Page 25 of The Fall Affair

My sister thought she was insulting me, but I stood a little taller. “Yeah. I am da captain.”

Isabella smiled again, and that weird ache in my stomach flared up. At least today I was actually hungry. I walked over for a better look at what the two of them were doing. “What you…cooking?”

“I think you mean making.”

I’d spent the last week watching English TV shows and memorizing common phrases, but apparently, I hadn’t mastered the language yet. “Si. Making.”

She held up a thick green braid made from grape tendrils—the spirally part of the vine that grasps onto other things for support. “Bracelets.”

I nodded. “Cool.”

I’d never had any trouble talking to girls before, but being near Isabella made me feel gangly and awkward.

“You want to make one?” she asked.

I wasn’t really interested in jewelry, but I would’ve made one just to sit close to her. Though I was pretty smelly. So I shrugged, trying not to show how excited I was at the prospect of spending time with her. “Maybe later.”

As soon as I got inside, I bolted up the stairs and jumped into the shower. After, I even squirted on some of my dad’s cologne.

My bedroom was at the front of the house, so as I got dressed, I peeked out the window to see if they were still working on bracelets. The two of them were in the same spots, and Isabella was laughing. I watched quietly, mesmerized by the sound. It was loud and messy, nothing forced or fake about it, and she didn’t cover her mouth like other girls did. I got the feeling she didn’t care who heard her.

Lost in that thought, I didn’t notice at first that Isabella had looked up. She’d caught me staring, same as the other day at the football field. This time, though, she didn’t call me out. Instead, she gave me a slow, subtle smile that felt like it was just for me. My stomach did another flip.

“A tavola!” my mom called from somewhere in the house. Dinner.

Isabella and my sister got up and came inside, and I finished getting dressed, hurrying down to the table.

“Matteo,” my mom said. “Why don’t you sit next to your sister, so her friend can sit across from her?”

“Okay.” I didn’t mind because that meant I got to look across at Isabella, too. Once I sat down, my sister wrinkled her nose.

“Did you take a bath in old-man cologne?”

“Shut up.”

Isabella gave me a little smile from the other side of the table, and I felt my skin flush. Seriously? I’d never blushed in my life. I was relieved when my mom started talking and took the attention off me.

“So, Isabella, Luciana said you moved here from da States?”

She nodded. “California.”

“Dat’s a big change.”

She shrugged. “It is. But so far it’s been okay. I’m kind of used to moving around a lot. My dad has his own businesses. He’s going to be giving tours here in Florence. I’ve lived in North Carolina, Massachusetts, Delaware, Alabama, Maryland, and California.”

“Wow. A lot of moving.”

She shrugged again. “I guess.”

“You have a big family?”

“Two brothers. One’s twelve years older and the other fourteen.”

“Dat’s a big age gap.”

She nodded. “The older one didn’t move with us. He lives with his girlfriend in San Diego.”

Throughout dinner, I kept sneaking glances at her as she spoke. Each time she caught me, she gave me that same private smile she’d given me at the window.