Be Brave With Me

Chapter Twenty-Seven

"Romeo? Si o no?"

Aura held another ceramic plate up, beautifully made and painted by hand. Romeo poked out his head from behind a stack of ceramic bowls at the other end of the tiny, crammed store. He grinned and gave her a thumbs up. A yes, then. They understood each other despite her lack of Italian.

They were on the hunt for some new ceramic dishes for the Vista. Between the serving plate Nonna had dropped yesterday at hearing Romeo's big news, and all the broken plates on her record, they were in need of a few new ones. It meant coming down to Positano, of course, but it was worth the risk of getting recognized. Today's little excursion would get her mind off of everything else, a few hours of distraction.

From the memory of the number of unanswered calls she had spied before on her phone before Theo had turned it off again on her request. From Nonna'a curious glances when she thought Aura wasn't looking. They had started after Aura had caught her browsing through one of the tabloids that Beth had left behind last night. From that sweet, strange ache without a name, that whirl of... whatever that she'd taken home from the beach. Some weird allergic reaction from the cut on her knee? She still didn't know. From the little slips of paper that Romeo ripped off the kitchen calendar every day. They flew around the kitchen as notes and grocery lists, an ever-present reminder that time was flying by, too.

Time was running away from them, not caring one iota that they had given up on running the moment they'd set foot into Ravello.

Talking had become superfluous, a waste of precious time. His lips had woken her in the middle of the night to soothe her tossing and turning. Her hands had found him in the morning to ease him into the day and to watch the lines that had settled between his brows after their return from the beach melt away in a moment of release. Those lines had been back in place as soon as he'd stepped out of the shower, pressed one last kiss for the day onto her lips and headed down for breakfast duty, his jaw locked tight with unspoken words.

She saw. She understood. What was there left to say?

All they could do was enjoy whatever time they'd left together.

Over and over and over again.

Which reminded her of the second reason she'd accompanied Romeo down to Positano. Aura stepped out of the store back into the sunshine. She pretended to browse through the ceramics that were displayed outside, stacked on top of old produce crates.

In truth, she was on a mission to gather intel. Where could she find them? The supermarket? Did they have something like drug stores in Italy? Did they sell them in pharmacies?

Out of earshot from the others, mischief had danced in Theo's voice when he'd tasked her with a final errand. "See if you can sneak away to buy some more condoms, will you?" He'd pressed a kiss to her temple, boosted her up into the passenger seat of Uncle Giuseppe's old truck, and slammed the door shut.

She'd leaned out of the opened window, blushing a deep red. "What if I can't find them and have to ask someone? What are they called in Italian?"

Theo had stepped away from the truck, arms crossed in front of his broad chest, a wide grin splitting his face. His first since they'd returned from the beach. "No idea. Not a word my Mom taught me, you know?"

"Theo!"

His shoulders had been shaking with laughter. "I'm sure you'll figure it out!" He'd raised his voice to carry over the loud engine of the truck. "If anything else fails, you know what always works!?" A pause, a raised brow. "Hand gestures!"

"I hate you!" She'd laughed, shaken her head about him and fallen back into her seat as the truck had rumbled down the road.

Missing him already.