Page 30 of A Beginner's Guide to Forever
“Okay. Well, I’m going to let you go. You have fun with your friends.”
“Wait,” he says. I hear footsteps, and he must be heading somewhere quieter, more private, because all the noise of the party dies away.
“You never answered my text.”
“Which text?”
“The one where I asked when I would see you again.”
A shiver runs through me. I honestly forgot—sort of—that he’d sent that; it was before I even left London. A lot has happened since then.
“I’m not sure,” I admit. “I’m in California for a while.” I don’t mention my planned trip back to Nairobi next month or that it’s possible for me to connect through New York then.
“I’m going to be in California in two weeks,” he says. “For a visit to my grandparents’ winery in Napa. You should come spend the weekend with me.”
My heart begins to pound. An entire weekend together in wine country?
“Alessia?”
“Yes?”
“Will you come?”
“Can I think about it?”
“Yes,” he says.
“Go have fun with your friends.”
“Okay. Good night, Alessia.”
Chapter Eight
Know When to Let Go
I wake up to a text message from Hart the following morning.
Non riesco a smettere di pensare a te.
I can’t stop thinking about you.
But he was drunk, so ... I don’t read too much into it. Plus, it was sent at midnight—3:00 a.m. his time.Classic.
I make myself a cup of coffee and turn on my laptop. David has replied to my message with a detailed plan of action, and I take my time, editing it and adding my thoughts in red before I reply.
I also have to file a report that’s due to the state every seven years to maintain my nonprofit status, so I get to work on that next.
I pause when a new text appears on my phone. Thinking it’s Hart again, a smile instinctively forms. But then I’m stopped in my tracks.
Sean:It’s time.
My heart drops. And since I don’t trust my shaking hands to type a legible message, I call him instead. He picks up right away.
“I think you better come today.”
“Okay,” I say. I wanted to go see Murphy today anyway. I’d been dragging my feet, knowing it would be so hard to see him, to say goodbye. And now it seems the time has come.
I’m not mentally prepared in the least to accept that one more part of my personal life is coming to an end.
