Page 207 of Modern Romance January 2025 5-8

Susie stood still, wishing there was something better she could offer, and then she looked at Dante, a man who dealt in broken relationships for a living, and knew he would have examined every angle.

‘I’m so sorry for what happened,’ she told him.

‘It’s hardly your fault.’

‘Iamsorry, though; it must have been awful.’

He nodded.

‘It still is?’ Susie ventured.

He didn’t answer; instead he gave her the nicest kiss.

But it was a slow and light kiss, a never-to-deepen kiss, and as they pulled apart Susie ran her tongue over her lips and they tasted of goodbye.

It was time to do this.

‘I should go.’

She pulled on her boots and put her lip balm in her bag, and then she went to the bathroom and packed her toiletries in seconds. She came out as Dante was throwing a couple of last-minute things into his hand luggage.

‘My driver just texted,’ he said. His voice was a little husky, but then it wasn’t even 6:00 a.m. ‘I need a file...’

‘I’ll go,’ she told him.

And there were no more kisses, no suggestions that they might meet again. She sort of waved at the door, but he was ramming a folder into his case, so she clipped down the stairs, pulled on her coat and collected her basket of goodies from the winery.

Dante closed his eyes as he heard the door close.

He’d seen the glittery tears in her eyes and he actually got it for once. Sometimes saying goodbye really was hard.

And he loathed how matter-of-fact he’d been, when he hadn’t felt that way at all.

‘Merda,’he said, cursing himself as he headed down the stairs.

To do what?

Call her back?

Take her back to bed and then say goodbye all over again?

He paused, saw her scarf on his banister and recalled removing it. He remembered their passion, their conversation, and everything in between.

He did not wrench open the door. Nor did he call her back to get her scarf and haul her into bed. Nor did he whisk her off to Milan.

Instead, he reminded himself of what he’d told his client.

Let her go with grace.

He put the scarf back over the banister and then went and collected his case. He headed out to the waiting vehicle and tried not to catch one final glimpse of Susie walking along the walls, carrying her basket...

CHAPTER EIGHT

ODDLY,WHENITfelt as if the world was ending, she didn’t cry. Instead, she greeted a couple of early-morning locals as if life was beautiful...as if the world was normal. There were even tiny buds on the trees that hadn’t been there on Friday,

‘Mi scusi,’someone said, and Susie smiled and stepped aside.

She was surprised at how calm she was, that she wasn’t in floods of tears. But if anything, she was relieved.