Page 58 of The Summer You Were Mine

“Please don’t make me get back in that car again.

” Ellie sat on the newly-upgraded double bed in the guest room at Graziella and Simone’s house.

Her grandmother had switched out the single bed at some point in the last year because, as she put it, “ ha più senso. ” And she was right—it did make more sense.

Cris took up as much space in a bed as Ellie had thought and in an effort to avoid squeezing into a different tiny bed at Peggy and Gio’s, she and Cris decided to stay in the coral room.

“Maybe if we leave early enough in the morning?” Cris stood in the en suite bathroom unpacking his dopp kit.

“We tried that once, remember? I can’t believe that in a country that considers wine a food group we have to go all the way back down to Sarzana for a decent glass of it.” Ellie slid the stack of tissue-wrapped dresses out of the splayed-open suitcase.

“You know my grandfather. He’s a sucker for nostalgia. And as I recall, we didn’t exactly have an awful time once we got there,” he said, raising an eyebrow at Ellie.

“True.” She smiled. “And I guess since it’s their first anniversary party, they are allowed to ask for the inconvenient wine again.”

“I like the sound of that,” Cris said, grabbing a handful of hangers from the closet. He handed them to her. “Maybe when we have our own vineyard one day, that can be our brand.”

“Our own vineyard? We already killed a peace lily and two cacti since we moved in together. We should probably stay away from agriculture.”

“But think of how great the slogan will be: ‘Inconvenient Wines: Doing Things the Hard Way Since 2024.’”

“I think we started way before that,” Ellie laughed, passing him a stack of T-shirts.

“No comment.” Cris leaned down to kiss Ellie on her nose. “So, should we get up at seven? We can be on the road by seven thirty.” He opened a drawer in the whitewashed bureau and plopped the shirts down.

“Only if we get to bed early.”

“Umm. I can’t promise that. I haven’t gone to bed at the same time as you in months. I highly doubt that I’m going to be able to keep my hands to myself in a timely manner.” Cris dug into his duffel bag and pulled out an armful of balled-up socks.

“Then maybe we cut dinner short?” She sighed. “What am I even saying? They’ll assume one of us is sick and send us home with nine boxes of paracetamol.”

“Look. It’s going to be fine. We’ll leave early, pick up the wine, and be back in time to get in a swim before lunch. If riding around in a hot Volkswagen is the worst thing that happens on this trip, we’re doing at least seventy-eight percent better than we were last year at this time.”

“Also true.” Ellie’s phone pinged.

Ciccia

Are you on your way?

Your parents won’t stop kissing

Did they drink on the plane?

“Greta,” she said, eyeing the screen. “We should get over there. Are you ready?”

“Yeah, but before we go, I wanted to talk to you about something. I got an email from Teena while we were in the air—”

“Oh no. Wait, why did I say that? I mean, that’s interesting ,” Ellie redirected. “What did she say?”

“It’s okay. Your first reaction is pretty much what I said in my head when I saw my inbox,” Cris laughed. “It seems that GMA contacted her because they want to invite us on. Together.”

“Together?” Ellie closed up the empty suitcase and slid it onto the floor.

“Yes. I guess they keep getting a ton of emails asking for a follow-up to what happened between us. Apparently there’s a bit of a bet between the hosts about whether we ended up together.”

“And you didn’t respond yet?”

“Absolutely not. It’s also not even ten in the morning over there. I wanted to talk to you first.” He sat next to Ellie.

“Are you saying you want to do it?”

“At first I didn’t because my instincts hadn’t changed.

I got to thinking that it would be another way to prove that I’m not afraid of anything or hiding.

But then I went back to wondering why I would need to prove anything at this point.

” He shrugged. “Of course, it’s not just me anymore.

We haven’t talked about it in a while, but you never got to say anything publicly.

This could be the chance to do that. If you wanted to. ”

“So you would go back out there if I wanted to? Even though you hate it?”

“I would. Because I love you,” he said, taking her hand and squeezing.

“Well, thank you. It means a lot to me.” She squeezed back.

“But what means more to me is how amazing things have been since I got out of that world. I have to pinch myself that I got an internship this year and still feel lucky knowing that exactly none of my conversations for the day will be recorded. It’s too good to let go of.

” Over the last year, Ellie had embraced the idea that she was living a smaller life.

It made her feel that she had a much better grasp of the big things—a sense of purpose, a feeling of pride, the deepest love.

Inviting the media back in felt like a threat to all of that.

“And you’ve worked so hard to get there. Me, too, I think. One of the things I love about my job is that out there I am just one of the helpers. It doesn’t matter who I was back then, but who I am today.”

“It matters to me who you are,” said Ellie, sliding closer to him on the bed. “And who you were. And who you will be.”

“And yours is still the only opinion that counts.” Cris leaned forward, giving her a quick kiss.

“Well, I feel the same,” she said. “And I don’t need to know what the entire country thinks of my decisions or whether or not they want to ship us. We are, for all intents and purposes, private citizens now. Do we really want to give that up?”

“Our peaceful little nest? Never.”

“It’s so cozy.” She smiled.

“It is. So I’m telling Teena that we say ‘Thank you, but no thank you.’”

“Yes. Which really means ‘not on your life.’ For the record, I don’t mind if everyone knows that I love you.” She smiled.

“Well, everyone already knows I love you .”

“Only everyone who was watching. And I will admit that the interview was easily the best five minutes of morning TV I’ve ever seen,” she said, “but it does not need repeating.”

“Just you and me, then.”

“Just you and me.” She nodded. “And about fifty of our closest friends and relatives who are waiting for us right now. Come on, let’s go. I have to grab my bathing suit.”

“Okay. Let me get my goggles.” Cris stood to walk back into the bathroom.

“You packed goggles? Are you going to—”

“Swim. Yeah. I thought I might give it a go.” He grinned.

“No better place than here.” She looked up at him, unsure of how to respond.

In all of their time as an official couple, he hadn’t mentioned wanting to swim again once.

“I’m not planning on any threshold sets or anything,” he said, laughing.

“I may not even get my hair wet.” He was smiling, trying to be funny, but she knew that he would never be able to even think about swimming if there wasn’t a serious part of him that was making peace with his past. It certainly was time.

“Maybe it will be fun,” she said, looking up at him.

“Maybe it will.”

“ Eccoli! ” Graziella tapped Simone’s arm and called across the terrace of the Bagni Delfino.

She stood, clasping her hands, as the rest of the table turned to watch Ellie and Cris stride into the beach club for the first time in their lives—together.

Ellie smiled, but felt a twinge of nerves and glanced over at Cris.

He turned on his own smile and slid his hand to the small of her back as they prepared for the many kisses and hugs that welcomed them home from Simone, Maria Elena, Renata, Pina, Ugo, Franco, Lucrezia, Mario, and any of the other elders that were holding court.

The slight splash of anxiety at being around so many people would probably never go away entirely, but she was less likely to pay attention to it these days.

Still, some nervous quirks were just her.

And though Cris didn’t erase them, being in love had smoothed a few.

“Are you comfortable in the room? The new bed is nice, no? You look so beautiful, tesoro mio . This year looks good on you,” said Graziella, holding both of Ellie’s hands.

“Everything is perfect, Grandma. We are very comfortable, thank you.” Ellie beamed.

“Ben is arriving at midnight, yes? Will you pick him up at the airport?”

“I think Leo is picking him up, actually,” said Cris.

“Oh.” Graziella scrunched her brow, looking confused for a moment. “Oh!” she exclaimed, a delighted look on her face. “That’s wonderful! Does he need to borrow a car? Gas? We can give him some cash for the tolls! It’s lovely of him. Of them!”

“It is, isn’t it? A little surreal, maybe,” said Ellie.

Leo and Ben were both so busy that their relationship was still taking baby steps.

But Cris said that Leo wasn’t filming any more dating content on Double Shot, and Ben flew to Miami twice since Christmas—even in coach when no other tickets were available.

Either they were falling in love or snacking on magic mushrooms.

“Eh, surreal is what we’re good at.” Graziella grinned.

It was all surreal. Still. Though Ellie and Cris had moved in together almost immediately after he was done with training, they took their time figuring out what it meant to be together.

At first they were overly polite, knocking on a door before entering and asking each other how they felt about things like decor and dinner plans.

As they got more comfortable, some of their old quirks crept back in.

Cris often left the kitchen sink running and Ellie usually left socks in the bathroom, but each had learned to turn off and pick up.

Sometimes she would look up from whatever she was doing, see him pad across the room, and linger in shock for a few moments.

It was normal, but forever weird—and totally great.

“ Zia Eleonoooora !” Greta sang as she walked up the steps from the beach carrying a small sleeping bundle in tiny swim pants and a bucket hat.

“Oh my goodness, look at this little cookie! You were the one making mama’s lips puffy all that time,” Ellie cooed as Greta placed the little boy in her arms. “ Ciao, Tiberio. Sei veramente bello. ”

“This is the little emperor, eh?” Cris leaned over Ellie, rubbing a tiny, chunky arm in greeting.

“Mm, more like the little Trekkie,” laughed Greta. “If Flavio ever leaves me, it will be for Captain Kirk. Have you seen your parents? It’s like spring break in Cancun on their end of the terrace. If she tries to give him a lap dance, I’m out.”

“I’ll go over and chaperone.” Ellie handed Tiberio back to Greta.

“Hey, it’s nice to see you two. Together.” Greta rose up on her toes to get closer to Cris’s face. “You’re not screwing this up, are you? Because I know it’s been a long time since I made you eat a sand patty, but I’m back on my Pilates and can bench press a whole Pack ’n Play. So look out.”

“I promise that I am as in love with her as you are,” Cris said, leaning down to touch his forehead to Greta’s. “No screwing up.”

“Okay, yes. See? That’s all I needed to hear. By the way, I told you!” She pointed to Ellie.

“In fact, you did.” Ellie’s cheeks heated at the open volleying of feelings.

“I’m sure you’ll find a way to thank me. Greta is a fantastic middle name for any future children, you know,” she said, laughing and rubbing Tiberio’s bottom.

“Or future dogs,” Ellie countered.

“Or dogs! Yes! Okay, you need to go deal with your parents, and I’m going to shut my mouth with a heat sealer. Love you guys!”

Cris turned to Ellie after they said goodbye to Greta. “Do you want a dog?”

“Do you?”

“I want to talk about whether or not we want a dog.”

“Perfect, we can add that to the list for when we get back home. For now, should we go break up the action?” She looked over at Peggy and Gio, who were canoodling across two wooden deck chairs.

“Eh, let them go. I kinda hope we’re like that when we’re in our sixties.”

“Maybe we can skip the part where we almost break up, though.”

“Yeah, let’s get right to the kissing,” he said, turning her to face him. Sparks lit up in her belly like they always did, like she hoped they always would, as Cris lowered his mouth to hers.

“ Ragazzi, before I forget,” Simone interrupted. He held out his palm to reveal the ancient set of car keys. “Just had it serviced. Still runs like a dream! This time you leave early though, yes?”