Page 43 of Capri

Jones:

Works just fine. Fuck off.

Romeo:

Enjoy it, Jonesy.

Enjoy it.

Yeah. I intend to.

It’s two-thirty, which means I have thirty minutes until I need to be at Grand Luna to meet Capri. I have a taxi scheduled to arrive just in time for us.

I make myself a cup of espresso and sit idly at my breakfast bar, staring at absolutely nothing. This is my life. I come home to an empty house. The view of the city outside my grand window paints the picture of the full lives others are living.

I could be a part of that. But I’ve invested so much of myself in my company, and for what? I have nothing to show for it except for money in my bank account.

What’s the point of having all this money without anyone to share it with? I eat dinner alone every night unless I’m sailing with guests somewhere or if Romeo and Luca show up unannounced.

My penthouse has been articulately designed to my taste, but I can’t help but question if this reallyismy taste?

I look around me, examining the gray scale.Gray.Who invented the color anyway? A happy medium between white and black, but a color that feels stale. It seems useless.

I don’t even know what my taste looks like. I can tell you now, though, that it isn’t gray.

Meeting Capri has taught me one important thing: that it’s possible to meet someone I share a real connection with. Genuine connections aren’t just a fantasy—they’re something I can actually have.

My thoughts revert back to Hillary, my college girlfriend and truly the last woman I felt something other than lust for. I thought we would end up together, but our goals weren’t the same.

Being unequally aligned in the big things does nothing but set you up to fail at the small things.

It only took me three years of dating her to realize that.

All of my other relationships have been purely physical.

I do that for good reason. I protect myself and avoid getting hurt.

I’m limited to people who actually give a damn about me, so I’m particular about who I let in.

If only my mother was actually my mother right now, I could talk to her about the struggle I’m facing with myself.

I want to find happiness—to be happy.

But how? How can I devote myself to someone when I owe everything to my mother and father? I was a disgrace to our family, and this is my redemption.

Making his business succeed, even from the grave.

But today, I refuse to let my past weigh me down and decide to focus on my time with Capri.

I can enjoy her for a week and then say goodbye, right?

I’ve done it before, and I can do it again.

* * *

“So,what’s the plan, Captain? Don’t tell me this is where you kill me?”

I glance around the convertible taxi we’re shuttling in, pointing to the innocence of our surroundings. “Here? Too risky. Small town island and all that.”

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