Kissing in Italian by Lauren Henderson Read Free Book Online

Paige and Kelly dropped out of art classes almost immediately, and, to be honest, I’ve wondered before why Kendra didn’t too; she doesn’t have much talent or much interest. Now it’s hit me like a ton of bricks why she keeps coming to class.
    I pay for the art supplies and take the bag, my brain racing. Luigi and Kendra are still standing there lookingat each other. I take a deep breath, link my arm through Kendra’s, and physically pull her into the fray again, joining the stream of people who are flowing down the wide aisle between stalls.
    “I hope Paige got that hat!” I observe, loudly again. I’m stuck on one volume setting and can’t get it down. “ ’Cause then it’ll be really easy to spot her!”
    I sound like an idiot, but I feel so awkward, icky, confused, that it’s hard to get words out at all: I don’t know how to process what I just saw. It’s with huge relief that I do spot the blue and white brim of Paige’s hat bobbing above the crowd; my arm still twined through Kendra’s, I navigate us toward it. I feel that if I let go of her she’ll slip right back to Luigi.
    “Hey!” I say brightly as we reach Paige and Kelly, who are looking at shoes; this stall is too expensive for us, but the stock is amazing. Stacked leather wedges trimmed with suede flowers, fastened with narrow silver and gold straps that wrap around and around the ankle; crazy stiletto heels that would be mad to wear here on the cobblestones but are just ridiculously beautiful.
    “I keep hoping she’ll lower the price,” Paige says, “because they’re all here week after week, but it’s still forty-nine euros.…”
    “
Way
too much,” Kelly says, turning away with a sigh.
    “I need to talk to you,” I hiss at her. “Let’s hit the library now.”
    “Are we going to the rotisserie chicken stall?” Paige asks. “I’m getting hungry.”
    “Why don’t you and Kendra go and get lunch,” Kelly says, coming over all organized, “and then join us in the park with the benches in half an hour? Opposite the cinema? Violet and I want to go to the library.”
    “Okay!” Paige says happily. I fumble for some euros to give her, but she waves me away. “I got this,” she says cheerfully. “You can treat next week.”
    “Get lots of the fried veggies,” I say. “I love those.”
    “And the polenta,” Kelly says eagerly.
    I hesitate for a moment, wondering if I should tell Paige to keep Kendra away from the art stall and Luigi, but then I realize that’s impossible and silly. It would be for nothing, anyway; we’ll see Luigi this afternoon, for our art lesson. My plastic bag of art supplies swinging from my wrist, I follow Kelly through the crowds.
    We turn under the stone colonnades that run around the sides of the piazza. In front of the bars are casual wrought-iron tables and benches, and chic dark-brown woven chairs and tables covered in cream cloths outside Nerbone, the smart restaurant. I always look with envy at the people lunching or dining in Nerbone; the food smells delicious, the tinkle of glasses and cutlery is enticing, the clientele is so smart.
    And then I see Luca and Elisa, Catia’s daughter, our implacable enemy, having lunch at a table beside the hedge that wraps around Nerbone’s dining area. They look—perfect. Elisa is, as always, chic, wearing a slightly transparent shirt over a miniskirt that shows off her long, thin, tanned legs. Luca is in a white linen shirt and jeans. They’re each holding a glass of straw-colored white wine, talking and laughingwithout a care in the world. It’s as if he and I hadn’t had that dark, deep, passionate moment in the river yesterday, as if he could dismiss me, completely, from his mind.…
    Kelly hasn’t seen them, I think. I turn my head so he won’t catch my stare; I believe we have a bond, which means he’ll sense I’m looking at him. And I couldn’t bear to see Luca raise his glass at me mockingly, saying with a glint in his dark-blue