Page 76 of Where We Met

"Yeah."

"That's interesting."

"What's sointerestingabout it?" I ask.

"Well, I mean she's an adult. She can make her own decisions. Whether he agreed with them or not, I don't think he had the right to barge into your home and demand she leave."

I didn't expect that from Mia.

"It's still his daughter. He has a right to try and protect her. I'm just…I don't know. I'm struggling with the idea that anyone thinks they need to protect someone from me."

"I know. He just doesn't know you. Try not to take it personally. There are a lot of sick people in this world, so it's easy for someone to think the worst."

Her words slightly ease the guilt that has been clawing at me for the past week. They make me feel less like a monster and more…misunderstood, I guess. It's hard to put words to what I'm feeling.

"Thanks, Mia."

Hours later, I'm sitting on my couch. I poured a glass of wine from the Mancini farm. The smells and flavors bring me back to Italy.

Vino is lying next to me, her demeanor a bit somber compared to her usual excitement. She's been this way since Savannah and Bailey left.

Though only a week ago, it feels like forever since I was with Savannah. I miss her lips, her touch, her laugh, the way my heart would beat faster by something as simple as her eyes on me. Part of me regrets telling her we need to just take a step back until the semester is over. This would all be so much easier if I could hear her voice. I've wanted to pick up the phone and call her hundreds of times.

Every time I do, an image of her father comes to my mind. Then I think, if I ever have a shot at being with Savannah, I can't piss him off more.

I don't even know if I should go after her when she graduates. Family is important to me, it's everything. I've grown up with an amazing relationship with my parents and my siblings. I don't take it lightly that her father feels the need to protect his daughter from me.

I don't want to be any reason for their relationship to struggle.

Especially since it's been just the two of them for so long, they've shared a journey of such pain from the loss of her mother. Something like that must bond you together for life. I could never be the one to come in between them.

I'm afraid to ask her how they're doing. Have they talked more about the situation? Has she explained how we decided to keep it strictly platonic until after school? Would that even matter after what happened in Italy?

These questions keep scrambling around in my head, driving me absolutely insane.

I throw down the rest of the wine left in my glass and then walk into my bedroom. I unbutton my shirt and throw it in my dry-cleaning pile.

I need to go for a run. Maybe that will help me work off some of this access energy charging through me, creating a tidal wave of thoughts.

After I change, I pull out my running shoes. Vino eagerly wags her tail, knowing I never go on a run without her. I grab her leash and attach it to her collar.

"Come on, girl," I say to her. "Maybe we both need this run. I think we're both missing our girls tonight, aren't we?"

Chapter Twenty-Five

Savannah

Twomoreweeksleftof school.

With each day that I don't have contact with Luke, I worry that he'll find being with me too difficult and walk away forever.

Going to class has been pure torture. Seeing him and knowing we can't talk, knowing I'm just another student. But this is what he thinks is right, and I get it, but my heart doesn't. It's all I can do to hold back my tears when I'm watching him in class.

Especially when I see Rebecca's appreciative eyes on him.

Just as class ends, I start to walk up the stairs with the girls. I turn around and see Rebecca look up at me with a sinister smile as she walks over to Luke's desk then sits on it.

Shannon looks back at me then at Rebecca. She instantly knows what I'm feeling.

---