Page 95 of Operation Sunshine
Ben opened the email on his phone as he walked up the narrow staircase to his flat, his thumb scrolling automatically.
Buonasera from Firenze!Franco had written at the top, and Ben could hear the sing-song brightness in his voice. The rest was a neat little list: the apartment near Santa Croce which sounded amazing, the intensity of Chef Gallo’s kitchen (“they work us like gladiators, but I’m learning so much”), and a snapshot of the Arno at dusk attached at the bottom, the sky painted gold and pink.
It was cheerful. Polite. Informative.
And it cut straight through him.
It could have been an update to anyone: Raj, Willow, probably even Franco’s grandmother. There was nothing in it that was aimed directly at Ben. No sly jokes, no confessions, no whisper between the lines that saidI’m thinking about you.
Ben sank down onto the edge of his bed, his phone slack in his hand, staring at the words until they blurred. He should’ve been glad Franco was doing well, thriving and—God help him—happy, but the emails only made the distance wider, sharper. Franco’s voice was there in the words, but Franco himself was gone.
The flat was too quiet without him. The spaces where he used to move—the kitchen, the couch, the warm dent in the bed—felt hollow. Ben caught himself saving little stories from his day, ready to tell Franco, only to realise he had nowhere to put them. He caught himself reaching for his phone late at night, wanting to textI miss you,but he never did.
He wouldn’t be the one to pull on the thread Franco was clearly keeping neatly tied.
Ben tried to keep busy. He threw himself into the restaurant, into numbers and orders and late-night paperwork. It didn’t help. Franco was everywhere, in Ollie’s laughter when he dropped a glass, in the smell of simmering tomatoes and garlic…
In the silence that followed Ben home.
Three weeks. He’d only been gone three weeks, and it already felt like forever.
Ben swiped the phone off, set it face-down on the nightstand, and rubbed the heel of his hand against his chest where the ache had settled, dull and relentless. The worst part wasn’t missing Franco.
It was the gnawing fear that maybe Franco didn’t miss him back.
Ben had only come back into the office because he’d left his ledger behind. The door was half-closed behind him, allowing voices to drift through from the kitchen. He smiled to himself.
These guys could win gold in an Olympic talking event.
Then he caught Lexie mentioning Franco’s name, and he stilled, straining to hear.
“I’ve been in touch with him too.” Willow’s voice was low but audible. “Yeah, you’re right, he talks a lot about Ben. Like… a lot. Honestly, I feel guilty. After all, Operation Sunshine was my idea. Well, Operation Distracto, originally. Raj came up with the sunshine part, remember?”
Ben frowned.What on earth…
There was a sharp clatter, like a mug hitting the counter, then Mina’s voice sliced in. “Wait—OperationDistracto? What are you talking about?”
“Oh God, you weren’t in on this, were you?” Lexie said. “I totally forgot.”
“It was a joke,” Willow said after a moment’s hesitation. “Well, at first. You remember how Ben was…youknow, driving us all insane with the moody brooding thing? Mr. Corporate? And Franco was doing what Francoalwaysdoes, all charm and flirt, and… well, I thought maybe if Benrelaxeda little…”
Beats of silence.
“You mean you asked him toseduceBen?” Mina’s voice rose in horror.
Lexie exhaled heavily. “It wasn’t exactly like that. I mean, maybe at first, yeah, it was about distracting him, but then it changed. I think Franco actually fell for him. Hard. You could see it.”
Willow’s voice softened. “Yeah. I knew it was serious when right after the staff retreat Franco told me it had gone beyond a joke, and that we should forget it. But by then… well, it was working. Ben wassmiling, for God’s sake. He wasn’t carrying the world on his shoulders the way he did when he first got here. I told Franco as much, but we never brought it up again.”
Cold inched its way through Ben.What. The. Fuck?
Yet more silence followed before Mina spoke, her voice quiet and stricken. “So what they had…it wasn’t real?”
Lexie let out a small sigh. “Maybe it didn’t start out real. But the way it ended? I’ve never seen Franco look atanyonethe way he looked at Ben.”
Ben expelled a long breath, his muscles frozen, his limbs heavy. Inside he felt numb. He wasn’t sure how long he stood there, but the doorframe seemed to be the only thing holding him up.
Sothatwas how it had started.
