catherinep20
Every summer, the world arrives at Lago di Como.
Musicians spill into the town carrying instruments and impossible reputations. Tourists crowd the waterfront cafés. Music drifts through the streets long after midnight, and for a few golden weeks, the tiny lakeside town feels like the centre of everything.
For Lena Moretti, it's simply survival.
Her family's café depends on festival season to survive the quieter winter months, and Lena has spent most of her life balancing trays, managing chaos, and putting everyone else first. While visitors fall in love with the lake, she barely has time to look at it anymore.
Then Gabriel Vale returns.
French-Belgian guitarist. Festival favourite. Infamous heartthrob.
A man women travel across Europe to watch perform.
Last summer, he was just another musician passing through town. This summer, he keeps coming back to the café. Staying after closing for her uncle's homemade wine. Smoking cigarettes by the harbour after midnight. Looking at Lena as though she's something far more dangerous than admiration.
Because unlike everyone else, Lena never asks Gabriel for anything.
Not his attention.
Not his charm.
Not the carefully constructed version of himself the world already adores.
And somewhere between crowded piazzas, late-night music, family dinners and the aching beauty of a summer that cannot last, Gabriel begins wanting something he's spent years avoiding:
A place that feels like home.
But festivals end.
Summer leaves.
And people like Gabriel Vale were never meant to stay.