Page 4 of Game On

As quickly as it started, our trip comes to an end. It’s one trip I was reluctant to come on, but it turned into an exciting adventure, with a whole lot of heat thrown in.

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Nine months pass afterthe soccer match in Milan, and that makes it nine months since that unforgettable kiss. Yes, I have been counting.

I count as I secretly watch Blaze play every game alongside my brother. I count each time I have a conversation with Luca, and I want to ask how his friend is doing. But I don’t.

I mean, how would I bring it up?

So, Luca, how’s your sex-on-a-stick best friend doing? Yeah, the one who kissed me in the hall, just out of sight of you and our entire family to a point of being a wanton fiend.

The one who burned the memory of his body into my head so deep that I can’t dig it out and throw it away, even if I wanted to.

The one who I dream about, the one whose name leaves my lips when the memories turn to fantasies, and I scream for him during the lonely silence of night.

Yeah, I won’t be having that little chat with Luca. Not happening. I will just carry on as if nothing ever happened.

Out here on my patio, with my morning coffee, I’ve been lost in thought most of the morning, but I need to quit daydreaming and get the shop open already. I opened The Bells of Venice two years ago when a neighbor mentioned to me that she wanted to retire and sell her little trinket souvenir shop. The idea of combining her existing shop with my love for reading and books seemed too perfect to pass up. From then on, I put my head down and went to work, building it into a business that thrives. Based on the store’s name, my biggest selling item is a custom-made bell that I have a local artist decorate. The artist will paint anything and everything portraying Venice onto the different sizes of little white porcelain. They may vary in size and color, but they all capture the city I love so very much. Even with the popularity of the bells, book sells are a close second in revenue and create a lot of foot traffic, since I sell new books in addition to buying and selling used books also.

I wonder if Blaze is a reader.

Clearly, the night of the kiss has messed with my head. It’s difficult to focus on the fact I have bills to pay when all I can think about is Blaze.

Honestly, I have never really been interested in any of Luca’s friends, and I do not know much about Blaze either. So, stalling again, I do what anyone would do to check someone out, turn on my computer, enter Blaze’s name in the search engine’s search bar and open a deep investigation via cyber world. There really isn’t much there. He doesn’t have any social media accounts that I can find, and all the press about him playing is limited to his stats and the history of the few different rosters that he’s been on.

Maybe what he briefly mentioned to me that night at the table, him being the quiet one of his family, is true. Which is also confirmed from his lack of information on social media. He would not have had a reason to lie to me, but checking him out myself has raised my infatuation level up a few more notches.

Enough. Get to work. Stop obsessing over a man that you can never have.

Obviously, he’s busy with his life of soccer, and I have my life here, on this tiny island that I love.

With that thought sitting heavy on my heart, I make it out of my house and to the store. I have a new order of Christmas bells coming in today, and I have to set them up with all my other holiday-themed books in the display window.

The American Thanksgiving vacation has brought more tourists to town, than there has been in months; it’s clear that the holiday shopping season has begun in full force. My store is suddenly flooded with tourists and locals wandering the few aisles, all of them looking for that perfect gift for their friends and loved ones.

The hustle and bustle of work spins my world, and the hours turn into days, the days into weeks. I eventually lose all sense of time, but I absolutely love it. The flow of people to and from my store, finding exactly what they are searching for, is a rush to my soul. I imagine that every bell or book leaving the double doors is off on a new adventure to create a story of its own. I honestly think sometimes that if these items could talk, they would write their own bestselling novel.

The air turns colder, and before I know it, there’s one week left until Christmas. Mom calls to make Christmas lunch plans, and she requests that I bring the panettone. Apparently, I make this Italian sweet bread even better than she can. I don’t believe it, but if it helps her out, I’ll certainly bare the responsibility, even if I am at the shop until midnight most nights just to keep myself afloat. Despite how exhausted I am from the long hours at work, I’m thrilled to have a successful business and the opportunity to spend the holidays with my family.

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