I’m finally revisiting the characters from The River City Chronicles nine years after their original timeline. I’ll be running the series weekly here on my blog, and then will release it in book form at the end of the run. Hope you enjoy catching up with all your faves and all their new secrets!
Today, Marissa makes an early morning trip to give someone an unexpected goodbye…
< Read Chapter 32
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Chapter Thirty-Three
An Unexpected Goodbye
“I’ll be gone about an hour. You sure you’re okay?”
Ainsley stared up at the blurry brown-and-white blotch in front of her. It sounded like Marissa. “What time is it?”
“Four-thirty. Sorry. I need to tell Gio something before he leaves for Italy.” The blob resolved itself into her friend—and maybe more—who had held her all night, after…
Ainsley blinked. She didn’t want to think about it. Not yet. Thinking about it meant doing something about it, and she wasn’t ready to deal with that just yet. Especially if she had to face her parents, and explain what she’d been doing at an art gallery, and why she’d missed an important test… “Yeah. I’m just going to sleep a bit longer.”
Marissa knelt and kissed her cheek. “That sounds good. We’ll talk over breakfast, when I get back.”
Then she was gone.
Ainsley closed her eyes, expecting to be tormented by memories of the night before.
Instead, she fell almost immediately back into a deep, numbing sleep.
#
The city streets were all but empty, so early on a Friday morning. Marissa wasn’t used to being up before the crack of dawn—though a few years before, she would have still been awake, after a night filled with studying, eating pizza, and chugging a can of Red Bull or Monster to help keep her eyes open.
This morning, it was mostly rage at Jun Seo’s manager and a gnawing ache in her own soul at what she’d done to Gio that kept her going. That and a can of Pepsi hastily grabbed from the fridge on the way out.
She had a small window to do what she could to make things right on the latter, even if it meant leaving Ainsley alone for an hour or so.
She sailed through the lights at Watt and Howe, usually good for a five-to-ten-minute wait apiece at commute time. What, How… why isn’t there a Who Street somewhere nearby?
The businesses along the way were dark save for the occasional lit-up neon sign, and the grand houses between Morse and Monroe, some of them fancy enough that they wouldn’t have been out of place in Beverly Hills, stood like silent monoliths, regarding her little red Mini as it sped by.
In no time, she found herself standing outside Ragazzi, staring up at the upper windows where Gio and his dads lived.
One was lit up—Gio’s room—and she could see his shadow passing back and forth behind of the curtains. She checked her phone—Carmelina would be picking him up in another half-hour or so. Just enough time.
She sent him a text.
Gio, it’s me.
The shadow stopped. Then it started moving again.
Marissa stared at her phone. Nothing. Dammit.
Gio, pick up!
This time he didn’t even stop to look at his phone.
Marissa sighed. She looked around, spying a short branch in the gutter nearby.
A lone silver Cybertruck passed by, the inside dark, its headlights temporarily blinding her. Hard to tell if they saw her or not. She scowled at it anyhow, for good measure.
Then, with a sigh, she knelt and picked up the branch, getting a handful of sap on her palm for her trouble. With a flick of her wrist, she managed to toss it up toward Gio’s window, but the sticky stuff on her hand sent it awry.
“Dammit.” There had to be a better way to get his attention.
Then she saw the linen delivery truck pull around the back of the restaurant.
Of course. You’re an idiot. Diego would be up receiving the day’s deliveries at the back door.
She rubbed the sap off on the side of her jeans, as best she could, and followed the truck around to the small parking lot in the back, next to the dumpsters. The last place she’d spoken with Gio. As she’d hoped, the back door was open, golden light shining out to illuminate the worn-down, cracked gray pavement.
She slipped in through the door, past a surprised man in a Linens for Less t-shirt, and through the test kitchen, where Diego was preparing for the day. “Buon giorno,” she said with a cheery wave, ignoring his shocked look.
“Dove vai?” Where are you going? She remembered that one from her time with Gio.
“Upstairs to see the traveler.” Then she was past him and on her way up to the second floor.
Part of her was nervous, scared to finally do this, after all this time. But another part was exhilarated, ready to finally get it off her chest.
The door to the master bedroom was closed—Matteo was probably still asleep. But the light under Gio’s door shone bright.
She pushed her way inside, afraid to slow down lest she change her mind—and collided with a shirtless Gio, knocking them both down onto his bed, his half-full suitcase tumbling onto the floor.
“Che cazzo…?” He looked up at her, and started laughing.
She hit him hard in the left bicep. “Why are you laughing?”
He flashed her his famous Italian grin. “If you wanted to see me this badly, you could have just called.”
She stared at him. She’d been prepared for anger. For sullenness. For just about any negative reaction, actually—she’d imagined them all. But not this.
Then again, she hadn’t told him her secret yet. “I texted.” It sounded lame, even to her.
His glance strayed to his phone on the tiny Ikea nightstand “From where? In front of the restaurant?”
Her face betrayed her. “Maaaybe.”
He sat up, disentangling himself from her arms. “Seriously?” He looked at his phone. “I guess you’d have had to, to make it up here in such record time.” He got up and lifted his suitcase back up onto the bed. “You know I’m leaving this morning, right? In, like, half an hour?”
“Of course. I didn’t want to wait.” She sat up, carefully removing a sticky palm from his bedcover. Hopefully he won’t notice. “I… I wanted to talk to you. Before you left.”
He pushed the suitcase aside and sat down next to her. “Okay. Talk.” His eyes met hers, and for just a second she felt the resistance piling up again inside.
“It’s nothing. It can wait.” She started to get up.
He pulled her back down, gently, his hand warm against the skin of her forearm. “You came all this way. It’s not nothing.” His eyes narrowed. “Is this about the affair?”
Marissa frowned. “You… knew?” She’d gone to such lengths to keep it from him. I never wanted to hurt you.
He looked away. “Not for a long time. But that night you came to see me, out back, under the moon? I figured it out.”
Heat rushed to her cheeks. “Oh Gio, I’m sorry—”
“Don’t.” He held up a hand. “No excuses. It happened, it’s over.”
She sighed. “I never meant to hurt you.”
“Well, you did.” He got up, his back to her. “We were good, you and me. Or at least I thought we were—”
“We were. I… I’ve been giving it a lot of thought. We got comfortable. Together, I mean And maybe I didn’t want comfortable, just then.”
“What was her name?”
“You don’t know her.”
“Her name. I deserve that much.” The request was more of a demand, this time.
“Abby. And how’d you know it was a her?” Everyone knew she was bi, but that didn’t mean she’d been with a woman.
He turned and leaned back against his bookshelf, which was full of books about food and cars and red and yellow sports car models. “I saw her once, I think. Getting into the car with you, downstairs. Red hair?”
She nodded. “Yeah. I met her in school.”
“I didn’t think anything of it, at the time. Only later.” He stared out the window into the darkness. “Why didn’t you just tell me?”
She wished she knew. “It’s… I don’t know. I didn’t want you to think it was your fault—”
“Mission not accomplished.”
“And it only lasted a month. She was exciting, fresh, beautiful—”
“Ouch.”
She cringed. I’m still hurting him. “But also a little… aimless. She had no goals. Just wanted life to be one big party. You… you were nothing like that.”
He ran his hands through his hair and down the back of his neck, settling his elbows on his chest. “You know I loved you, right?”
Past tense. “I know. I… I think I loved you too. Just not at the right time.”
He shook his head, exhaling like a bull.
“I’m sorry, Gio. I truly am. You didn’t deserve it.”
He was silent for a long time, so long she grew uncomfortable, her fingers flexing on her knees, as if looking for something to do. But she owed him the space to process it. Owed him so much more, in fact.
“Are you happy?” His words caught her by surprise, as did the sharp gaze that pinned her where she sat.
Am I? It wasn’t a question she normally allowed herself to consider. “No. Not right now.” Work felt like a dead-end. Her education a waste. And the guilt… But then there was Ainsley. “I think I could be, though.”
He nodded. “Me too.” Then he sat next to her again and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her into an unexpected embrace. “I want to forgive you. I will forgive you. But right now…”
She nodded. “I know.”
They let go, and their eyes met. “Thank you for being honest. Finally.”
She bit her lip at the last word. But she nodded. “I’m sorry it took me so long. You deserved better.”
He whistled. “Maybe so. Now you should go.” He looked around the room. “I do actually have to get packed before Carmelina gets here.”
“Of course.” She got up and headed for the door.
“Marissa.”
She half turned, unsure what he would say next, bracing for the worst.
“Talk more when I get back?” He managed a wistful smile, a remember how things were smile, and her heart melted.
She nodded. “I’d like that.” Two steps back to give him a peck on the cheek. “Buon viaggio.”
“Ci vediamo presto.” We’ll see each other soon.
It was enough.
< Read Chapter 32
Like what you read? if you haven’t tried it yet, check out book one, The River City Chronicles, here.