Unfinished Business

Chapter Twenty-Five

I feel like I’ve been moving robotically throughout the day. After the incident this morning, that’s all that’s been on my mind. All I could feel was that residual feeling of Aiden’s lips on mine. After he left the room, I quickly moved back into the room where my mind was running in all sorts of places. I forced myself to sleep, and I think I did for a while, but I still got up tired.

Jenny walked in when I got up with a big cup of coffee. I smiled at her gratefully as she went to change. The plan for the day was just exploring the city. In the evening we were to all go to my grandparents’ villa to have dinner. Dad already called them and they were expecting us.

I tried to put my mind off of the kiss and indulge Jenny as we explored Rome. It’s been a long time since I’ve been here and I’ve taken Jenny to all the tourist spots. Bret and Aiden followed behind us quietly. Whenever I made eye contact with Aiden, I couldn’t help but quickly look away. He kept his impassive look the entire time.

When we got hungry, we went to the restaurant that my grandparents’ own for a late lunch.

“Ciao, un tavolo per Quattro.” I told the host.

She looks up at me, and in an instant, recognizes me. “Signorina Masters. Ho una tabella tutti pronti per voi,” she says as she grabs menus and escorts us.

I smile back at Jenny, who looks stunned. “You speak Italian?”

“Yea. I had to learn it while growing up. My grandparents, the ones you’ll meet later, wanted to make sure that Trent and I will know the language. It’s also useful in business when you travel a lot, so Dad made sure that we know how to speak it.”

As we take our seats and the host gives us the menus, I had to help Jenny with the translations. Aiden, I knew who also spoke the language helped Bret. We ordered our foods, and Jenny just starts asking stuff about Italy and my family. I know she only knows of what she’s heard from the magazines and news, but since I told her that she could ease up today, she’s been curious.

“It still gets to me how you know all this stuff, yet you are still 18. You’ve been to all these places, run businesses, go to school, speak three other languages. I can’t help but think you’d be older than me,” she looks at me admiringly.

I chuckle. “Well, I’m not. But don’t ever think yourself under me. Like I said, I want us to be friends, regardless of our social status.”

Jenny nods. “So what else can you say in Italian? Can you speak it fluently?”

“Si, posso. Cosa vorresti dire a me?” I look at her.

“What did you just say?”

“I said ‘yes, I can, and what would you like me to say?” I look at her amusingly. Jenny is so cute.

“How about ‘I wish I could live in Italy forever.”

“Vorrei poter vivere in Italia per sempre.”

“Wow. It almost sounds like Spanish, doesn’t it?”