WANTED: Love of my Life

31. Date number two

I threw myself into his arms with perhaps a little too much force. If so, he didn't complain. Instead, he picked me up and swung me around. And for a moment, there was nothing on his face but pure happiness. It was such a rare and wonderful sight.

“Hey there,” he laughed, and set me down again.“I like your way of saying hello.”

“I know an even better one,” I said, motioning him down towards me with my index finger. “Want to see?”

Although he made no reply, apparently he did want to see. So we said hello for a few minutes.

“You're right,” he said, when we finally broke apart. “That was even better.”

“So, what are we going to do tonight?” I asked, eagerly.

“Do you have something in mind?”

“Well... I would like to go back to the park. To the tree. I want to make sure that it wasn't all a dream,” I admitted.

I thought Giacomo would laugh at me. But he just smiled and nodded. As we walked away from the house, he put his arm around me, and it didn't feel like I was walking away from my home. Not at all.

Just before we turned the corner, he threw back a look at my house. “By the way... I wanted to ask you: How did you get out of the house without triggering the alarm?”

“Alarm?” I looked up at him in confusion.

“The alarm. The security system. You do have a security system, don't you?”

“Well... I can't say, actually. But since no sirens started wailing as I climbed out the window, I don't think so. Not if the rest of the house is as old as the elevator.”

“No security system?” He stared down at me, horror in his eyes. “But you do have a security guard somewhere in the house? Tell me you've got a security guard in the house.”

“No!” I couldn't help laughing at the expression on his face. “What is it with you and security men and bodyguards? We're in the USA, in the middle of a busy city. What could possibly happen?”

“You'd be surprised,” in such a low voice that I almost didn't catch the words. Was this a hint at his past, I wondered suddenly? Was this a hint at the real Giacomo? Had he perhaps been mugged or beaten? That coincided with what people at the shelter had told me about his cowardice. But looking at him, a mountain of muscle, I simply couldn't reconcile his appearance with those accounts. If someone got on his bad side, he should be able to hold his own. I just couldn't figure it out!

“Did something... bad happen to you, Giacomo?” I asked, hesitantly, braced for a rebuttal. Instead, I heard a laugh, completely different from the one I'd heard before. It was hard and bitter.

“Yea, Angela. Something bad happened to me: my life.”

The laugh and the words sliced me to my core.

“Is it... all that bad?” I wanted to know, my voice quivering. He stopped, only then seeming to understand what I had heard in his words. Remorse flooded his face, and he bent down to me, kissing me on my hair.

“I should have been more specific,” he whispered. “My life – until a few weeks ago.”

“You're just saying that,” I mumbled, mollified.

“Well, I have to admit, the days are still kind of awful.” He smiled an impish and absolutely enchanting smile. “But the nights have picked up recently.”

“Yeah?” I muttered. “Why's that?”

“Try to guess.”

He didn't give me a chance, though. Instead he pressed his lips to mine again.