It Takes Two (Italian Summer Book 1) (14 page)

“Where the hell are you?” Anger exploded from his words.

Carlos?

She dropped her keys from shock.

Where was he?

She bent over in the dim light to find the keys while her heart throttled from zero to sixty in a heartbeat.

It was at that very moment that the door opened wide. Carlos stepped out and gave her a look that would have skewered a pig.

Chapter 20

She might as well have had ‘whore’ written all over her face, the way his eyes bulged.

Rona got up slowly as the keys jangled from her fingers while questions exploded in her mind like unwelcome fireworks in a graveyard. She was hesitant, half frozen by his expression, and not wanting to walk up to him. She could feel a scene brewing.

Or perhaps she imagined it? After all, what could he know? Her guilt clouded her judgement.

“Carlos,” she braved a smile as she walked up to him but his face remained hard and he moved away from the kiss she was about to plant on his lips; the guilt still raw and red in her mind.

Tori’s cry from inside willed her into action and she walked past him, attempting a “Well this is a surprise. When did you get here?” It didn’t match the maelstrom of feelings that choked her lungs. Strange how normal her voice sounded when her insides churned like molten lava.

“Where have you been?” he asked, in a voice spiked with accusation. “Who dropped you off?” Another sentence followed hot on the heels of the first one.

She ventured a glance at him and wanted to shrink back from the ugly, angry stare he gave her. Luckily she hadn’t dressed up too much tonight—she’d only worn jeans and not a dress. Nothing that would give him cause for suspicion. She hoped. Yet despite her pep talk to herself, he still looked at her as if she’d slipped out in a negligee.

“I was out with friends,” she said and forced a smile as she tried to breeze past him quickly. She felt as though she had Ruben’s tell-tale face tattooed all over her body. Carlos gripped her wrist.

“I was worried about you, Rona. It’s past ten o’clock. My daughter is here in a foreign country with a stranger. I can’t believe you left her alone knowing that Ava and Nico aren’t around.” He seemed calm, though a little annoyed. Dare she wonder if this was just his concern showing through?

“She’s in good hands, Carlos.” She prayed her voice would sound smooth and honeyed as she walked into the living room. Lizzi rocked Tori on her shoulder. The baby sitter gave her an apologetic smile.

“Oh, my poor baby,” she said and rushed to take Tori. “Oh, my darling, darling baby. You’ve been crying.” Tori’s eyes were all red and her face blotchy. Likely she’d been disturbed while in deep slumber.

“What happened?” Rona asked Lizzi, ignoring Carlos completely.

“She was asleep, but your husband knocked on the door and he …” Lizzi looked at the floor.

“He what?” Rona asked, her earlier trepidation giving rise to anger.

“He didn’t know who I was and he got a little angry when I said you were out…” She seemed a little nervous.

Her mother’s instinct made her see red. She confronted Carlos. “What did you do?”

“I didn’t do anything,” he growled.

Lizzi had picked up her handbag and looked ready to leave. .

“I wanted to surprise you,” he told Rona. “And I didn’t know who you were.” He said to Lizzi. “I’m sorry if I upset you. I didn’t mean to.”

Lizzi gave him a wary smile.

“I’m sorry,” Rona told her, and took out some bills from her bag. “This is for tonight. And thank you.”

The sound of a horn beeping outside almost made Rona’s insides slip to the ground.

Ruben? Please no.

She held her breath as time suddenly stopped. “My grandfather has come to pick me up,” said Lizzie, kissing Tori on the cheek. “Bye, bye little one.”

“I would have called a taxi for you.” Rona felt guilty that the girl’s poor grandfather had to come at this time to pick her up.

“It’s not a problem,” Lizzi assured her before heading towards the door. She looked as though she couldn’t fly out fast enough.

Rona handed Tori to Carlos and rushed out after her, feeling guilty and responsible for the girl. The dim light from the car headlights was reflected back so that she was able to see the outline of a man in the driver’s seat. As Lizzi got into the car, Rona held up her hand to acknowledge the man she presumed was her grandfather. He waved back and then backed the car out.

Going out tonight had been a big mistake. Huge. She should never have done it.

Not with Ruben.

Not with anyone.

It had been bold and stupid, this step away from friends into newer, shakier, unfamiliar territory. Had she always known it would end up like this? Her heart sunk as she turned around and headed back inside to face Carlos.

She didn’t want to deal with anything right at this moment, and the last thing she needed was more questions.

She walked towards him to take Tori, but he refused to give her up. “I’ve got her, can’t you see?” His voice was still angry. “Have you been drinking?”

“I had a few glasses of wine,” she murmured. “With dinner.”

Change the subject,
she told herself. “You woke the baby and you scared the babysitter,” she said, accusingly. Yet she stepped away from him because she felt guilty.

“I’m surprised you went out, all things being equal.”

“What of it? I’ve been working hard,” she replied. Tori looked up at her, her eyes wide and shiny, and her lower lip trembling.

“You’re upsetting her,” said Rona in a tight voice.

“
I’m
upsetting her?” Carlos asked. He walked into the bedroom and she followed him in, checking on her cell phone to see how many times he’d called her tonight; trying to anticipate his questions. Her brow released in relief. He’d only called her once.

“When did you get here?” she asked, curious at his sudden appearance weeks ahead of the wedding.

Why hadn’t he told her?
Was he checking up on her? Is that what this was?

He ignored her as he walked around the room with Tori in his arms, trying to rock her to sleep.

“A short while before you.”

She relaxed her shoulders. Just as well they hadn’t both driven up at the same time.

He’d be here the entire month. She coughed, her mouth was parched and she couldn’t swallow. It wasn’t that she was worried about ruining anything with Ruben.

That chapter was over.

But being around Carlos at a time when she needed to think things through was going to be difficult especially with him thinking the worst.
And rightly so.

She suddenly felt claustrophobic and left the room, leaving him to put Tori to sleep. She needed space to think, to ponder why he was so angry.

She sniffed her clothes.

Could he smell aftershave?

Ruben?

She couldn’t think properly, not now knowing that Carlos raged in the next room. He wasn’t a suspicious man and he usually never asked many questions. She could only hope that this episode would soon be forgotten.

~ ~

Carlos hugged his daughter tightly and walked around with her, happy to have her in his arms again. Happy to see her, to smell her, to hear her voice.

It was a pity he couldn’t feel the same way about her mother.

He’d known something was off but gut instinct had told him this would be a good chance to take a break with family.

Turning up so late at night he’d meant to surprise both his ladies. But when a stranger had opened the door and told him that Rona was out and that she was babysitting Tori, something had snapped inside him.

He wasn’t sure, even now, whether his anger was more because Rona had left Tori alone for the evening, or whether it was because she’d come back looking completely shocked to see him. Not surprised shock as in she was happy to see him anyway. Shocked in a bad way—as if he’d scared her, as if she had something to hide.

He wasn’t sure but he also thought he’d detected a whiff of cologne on her. Declaring himself too mad to see sense, Carlos tucked the thought out of the way.

His daughter snored quietly in his arms, her lips making the strangest of movements, which told him she was dreaming. He ran gentle fingers through her hair and kissed her on her forehead. His heart warmed to have her in his arms again.

Beep-beep.

Rona’s cell phone sounded on the bed and startled Tori. “Shhhhh,” he soothed and stroked her face gently, comforting her back to sleep.

When the cell phone beeped again, he walked over to the bed, annoyed and grabbed it to switch it off.

But curiosity got the better of him.

She had two messages. Who was texting her this time of night? Friends she’d been out with? He was curious to know who they were, if only to put his mind at rest.

Knowing it was wrong, but justifying it to himself in light of the circumstances, Carlos clicked on the messages. The latest message one said:

Sorry if I assumed too much. We can talk when you’re ready.

His blood, like an angry river, pounded in his ears.

This didn’t sound like a message from a friend
. From a girlfriend. This was something
more.
His stomach hardened, getting ready for the punch. She’d given the impression she’d been out with a group of girls even though she hadn’t said as much.

In blind rage he thumbed back to the first message:

I had a great evening. I hope you did too.

I?

I?

I?

His breaths came faster, louder and he stumbled back a few steps, holding Tori tightly as he did. Needing confirmation he re-read the messages again:

I had a great evening. I hope you did too.

Sorry if I assumed too much. We can talk when you’re ready.

This wasn’t one woman talking to another. This wasn’t a group of girls out for an evening. This was worse, far worse than he could ever have been prepared for.

He suddenly felt as though the earth spun beneath his feet. Shaken, he thumbed back and rechecked the sender’s name.

Ruben.
Not Ruby as he’d first thought.

His wife and another man.

What the fuck had she done?

While Tori slumbered in a deep and peaceful sleep against his chest, Carlos felt as though his heart had been hacked to pieces.

Chapter 21

It was as if heavy chains had settled around the base of her stomach and dragged her down a pit of misery.

Rona sat on the sofa with her head in her hands, conflicted with worry, waiting and wondering when Carlos would come out. In the eerie silence of the night, she contemplated the evening.

She waited ten minutes, then fifteen, and hadn’t realized how much time had flown—because her thoughts were a mess of jumbled clutter. It felt as though ants were skating across her brow. She couldn’t sit. She couldn’t rest. She couldn’t keep still. Nor did she want to because she was now fully alert, as though waiting for the storm to hit—because it was coming. It was coming alright; she could feel it in her bones.

He’d just landed, and he wasn’t going to come out and spend time with her? Closing her eyes, she wondered if he’d believed her. She tried to convince herself that it was only the guilt that fed her paranoia and made her think he suspected something.
Had he believed her?
She’d been convinced at first but as the night wore on, and he hadn’t come out, she wasn’t so sure.

He knew.

Doubts began to plague her. Carlos had arrived unannounced and three weeks before the wedding. He wouldn’t take that much time off work—not for anybody unless he had good reason.

So, why was he here?

To check up on you.

Carlos had always trusted her implicitly and even though she attracted attention when she went out, she had never abused his trust. She had never been in this situation before and she hated that she was in it now.

The night was long and at some point she dozed off. When she opened her eyes again, it was way past midnight.

Had he fallen asleep?

She got up and tip-toed to the bedroom, and looked around for her bag and her phone. Ruben would never call her or contact her, they had an unspoken agreement, but she had to get word to him that she couldn’t meet anymore.

It wasn’t only that she couldn’t. She didn’t want to.

It wasn’t only because Carlos had turned up unexpectedly. Kissing Ruben had been wrong, she’d known it the moment their lips had touched. It was like Christmas Eve—which was better than Christmas Day. The anticipation of the thing hadn’t lived up to what she’d felt and dreamed about in her imagination.

Why had it taken this to happen for her to discover that her heart was with Carlos? Ruben had merely been the wake-up call. She had to get word to him to stay away, out of touch. She had to set things right between her and Carlos.

Opening the door to the bedroom, she walked in and nearly jumped with fright when she caught him looking at her. His eyes were wide open and he gave her the strangest of looks. One that made her heart do an uneasy jig especially when he looked at her as though he could see right through her. She flinched.

“You took a long time,” she said, examining his face. “It’s past midnight. I was waiting for you.”

“You didn’t have to wait up.”

He got out of bed, leaving Tori lying on the bed beside him and walked out to get his suitcase.

Didn’t have to wait up?

When he walked back in again a few seconds later, he didn’t even stop to look at her and instead crouched on the floor and opened his suitcase.

“I needed to get changed,” she said, “I didn’t want to disturb you.” She walked over to the side of the bed where Tori was sleeping and began to lift her out of the bed.

“Don’t,” he warned her, glancing over his shoulder. “Leave her there.”

She frowned. “She sleeps better in the cot.”

“You met your friends, did you?” he asked, ignoring her comment and turning his back to her as he rifled through his suitcase.