The Reunion (Part 1)

chapter 68

- "and a carafe of water, please" Maya clarified.

- "very well, I'll be back with your drinks in a moment"

- "grazie..." Carina said to the waitress. "Are you thirsty bambina? Hot in London, in the middle of February?"

- "do you realize she could have heard you?"

- "and then I'm sure that she too, if she has someone, she likes to do ... All kinds of things. I like to have sex with you, I don't see why you have to be prude with it. If there are so many of us on earth, it's because people have had sex. It's natural. And I really, really like it with you. And from your moaning yesterday, you didn't seem to mind."

- "I'm not against it... It's just that we can talk about our... Intimate lives, when it's just the two of us".

- "it's just the two of us"

- "in a public place"

- "dispiace bambina... But you know you fell in love with me when I was already like this?"

- "and I appreciate that you don't share the smallest details with all our friends"

- "Yeah, no, I don't. Just Taryn."

- "huh? What do you mean 'just Taryn'?"

- "Taryn is... My American best friend... After I don't tell everything... Everything... But she's kind of my Andy"

- "my God" said the blonde, dropping her head forward on the table.

- "bambina, I know you're a prude, so I don't tell you everything"

- "she knows that since the operation I..."

- "no! I'm not telling your fears. That's between us. But she knows that you are... Good, very good... She just knows that we had to wait until after the operation. And then she knows little phrases that you start to say to me in Italian, but just because you're too sweet, or when you come home with flowers, for no reason"

- "the reason is that I love you."

- "stop making me fall in love with you with your sentences like that".

- "never"

The waitress had returned with their drinks, the carafe of water and the plate of cold cuts.

"You're making me drink because you want me to forget that in three hours I'm meeting the father of your son? Your ex-husband?"

- "it's more like I'm drinking because in three hours my ex-husband is meeting the woman I was already and still in love with when I said yes to him"

- "but I wish you weren't drunk, because I still remember that call on... Charlie's birthday," Maya replied, taking Carina's hand.

-"I won't be... Drunk and I promise I'll only have one drink... And then I have no reason to drink too much. I trust"

After the meal they had taken a little digestive walk.

They had gone to Kensal Green, the first of the Magnificient Seven Cemeteries in London, but especially the one where some of Charlie's ashes were. They had walked an hour and a half to get to the cemetery.

It was there that Carina had given an appointment to Charles and his wife Kate Connor.

The Italian had bought a bouquet of flowers to put on Charles' grave marker and a small bouquet of candy. She knew it was stupid, it's not like Charlie could eat them, but he loved candy. Besides, it was her ritual.

She had cried when she looked at the plaque with her son's name on it, it always made her feel the same. She had run her fingers over the stele while speaking in Italian.
Maya had given her some space so that she could pay her respects to the little boy's grave.