Page 99 of Pomegranates and Olive

"Please, babe, let me get this out. You need to know how proud I am of you for leaving because it allowed me to look at my life, our life together. And it opened my eyes. We were happy, but we weren't passionate. We weren't involved in each other's lives. We were just living, two strangers in the same home. I wouldn't want to have lived my whole life like that, and I wouldn't want you to have to live like that either."

I know what he is saying is true, but it still feels unreal. I tear up again at Luca’s words. "I can't fix the mistakes that I've made, and I know that."

"I'm not asking you to. This is me just saying my piece. I think I knew the moment that I got here that it was truly over, not because you were with…" I open my mouth to argue with him, and he rolls his eyes at me, "… Deniz. I knew it was over because you were genuinely happy here. Happier than I've seen you in years. I should have left then, but… I couldn't. Call it pride, hell, call it damn stupidity, but I refused to believe we couldn't make it work."

"Don't say that, Luca. I'm glad you're here. At the very least, you being here allowed us to have the closure that I think we both needed so that we can begin to move on."

"… but then you went and got hurt, and I was so scared."

"Of my mother?"

"Don't joke, Liv. I was scared because I knew it wasn't me you were supposed to be with and here I was trying to force you into loving me. I should never have done that." He sighs and rakes his fingers through his hair. "But now I can see the difference in you. You radiate happiness. I guess it’s because you’ve met someone that you are truly passionate about. "

I can't admit to Luca my feelings about Deniz. It would hurt him too much. "It was just a holiday fling."

"No, I can see that it's not."

"Deniz has more than enough women in love with him as it is. More than even he can handle. We are two very different people… anyway, he's gone, and I'm in no position to chase him."

"Gone? No, he isn’t. Let me tell you something about Deniz.” Luca stands up and starts pacing under my olive tree. “He came to the hotel every single day.”

“What?”

“He wanted to apologise… and he wanted me to forgive him.”

“Are you serious?”

“At first I wouldn’t see him but he still came back. Again and again.” He shakes his head with a slow smile. “I guess you could say he wore me down.”

Deniz is still here!

"And yeah, Deniz is still a fucking wanker, and he's lucky I didn't kill him when I had the chance…butas a man that loves you and always will, I can see that he loves you as well. Let him love you."

"One of the first things Deniz ever said to me was that he is not genetically made for love."

"He can say he's the bloody Queen of England, but the fact is, he is very much in love with you."

"How do you know?"

"He told me." Luca crosses his arms chuckling. "He has no filter, does he? He always says exactly what's on his mind? It's a little confronting."

I don't know what to make of everything Luca is saying, other than the fact that the man that I love hasn't disappeared out of my life just yet.

"He told you he loves me?"

Luca nods, his voice rough as he struggles to keep his emotions under control. "It took everything in me not to punch him again. I told him he's a lucky man. And I told him he had better love you until he draws his last breath." His face is now wet with tears, and so is mine. I throw my arms around his neck, and we're both crying. "Oh, and told him I'll hate him for the rest of my life."

"Mamma is going to bepazza."

"Yeah, she will."

"Your mother is going to bepazzaas well!"

Luca chuckles at that and wipes the tears from his cheek. "I'm just relieved none of this is my fault."

"You're kidding, aren't you? You don't think they’re not going to blame all of this on you? You were tasked to bring me to my senses and bring me home."

"Shit! You're right! Well, good thing I'm not going home then, isn't it?"

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