Page 226 of Valentino

She waits, and I know by the look on her face that there’s something more that she wants me to say or do…. But for the life of me I can’t do it.

“I guess this is goodbye, Val.”

As I watch with my heart in my throat, she collects her things.

“I’m glad we got to have a final night together.” She smiles sadly. “I feel like we both needed that closure.”

My eyes search hers.

Don’t go.

She takes my face into her hands and softly kisses me; her lips linger over mine. “Goodbye, my love,” she whispers. “Please be safe.”

Don’t go.

And I want to say something; I want to beg her to stay and to work this out but what’s the point. I already know that I can’t do what she’s asking of me.

Even if I could, I wouldn’t want to.

With one last beautiful smile, she leaves. The door clicks quietly behind her and just as quickly as the beautiful Anna Russo breezed into my life, she leaves it again.

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

ANNA

“Can you I get you anything?” the air stewardess asks me.

Amnesia….

“No. Thank you.” I force a smile and drag my gaze back out the window.

The sea of regret is dark and deep.

Could be spending the night with him…could be leaving him all over again, but it’s really too early to tell. I’m sure this will be one of those typical Valentino memories that I replay over and over again in my head for years to come.

What if I never get over this?

What if it’s a he’s-the-one kind of thing…. The what-if of my life.

I know I should be grateful that we got to have one last night together, but how can I be grateful when all it’s done is cemented that he’s my most favorite thing of all time…. Only to never have it again.

“Would you like anything, sir?” the stewardess asks the man sitting beside me.

“I’ll have some peanuts please and a cup of coffee.”

“Of course.” She pours his coffee and then passes him a snack bag of nuts.

“My wife was allergic to nuts, you know,” he tells her.

“She was?”

“Yeah, so I missed out on eating them for forty years. The only thing about her that I don’t miss.”

I smile as I pretend not to listen.

The stewardess gives a nervous laugh, unsure how to reply before she pushes the cart up to the next person. “Can I get you anything?” she asks the person in the row behind us. “Yes, I’ll have a….” Their voice drowns out into the distance.

Forty years….