Page 48 of The Summer You Were Mine

As far as the location of anyone else of importance, Ellie did not care to wonder.

Ignoring Cris was not the most mature option, but she was fresh out of fancy coping mechanisms, and all that was left was pure avoidance.

After that, every remaining scrap of energy was spent collecting the pieces of her heart together to be happy for Graziella and Simone.

How many people got to say that they’d attended their grandmother’s wedding?

There her grandmother was now, looking completely at ease as she stood talking to the caterer.

She was holding her left hand flat while miming cutting into it with the edge of her right, Italian gesture-speak for “slices of something.” Ellie envied her so much.

Graziella had been through so much in her life that the only options left were acceptance and grace.

Ellie felt so far from those right now, they didn’t even seem like possibilities.

There was only about a one-square-foot section at the bottom of the trellis to finish.

She crouched down and set the box of flowers next to her.

All she wanted to do was be done, have the chat with Omar about the implosion of everything they had been counting on, and then take her time showering before attempting to pull off the engineering achievement of a lifetime with her bridesmaid gown.

She was already mentally composing a letter of recommendation for Omar in her head, but her shoulders sank when she considered the fact that a letter from her might be more of a hindrance than a help.

She squeezed her eyes together. How the hell did she get here?

“Dove mettiamo il vino?”

Ellie heard his voice and froze. It was one thing to avoid her own thoughts about him but quite another to ignore him when he was standing about ten feet away.

She didn’t turn around, didn’t breathe, though she knew he couldn’t be talking to her.

She was relieved when someone from the café called to Cris to explain where he and the twins could put the wine.

That damned wine called Moonlight—what good was a bit of dim moonlight anyway when it made it impossible to see things clearly?

Her thoughts went directly to the hammock at the vineyard, his hands on her back, his mouth on her mouth.

The wire cutter she’d been using dropped out of her hands and clattered onto the wooden floor.

Peggy glanced in her direction and likely noticed her face looking like a bee sting.

Peggy may have been humming while she was working, but it didn’t mean her mother wasn’t clocking her like a sniper.

“Whoops,” Ellie said, smiling. “Guess I’m a little clumsy today.”

“You must be tired. Your eyes look a little puffy. But, then again, you went to bed before us last night, didn’t you?” Peggy kept her eyes on the trellis.

“I think I’m still jet-lagged. And I also think I had an allergic reaction to my waterproof mascara. It was an old one and I probably should have let it go a long time ago.”

“Hmm.” Peggy continued weaving.

“But I’m not tired. I feel good. I am excited for today. Aren’t you excited?”

“Mm-hmm.”

“I’m excited,” Pina chimed in. “My back hurts, but I’m excited. You should throw out that mascara.”

“I will. I did! It’s my fault, really. I remembered what I loved about it a long time ago, but it has clearly gone bad. I should have known better.”

“It’s a good thing you figured it out because some people don’t until it’s too late and they end up with an infection,” Peggy said.

Ellie felt the tears threaten to fall as she clipped another rose stem. “That’s why I don’t wear makeup,” said Pina with her back still to Ellie. “Too risky.”

“It’s worth the risk”—Peggy leaned over, catching Ellie’s eye—“if you choose the right one.”

“I don’t know how to do that.” Ellie gave up and let a fat, salty tear drip down her right cheek and onto her blue T-shirt. Her mother kneeled down, scooting closer to her, and wiped the tears.

“Ellie-Belle, you don’t have to know. Not now, you don’t.” Peggy smiled, her own eyes filling. Ellie leaned forward, resting her head on her mom’s shoulder.

“We’re going to be okay, you and me,” Peggy said, kissing her on the top of her head.

“Is this where the royal wedding is taking place or—”

Ellie whipped her head around in shock, this time overjoyed at the voice she heard behind her. She knew he was coming but had no idea when Ben would actually get there. As usual, his timing was perfect.

“Benny! You’re here! Why didn’t you call us?” Ellie said, jumping to her feet and throwing her arms around her brother.

“Hey, I still have two vertebrae that are not on speaking terms with me, okay? Watch it!” Ben smiled and let Ellie and Peggy kiss his cheeks. “Janelle postponed until the end of August, ending my holding pattern. And I didn’t call you because—surprise!”

“Is that Benny Beltrami? Hey, man!” Ale shouted, making a beeline for Ben with his arms thrown open. “Get in here! How have you been?”

“Just great, thanks! I had no idea you guys would be here,” Ben said, returning the hug.

“And we didn’t know you would be, either,” Leo added as he walked over with a grin. He opened his arms for a hug hello with the biggest smile she’d seen on his face yet. Ben’s eyes flashed wide before leaning in to embrace him back.

“Ben! Ah, my Beniamino, you’re here! I started to get afraid that we weren’t going to see you!” Graziella came toward him with her arms extended.

“Me too, but I’m here! And I am thrilled. My God, look at us all—so gorgeous!” he said, looking around at the circle they formed.

“Hey, Ben,” Cris said, joining the group and extending his hand. Ben shook it, pressing his lips together in a tight smile.

“This is so special,” said Graziella. “Look how we have all of the kids together!” She reached for Ellie’s hand on one side and Cris’s on the other.

“One, big, happy family!” said Ale, glancing at his older brother, who shot him a death stare.

“Oh, I’m sorry to break it up,” said Ben, turning to Graziella. “But Gram, is it okay if I roll up my sleeves a little? This is beautiful, but I want to help a little to make it extra special.”

“Of course, Benny, but you’re not here to work.” Graziella waggled her finger at him.

“It’s not work when you do what you love,” he chuckled and grabbed Ellie by the arm.

He gently led her away from the group and hissed, “It looks like a high school production of Romeo and Juliet died right on the terrace. And what the hell is going on with that ill-humored oak tree disguised as Cris Conte? Thank God I got here in time.”

“Did you actually read my texts?” she asked, her eyes still wet.

“Yes, which is why you need to get the car keys and come with me. We have shit to fix.”

Cris placed the last case of white wine into the small walk-in refrigerator behind the café kiosk at the Delfino and paused at the door that led back out to the terrace.

“Are you going to tell me what happened?” Simone came out from the kitchen and stood in the doorway next to Cris. He jutted his chin out in Ellie’s direction. “Those tears are not for the wedding, I’m guessing.”

“It’s a long story, Grandpa,” said Cris. “Probably longer than even I thought.”

“What did you do?” Simone raised one eyebrow at his grandson.

“I thought I was doing something good, but it turned out that it was going to hurt her. So I tried not to hurt her but ended up doing it anyway. Now I don’t know what is the right thing or who hurts more.”

“I am out of practice with complicated situations. Graziella is my friend. We never had a day of confusion. Age sort of does that to you. But”—Simone smiled and nudged Cris’s arm—“your grandmother was another story. We were young and full of passion. We fought, we cried, we made a mess of things, but we always found our way back to each other.”

“In my memories, you were always happy,” Cris said.

“Because we worked hard to be. If we had walked away from each other every time it looked like everything was over, we would have worn out our shoes. At some point we figured out how to stay put.”

“But I have to think you knew that you were supposed to be together—that you were sure of what you were fighting for.”

“The only thing I knew was that before Antonella, I was not aware of how much I lacked. Suddenly, when I was near her, I had everything I needed. And that was that.”

“That was that, huh?”

“The rest is an old man telling old stories.” Simone laughed. “I want to say one more thing: don’t think that just because you were okay without her once that you’ll be okay without her again.”