“What shift?” She asked glancing back as she followed Sal into the back room.

Sal laughed now. “Same as today, what’s the big deal?”

As soon as Sal’s eyes met hers, his smile dissolved. He must have read her tell-all expression. Aside from Grace Sal knew better than anyone how hard Vince’s departure had been for her. She tried to soften the utter desperation he must’ve seen in her face about not wanting to be around Lorenzo. God, she was an idiot. Here she’d gone all out these last few months to prove that she was in fact over Vincent. She may’ve just blown her whole cover.

“I can see if they’ll send someone else the rest of week.”

“No, no that’s fine. You don’t have to do all that.” She recanted quickly. “It’s just that after seeing me with Ben things might be a little, you know, awkward between me and him.” Sal lifted his brows, nodding. Hopefully that meant she’d shifted his gears into thinking that was the only reason. “But if this is the time he’s gonna come in every day, then it should be fine. We’ll only be around each other a couple of hours.”

She smiled and rushed out, turning the corner just as quickly as she’d gotten there. With a poof she collided right into Lorenzo’s hard chest. “Whoa,” Lorenzo said holding her arm when she stumbled back, “you okay?”

Oh God, looking in his eyes was just like… “Yeah, I’m fine,” she said pulling her arm gently so he’d let go. “I’m sorry. I wasn’t paying attention.”

He smiled, and again she had instant memories of Vincent flooding her mind. “Yeah I guess you weren’t.”

The other waiter walked past them into the back room, leaving them alone in the hallway. She smiled as the emotions started setting in, and she began to walk away. “I’ll slow down, I promise.”

She could do this. She could do this. It was only for a few hours for a couple of days. She’d get through it. She had to. Gulping back the reality that not only would she continue to have to be around Lorenzo here at the restaurant occasionally but at a lot of the family gatherings as well. Someday it wouldn’t be just Lorenzo, it would be Vincent.

She waited by the bar for the order of drinks she’d put in. It’s been a year now. She chided herself. Get over it.

“Get over what?”

She jumped at the sound of Lorenzo’s voice. Looking up at his playful eyes, she couldn’t believe she was still doing that. Geez how hard was it to keep your mouth shut when you’re thinking! Before she could come up with a suitable response, he answered his own question with a smirk, “Vince leaving?”

Feeling herself flush, she glanced away as the bartender let her know her tray was ready. So grateful to have a reason to not look at him at least that second, she took the tray from the bar, placing it on her forearm.

Rose didn’t even have to think of how to respond to that because he went on. “About that, Rose, when you get a chance I need to talk to you.”

“I’m done talking about that,” she said walking away from the bar and Lorenzo. This was exactly what she’d been afraid of. She’d been trying so hard to finally just get past it, and now he wanted to talk about it? Reopen all the wounds that only recently began to heal? No thanks. “There’s nothing more to talk about, Lorenzo.”

“But there is,” he said.

She continued to walk, and he didn’t follow. “Not happening.”

She thought that was the end of it, until he called out her name just before she reached her table, and she turned to him, irritated now.

He finished up with his apron and picked up the empty plastic dish container he’d set on the floor. “It’s happening.” He winked, walking off looking way too smug about having a conversation she absolutely refused to have.

~*~

The temptation Rose was feeling now about reading the last letter she’d received from Vincent was the exact reason why she’d told herself to just shred it the moment she saw it. It’d come after she’d shred all the others, and she hadn’t received another one since. She was also very aware this was one that came after she’d confirmed she had a boyfriend to Sofia. Since apparently Lorenzo was listening so closely, she was sure he’d told Vincent.

After Rose showered that evening, she sat on her bed with the towel still wrapped tightly around her head, staring at the envelope. His letters had come like clockwork about every two weeks. It had been much longer than two weeks since she received this one, and she hadn’t received another since. This letter was also much lighter and thinner than most of his other letters. She knew he was either telling her off or simply saying goodbye once and for all. Did she really want to put herself through this? No, but she needed the closure.

Her heart sped as she shook the envelope to slide the letter inside over then began to rip away slowly at the other side. Taking a deep breath, she focused on not choking up. It had been long enough for Pete’s sake. She couldn’t mourn about this forever.

Slipping the folded paper out, she could see it wasn’t even a page long—definitely goodbye. With another deep breath she unfolded the paper; seeing his handwriting alone was enough to choke her. Stop. She read her name at the beginning, her eyes refusing to look down, but then she forced herself and began to read.

Dear Rose,

I wasn’t going to write this. After what Lorenzo let me know, I was never going to say or write another word to you again, but that lasted for about a week. I just want you to know that I understand now why you won’t forgive me. And as much as it KILLS me to know that you’ve obviously found someone else, I wanted you to know I’m happy for you. I know I’ll never be happy without you in my life. But I did this to myself. I guess in a way I’ve always known deep inside that we could never be. Somehow I’d find a way to ruin that just like I’ve always ruined anything good in my life, and you are by far the very best thing to ever happen to me. You didn’t ask for this, and you deserve to be happy. So yeah it hurts, but I’m glad you’ve moved on.