Page 186 of Modern Romance January 2025 5-8

‘Do you want to go back?’ Dante asked, with a purr of suggestion. ‘Examine those unexpected goods?’

‘I do.’ Susie nodded. ‘But...’

Yes, she did want to go back, and discover herself with him. To do some more of the things she’d missed out on. And yet she knew, or rather guessed, that this place must be agony for Dante. There was a darkness to him here, a pain that felt almost palpable at times. Or perhaps she recognised the loneliness she so often felt. Having no one to really talk to—even if in Dante’s case it was by choice.

‘It’s so nice...sitting here talking. Or aren’t your temporary lovers supposed to say that?’

‘I told you,’ Dante said, ‘you can say whatever you want. You’re not used to that?’

‘Meaning?’

‘You don’t often speak up?’

‘Perhaps...’ Susie admitted. ‘Okay, then.’ She would speak up. ‘I’d like to stay here a bit longer. What time do you fly?’

‘Damn!’ he said, and sat up quickly. And then he saw she was startled. ‘It’s okay, I’m not panicking at the prospect of more conversation. I have to let my pilot know.’ He took out his phone. ‘The helicopter is booked for this evening.’

‘Helicopter?’ She frowned as his call was swiftly dealt with. ‘You surely don’t...?’ She halted. ‘Sorry.’

‘For what? You think I should be avoiding helicopters, given what happened?’

And, while she was all for speaking up, Susie knew this might have crossed the line. ‘I shouldn’t have said anything.’

‘There’s only one commercial flight a day from Milan to here,’ he said. ‘And I am not chartering a whole plane just for that. As Gio would say, we have to think of the planet!’

‘Doesn’t it scare you?’

‘No.’ He shook his head. ‘I flew on a helicopter straight after I heard about the accident. I just wanted to get back to Gio.’

Her hands met his and touched the tip of his fingers. ‘I’m so sorry.’

‘It was a long time ago,’ Dante said, and then he looked to the window, and the grey, heavy skies that must be so unlike that clear, bright day. ‘I could see the smoke as we flew over...’ He pointed to the hills. ‘Right there—just where the snow caps the middle one. A little way up...’

‘You saw it?’

‘I can still see it,’ he admitted.

‘So you hate coming home?’

‘I do,’ he agreed. ‘Though not so much this time.’

He gave her hand a squeeze, and it was Susie who wanted to pull back.

He’d said it so nicely, yet she couldn’t help but feel like a diversion. A little respite from the pain of his past. But then who could blame him for that? And wasn’t he a little respite for her? A boost to her confidence? Someone she felt brave enough to try new things with, to discover her body with and soothe her wants with his skilful hands?

Yet right now it wasn’t just sex. Only the tips of their fingers were still touching...

Dante had never spoken about it—not really, but Gio had got to him. He’d seen the doubt in his grandfather’s eyes when he’d insisted to him that he’d moved on.

He had.

Surely he had?

Yet aside from practical reasons he’d never told anyone about that day. Oh, he’d listened to Gio endlessly go on, accepted condolences, but he’d never talked about it.

Possibly to prove to himself that he could, he decided to tell Susie.

Susie—whom he’d never see again after this day.