “No one is thinking about us.” Cris grabbed the door handle and pulled it back, ushering Ellie through.

The small seaside restaurant had been reserved just for the Conte-Beltrami prenuptial dinner guests, who were now all seated at a long table set for thirty.

As Ellie and Cris walked in, the entire wedding party and extended family members were engaged in perhaps their only moment of collective silence in recorded history.

The guests had been waiting for Simone to find the switch he’d just accidentally turned off on the small microphone he was holding when the outside door opened, illuminating the only two invitees who had not yet arrived.

All twenty-eight heads turned toward the door to watch heads twenty-nine and thirty, otherwise known as Ellie and Cris, turn as red as a couple of scampi.

“ Ragazzi! Ciao! ” called Graziella from the farthest end of the table.

As would be expected, the only two empty seats were located next to Graziella and Simone, but across from each other, ensuring that Ellie and Cris would have to part and then wade through their own procession of fourteen greetings, double-kisses, and welcomes before sitting at their designated places.

“ Ciao, Nonna! ” Ellie went into battle mode, plastering on a smile like a klieg light and throwing herself into the lineup with gusto.

About halfway through, she caught Cris’s eye as he leaned in to Pina and saw that he was also cranking out the kisses and smiles.

It could have been her imagination, but it truly looked like there was a smile in between that he aimed right at her.

When she finally got to her seat, Ellie felt like she’d just run a half marathon.

Peggy leaned in to her ear. “You might want to catch up,” she said, pointing at the full glass of prosecco at the corner of her place setting.

Ellie took a long sip, felt the delicate Pop Rock fizz in her head, and sat back in her seat.

Maybe she could just sit and eat, and no one would require her to talk because there were so many other people doing such a great job of it.

Cris sat across from her and unbuttoned his jacket.

He stretched for his own glass of prosecco, but before taking a sip, flicked his eyes up to Ellie’s.

Her face flushed. He’d caught her looking.

He smiled and tipped his glass toward her in a conspiratorial toast. She returned the gesture, and they both sipped.

“Ladies and gentlemen, we are so happy you could be with us tonight,” said Simone, standing at the end of the table facing the guests.

“Graziella and I wanted to start the night off in a special way since this is going to be a special wedding.” He smiled down at her.

“We are here today because of all the beautiful stories that we share but also because of our own stories. Neither one of us wants to forget one minute of any of that or any of the people who were and still are a part of our lives. So, we’ve been working on a little something we want to share with you all.

” Simone turned and signaled to a waiter who slid a large white screen on a stand behind him.

Another waiter adjusted a small projector connected to a laptop that was set on a table across the room.

“What did you do?” Ellie whispered to her grandmother.

“You’ll see,” Graziella whispered back, smiling. “It was Simone’s idea.”

“We hope you enjoy watching this as much as we did. Oh, and thank you to Pina and Franco’s granddaughter, Chiara, who put this together for us.

Okay, vai !” Simone sat and reached for Graziella’s hand.

The video began with a sweet soundtrack that sounded like something from a Pixar movie and side-by-side black-and-white baby photos of Simone and Graziella.

The table laughed and cheered as various photos of them as kids flashed across the screen.

There was Graziella with her girlfriends, all with serious faces in even more serious-looking starched blouses.

There was Simone on a motorcycle in his military uniform.

The images moved forward in time, showing Graziella holding baby Gio and Simone holding Alessandro dressed in a toddler’s suit with short pants.

Ellie flicked her eyes to Cris and Cinzia, who both smiled at the screen.

A group photo of almost everyone at the table, plus Simone and Graziella’s spouses, brought another cheer.

The era of the grandchildren came next, and there were photos of Ellie and Ben, both babies in swim pants, their grandmother holding their hands at the edge of the water.

The next image was of Ellie’s grandfather Tomás, Alessandro, Cris, and the twins, all posing in their swim caps by a pool like conquering heroes.

Another photo was taken from the shore, but the two jumping kids suspended in the air and holding hands before they hit the water were definitely Ellie and Cris.

She looked back over at him, and he was looking at her, too. Her face heated.

Finally, the photos showed more recent images, and Ellie was sad that she had missed so many summers in Italy.

It was clear that things had moved on as they always had here.

There were photos of everyone playing Burraco at each other’s houses, the road trip Graziella and Simone had taken to Monte Carlo to watch the Rolex Masters Tennis Tournament, and so many millefoglie birthday cakes with whipped cream and tall candles.

They looked so happy. They shared so much love between them, but also around them.

The grandparents had arrived at the place in life that felt like a reward for all the years of tough stuff.

She would give anything to skip ahead to that reward part.

The final images were taken in just the last couple of days.

There was one of her mom and dad in their beach chairs with Graziella and Simone, one of Cinzia and Simone with their arms around each other and their cheeks squished together, and one more that she didn’t remember anyone taking.

It was from the first day she’d arrived and had shared a table with Cris while he ate the gray burger.

Graziella stood behind the table looking at Ellie and smiling, one hand on her shoulder and one hand on Cris’s.

But Cris wasn’t looking at Graziella. He was looking right at Ellie.

Her eyes met with his again across the table, and the only thing she could think was that this was so not fair.

How was she supposed to remain impartial while being drugged by old photos and a charming theme song?

There was their family’s shared history flashing on the screen in a room full of people who were intermittently dabbing tears from the corners of their eyes and laughing.

This was exactly why she hated nostalgia.

It blew objectivity to smithereens before you even got to the appetizer course.

The dining room lights came up after the last photo, a black-and-white shot of Simone kissing Graziella’s cheek in their garden, and Ellie turned to look at her mom, who was sniffing with a red nose.

“That was just beautiful,” Peggy said, pulling a tissue out of her clutch. “Time really flies by, doesn’t it?”

“Mom, I think that was supposed to be a happy video.”

“I am happy,” Peggy said, blowing her nose into the tissue. “For other people.”

“Thank you, everybody,” Simone said, standing with his glass raised in a toast. “To love!”

“To love!” came the chorus from the entire table. To love, indeed, Ellie thought, if it doesn’t drive you nuts.

“Let’s eat!”