Page 122 of Officially Yours

And then, a man maybe twice our age opens the front door. He looks at me, then Lucca. “Americanos?”

And my smoking-hot boyfriend goes off in Portuguese. And while I don’t understand a word of what he’s saying, I am extremely smitten.

With Lucca’s pause, the man looks from him to me. He shrugs, then replies to whatever Lucca’s told him.

“Let’s go.” Lucca grins.

“He’s letting us inside?” I nibble on my lip, reining back my excitement.

“He is.”

The stucco peels inside the home, too. The walls are a mixture of brown, green, and white, where different layers show through. There’s a small boxish-looking couch against one wall and a television opposite it. It’s simple and humble, and I’m not sure it looks anything like it did when Lucca lived here. But his face tells me he’s conjuring a time and place when Vovó was alive and well.

We walk through the cooking space and down a short hallway.

“This was my bedroom.” He breathes out a short laugh. “I never imagined I would see it again.”

We step inside the small room and Lucca smiles.

“I had my Pelé poster there. And my Little League trophies here. Vovó bought me a Bible that I should have read—butnever did. Still, she insisted it sit on the end table next to my bed—here.” He points to one corner of the room, where the current occupant’s bed is placed.

I laugh. “She tried.”

“Oh, she did.”

I slip my arm around his back, and he wraps his around me. We look around the little room, taking it in. “She succeeded,” I say. I rest my head on his chest and tilt my gaze to peer up at him.

“I never imagined I’d be back here,” he says again. “And I never, in my wildest dreams, imagined I’d be here with you.”

“I believe that. I can honestly say I never imagined that reality either.”

“I love you, Maggie Pie.” Lucca leans down, his nose brushing next to mine before he gently presses a kiss to my lips.

I breathe him in, musk and man, and oh-so-Lucca deliciousness. Exhaling, with my lips on his, I say, “You have to stop calling me that.”

The corners of his mouth turn up. “Not a chance.”