Amalia Romano has been putting her heart back together, piece by piece after her high school boyfriend broke it four years ago, when he left the city with his mother and little sister.
Amalia thinks she'll never see him again until she does at...
Frankie hands me a drink. It's pink in colour and has a lemon wedge on the glass, as well as sugar on the rim. I tilt my head. "What's this?"
"Your favourite."
I take it from him and take a small sip. The taste of alcohol is strong, but it's almost balanced out by the sweet strawberry tang.
"Thanks." I say. Enzo is already in bed, so I don't feel very guilty about this. If anything, it brings me an odd sort of relief.
He sits beside me on the couch and sets his hand on the back of my neck. We watch TV, and I wrap my arms around myself as I continue to drink the drink until it's all gone.
When we go up to bed that night, I'm more exhausted than usual.
And when I wake up in the morning, I can't move.
• LORENZO •
I ruffle through Amalia's picture book. I look at it a lot. I like to remind myself of when she was little.
Each photo holds a memory. I've taken countless pictures of Amalia, but this book contains the ones that I love the most.
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My birthday. Amalia had always known how to make them extra special. On this one, she had made a cake herself and had her mother bring it to the restaurant so they'd bring it out to sing happy birthday to me.
The cake tasted horrible (Amalia has never been one for baking) but I loved it because she made it. I held her for the rest of dinner, and she slept in the bed with Heidi and I that night.
I look at another photo.
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Amalia was always strapped to my side when she was little. Wherever I went, she usually did, but sometimes I went places that weren't fit for a little girl, so I had to leave her at home. Sometimes I'd be excited for these instances, but not because I had time away from her. That was the worst part about it. I liked when this happened because when I came back, Amalia would act like I'd been gone for years. She would hug me until I was sure my circulation was blocked, and then we'd spend time together, just the two of us.
