page31 (1/2)
She s of her lips “That makes two of us”
His eyes, deep and dark, rested on her The scent of his cologne wafted fro her even when his hands were in his pockets “What did it for you?”
He would walk away, but perhaps that was best anyway He didn’t need to know the story; he wouldn’t be here long enough for it to matter “When the one person who should love you doesn’t, it tends to shape you whether you want it to or not So I came here, and built my own life It’s all I have, Luca”
He nodded slowly “And you think I will take it away from you”
She confiraze steady on his
“I won’t”
“I won’t let you”
That tripped a ghost of a smile
“What about you, Luca? Why don’t you believe in love?”
“My mother abandoned us…all of us…ere children I heard Gina crying herself to sleep every night I saw uish…and yet he still loved her She divorced hiave her a settlement, but not once in all these years has she come to see Gina, or me Or father She walked off to a whole other life”
“You haven’t seen her since?”
“Not once Not even when Gina was married, or when her children were born”
“I’m sorry, Luca” Mari’s heart ached for hinificant in the eyes of a parent “But your father…”
“He did a wonderful job raising us, and running Fiori But in the absence of her, Fiori beca it under his control”
Mari reached out and touched his sleeve “He doesn’t trust you”
“He thinks he does”
Luca wantedfor hiinally thought
“So you ca”
He nodded, again slowly She wasfelt sohtmare, complete with a sense of the surreal He had touched her, and she hadn’t flinched or been afraid He was only here for a short ti with him helped She’d be a fool to question that, wouldn’t she?
“I never, never want to be in the position that father was I don’t need any great psychoanalysis I don’t trust love, not the long-lasting kind”
“So you satisfy yourself with tes”