Tiptoe Kisses

Chapter 31

Chapter 31

She’s that person that annoys you but you can’t help it you adore her anyway.  She says things that make you smile and teases you until you laugh out loud.  You understand the dumb stuff she does means she’s worried and it makes you worry til she’s ok.  She tells you how she feels all the time you just need to pay attention to her and listen.  She doesn’t text or call you sometimes even when she’s in a mess.  She wants to try to figure it out herself, but it drives you crazy and you think she doesn’t need you anymore.  When you fight she goes to sleep sick to her stomach and you’re secretly worried until you make up.  Everything is manageable as long as she’s by your side and has faith in you.  She is your girlfriend….

 

Taylor checks her cell phone for the time as she crawls out of bed.  She can’t believe she slept this late it’s after ten o’clock.  Hurrying to the bathroom she showers and gets dressed for the day then wonders what is she supposed to do here.  She doesn’t know anyone or how to get to anywhere.

Pacing back and forth in her room, she can’t erase from her thoughts about what happened between her and Santo last night.  Each time she tells herself she’s not going to continue trying to figure out their relationship it gets more complicated and they usually end up sleeping together. 

Maybe Zoe’s right, she likes being in dysfunctional relationships, but is their relationship really that?  She misses him when he’s not around.  If he had left for Italy without her  she would have followed him.    She knows she can be kooky, moody and uncompromising sometimes but he puts up with it.  He doesn’t criticize her choices or harp on her mistakes.   He knows when she needs a hug and when she needs her space and although she drives him crazy he’s always there for her in whatever way she needs him to be.

He said he needed her last night but she needed him to.  Her body shivers as she thinks about the way he took her on that table in his gym.  He has never been that rough with her before and she enjoyed it.  Their relationship is guided by passion for each other and she keeps thinking it will burn out but it's getting stronger and no matter how far they draw apart in disagreement with each other that passion brings them back together like magnets, constantly pulling them together.

Going back into the bathroom she looks at her eyes.  Most of the redness is gone from her crying but the circles remain.  Giving up on how she looks, she puts her hair in a ponytail leaving a few loose tendrils hanging.  Stuffing her cell phone in her skinny jeans pocket she makes her way down the stairs to the kitchen. Tentatively she walks in expecting to see Santo then smiles when only Amelio is here arranging their breakfast on the kitchen island.

“Taylor?  The morning is almost gone.  Come have something to eat.”  He puts the last plate of poached eggs on the island.  “I’m sorry but I must leave you.  I have to go to the Donati’s house to help with the planning of the dinner for this Saturday.”  He pulls two plates out of an overhead cabinet and Taylor’s heart drops.

“Wh…why…..do you need two plates if you’re leaving?”  She stammers out already knowing the answer.

“I prepared the breakfast for you early but neither of you show up to eat it.  Come, I have kept everything heated.  Now that you are here, Santo will follow.  Enjoy your meal, I must go.  I will clean everything up when I return.”  

Taylor stands at the kitchen’s huge marbled island watching Amelio as he walks out the door.  She doesn’t have time to think about what to do next as she can hear footsteps coming toward her.

Santo is surprised to find only her.  He hoped Amelio would still be here to chaperone them until he can think of something appropriate to say about last night.  He didn’t mean to get carried away but she is the only woman that has ever made him feel like he can’t breathe if she's not around.  He knows why his jet set on that airstrip for hours waiting.  He just can’t bring himself to tell her, he’s not ready to face the kind of rejection it will bring his heart and possibly never see her again.