Page 25 of Run

Seven

Vincent

My arms had gonearound her instantly, but it took my mind a little while to catch up.

I was holding Giovanna for the second time in nearly as many hours, but this was so different, so much worse than the last time I had held her.

My girl had always thought she was tough, and she’d never really accepted how much her family had meant to her. Not Santo, and certainly not her mother. I’d known that, had considered it as I’d weighed what to tell her, but to see her heartbreak was almost more than I could bear.

I didn’t understand it personally. My own mother hadn’t inspired any level of attachment, let alone emotion, but holding Gia in my arms, I still felt my heart twisting as hers did.

She always pretended she didn’t care, had spent all of her time dreaming about what life would be when she was away from them, but I had always known how much she loved her family, even Santo, monster that he had been.

This moment told me Giovanna now did too.

She cried, and I again regretted that she was going through this, was angry with myself for letting this happen.

When her mother had first died, I’d wanted to find her, but her sister Daniela had said no, had been adamant that I not. I’d pushed, argued, but Daniela hadn’t relented. She’d simply said that Gia had made her choices and she would respect them.

I hadn’t even mentioned the idea to Santo. I knew even the suggestion would have sent Santo into a murderous rage. He’d viewed Giovanna leaving as a sign of ingratitude, and a personal insult. After his wife’s death, those last strings of humanity had started to dissolve, and I wouldn’t have risked Gia becoming a target.

All of those reasons had felt real to me then, but now, I could see that they were paper-thin. If I had a chance to do it again, I would find her anyway. I didn’t but I would take her back home now.

I broke away from her, my hands gripping her neck. The wet tears that stained her cheeks stabbed at me, and on instinct, I leaned forward, captured her salty tears with my lips, letting my mouth linger of her damp cheeks. Then I pulled back and stared down at her.

“I know you don’t want to, but you have to come back, if only to say your good-byes. You’ll never be free until you do, Giovanna.”

Her face quirked. “You’re a philosopher now?” she said, her voice thick with tears.

I returned her smile with a weak one of my own. “No. But I’ve learned a couple things along the way.”

“Like what?” she asked.

I used my finger to brush away one of the tears that lingered on her cheek, warning myself that I had too quickly fallen back into the habit of touching her, the feeling of her in my arms, something that was dangerous.

“I learned that only a precious few people matter. And I learned that when you have a chance to see them, a chance to say things that have been left unsaid, you’d be an idiot not to take it. You have your flaws, but you’re not an idiot.”

She smiled faintly, but I saw the seriousness under the humor. And I knew I was right. Giovanna understood what I was saying, and knew what she needed to do. She sighed, and then lowered her head for just a moment before she looked back at me.

“Okay. I’ll go home,” she said.

I felt a moment’s relief, but one that was short-lived.

Gia was coming home, but despite how it broke my heart, I knew she wasn’t going to stay. Things had changed. The world that she had known at home was gone. But in the end that wouldn’t matter. She’d still leave.

So I took an opportunity I knew I would seldom have again and kissed her.