Page 155 of Modern Romance January 2025 5-8

He could almost hear Rosa calling to him, the sound of her heels as she ran to catch him, and he recalled his annoyance that two years on from their one-night stand she still tried to leap on him when he was home from university.

‘Dante, please.’

He walked faster, but it was as if the past was chasing him tonight.

‘We need to talk.’

Rosa had grabbed at his arm, but he’d shaken her off.

‘There’s nothing to talk about,’he’d told her.‘Seriously, Rosa. Stay the hell away.’

‘Dante, you have to listen to me...’she’d urged.‘There’s to be an announcement tonight. Sevandro and I are getting engaged.’

On a hot summer’s day he’d felt the blood in his veins turn to ice. The music festival had been on, and he’d been able to hear the music from the valley beneath pounding, to see the revellers everywhere, and somehow he had known in that moment that his life would never be the same...

‘No.’He’d shaken his head.‘Sev’s never so much as mentioned you.’She didn’t even call him by the name family and friends used.‘No.’

‘It’s sudden.’Rosa had nodded.‘Sevandro spoke to my father yesterday. Dante, please, he cannot know about us.’

‘There never was an “us”,’Dante had reminded her—as he had many times before.

Usually she begged him to reconsider, but on that day she’d agreed.

‘It was a one-off.’She’d taken a deep breath, blinking back fake tears.‘Sevandro can never know. You mustn’t tell him.’

‘You don’t get to dictate ourconversations.’

Then he’d looked at the woman whom he knew had tried to get him to commit by using the oldest trick in the book.

‘Are you telling Sev that you’re pregnant?’

‘Don’t be so personal!’

‘Personal?’Dante had checked.‘Thisispersonal—Sev’s my brother.’

‘And your brother is in love with me,’Rosa had said, her voice defiant rather than pleading, no sign of tears.‘Sevandro loves me. If you tell him what once took place, such a long time ago...’She’d shrugged.‘Take it from me, Dante, you will lose your brother.’

Perhaps he should have listened to Rosa, Dante thought now as he came to Pearla’s and leant on the archway nearby.

While he hadn’t told Sev what had taken place between himself and Rosa, he’d tried to broach the topic. He’d used the same excuse he’d given his grandfather tonight, only with a slight twist. He’d told Sev he was studying family law.

To no avail.

On the eve of the wedding he’d been a little more direct, implying that Rosa was trying to force his hand, and that if Rosa was telling him she was pregnant...

He hadn’t even finished speaking before Sev had knocked him out cold. Dante would wear the scar of that attempt at conversation for ever.

And Rosa had been right.

He’d lost his brother...

‘Ciao, Susie...’

The sound of the name hauled him from dark memories. Glancing over, he saw Susie walking out of Pearla’s. Her coat was open. She tied her scarf, then stood opening and closing her umbrella, which seemed to want to invert...

‘Susie?’

She put her umbrella up before looking at him. ‘We meet again.’