He nodded eagerly. “Sounds great.”
It was settled after that. I showed Taylor up to his room to let him get unpacked a bit and then I agreed to meet him downstairs in half an hour for lunch.
Gianluca was in the second-floor bedroom and just before I reached up to knock on the door, I heard him on the phone with someone.
“We don’t need to make a big show of it. I’d rather just go to dinner.”
The person on the other end seemed to disagree.
Gianluca sighed. “Listen, if you’re set on celebrating my birthday, we’ll go out for drinks or something. Nothing major, right?”
Birthday?
He hadn’t said anything to me about it.
He offered a quick goodbye to the person on the other end of the line, who I now suspected was Massimo, and then I knocked gently.
“Come in.”
“Hey.” I poked my head past the door and saw him hunched over a can of paint, mixing it as Mopsie played beside him, clawing at a wooden stirrer of his own. “Taylor wanted to go grab some lunch so I was going to take him up to Massimo’s restaurant. Could you manage to take a short break and come with us? He’s a food critic and I told him you’d know of all the good places to eat in Cinque Terre.”
He frowned and glanced down to Mopsie and then to the open can of paint. “I ought to stay here for now. I just started and this paint will dry out if I leave it like this.”
I almost asked about just putting the lid back on it, but I knew better. The paint was just an excuse.
“Oh. Okay. Right. I’ll tell Taylor we’ll go another time then.”
I made to back out of the room and he shook his head. “It’s okay if you go on with him by yourself, if you want to.”
The fact that we were still on unclear terms made such a simple proposition seem wildly fraught with complications. We’d only made up the night before and I quite liked the peace between us, even if it was a bit fake.
“Yeah, right. Still…” I didn’t finish the second part of my sentence: I’d rather not go without you.
…
I did end up going to Massimo’s restaurant that day, but it was by myself and for an entirely different reason: to plan a birthday surprise for Gianluca. It was his thirtieth, after all; drinks and a quick dinner wouldn’t do. He deserved a proper celebration and Massimo was fully on board with my plan. He promised to phone everyone and arrange the details. All I had to worry about was getting Gianluca to the train station on time.
Easier said than done.
The morning of his birthday surprise, I woke up feeling like I needed another ten hours of sleep. I could barely pry my eyes open and when I did, I spotted Gianluca across the room, pulling on jeans and buttoning them at his waist. What a beautiful, beautiful sight. His tan skin was on full display, and his hair was all mussed up from my hands the night before. Still, the sight couldn’t rouse me from bed. I felt like a ton of bricks were weighing me down. I’d stayed up the night before tossing and turning, worrying over every little detail of his birthday. I wanted it to be special for Gianluca, but now I found myself wishing I’d managed a minute or two of actual rest. I needed it for the day ahead.
“I’ve seen you staring at me. You can’t go back to sleep now.”
I’d managed to pull the sheets back overhead, burrowing myself under the covers. I felt kitten paws on my stomach and glanced down right as Mopsie circled round and curled into a ball.
“Mopsie and I have reached a majority decision that we deserve a bit of a snooze.”
“Is that right?”
“Mmhmm. Also, Mopsie has requested a hot cup of tea with two sugars.”
Gianluca laughed and finally managed to pry the blanket from my hands, tugging it down to expose my naked torso. I always started the night with a full pajama set, but Gianluca somehow managed to strip me as soon as I hit the bed. Very inconvenient, really, as it got quite cold at night.
“Rise and shine, both of you.”
I grinned. “I know what today is.”
“Oh?”
“It’s your birthday,” I said with a wide conspiratorial grin. “I heard you chatting about it on the phone a few days ago and I have an entire day planned for us.”
His brows arched in surprise. “Have you?”
I grinned and sat up, reaching to the side table to pull out a little paper birthday crown I’d made for Mopsie the day before. I had one for me as well. We put them on (Mopsie chewed on his) and then I sang Gianluca “Happy Birthday” so loudly and off-key that a shout came from the square in Italian.
“What’d they say?” I laughed.
“That your singing is beautiful and they’d like you to continue all morning.”
“Well sorry for them because we’ve got to be at the train station in”—I glanced at the clock beside my bed—“ten minutes!”
“What? Are you mad? I haven’t even had breakfast.”
“It’s all been taken care of, birthday boy. Now get on and get dressed in something more outdoorsy. No jeans!”
A few minutes later, we were on our way. I still felt a bit off, tired and achy, but my head felt fine. I knew some caffeine would help, and fortunately, Massimo was standing on the platform with two cups of espresso for Gianluca and me. Surrounding him was our small group of friends. We’d invited Paolo and Matteo, Sofia, Massimo, Kat, and even Taylor. I hadn’t expected him to show up, passing along an invitation as an afterthought, but he reached out and gave Gianluca a big pat on the back as we arrived, excited to be included in our activities for the day. I felt glad I’d invited him. I knew firsthand how lonely you can get traveling by yourself.