Hidden Heart (31 page)

Tessa couldn’t focus on
what the designer explained to her. Her brain, a total fog,
replayed the image of Alessandro standing in front of her, so close
she could smell his cologne, that familiar mixture of lemongrass
and sandalwood. He looked so flawless and handsome; a white
long-sleeved dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up a bit and a few
buttons at the collar undone, dark jeans and boots. Simple, yet
classic and sexy. His
rebellious shoulder
length hair pushed
back with the usual
strand falling on his forehead and a two-day beard shadowing his
angular jaw, his eyes sparkling, and his mouth, oh, his mouth that
always knew how to taste hers…

How much time had gone by
since they last saw each other? She often thought of him, wondering
what he did, where he was; missing him still felt painful, even
now, after so many months since their break up. She still tried to
convince herself that breaking up with him was the only viable
solution for that period of her life, and wished her heart wasn’t
pounding like crazy, making focusing on her appointment that much
more difficult.

“
Tessa, are you okay?” the
designer’s voice brought her back.

“
Oh, yes, sorry. You were
saying…” Tessa said, forcing a smile.

“
I said, based on the
dimensions of the kitchen, we have the option to fit in a little
dishwasher.” She drew the kitchen and made notes next to each
item.

“
Okay, let’s go over this
one more time,” the designer said and explained to her once again
the kitchen’s design: the L-shaped kitchen didn’t allow for a lot
of extras, but if she pushed her appliances to one side she could
line the other with cherry cabinets for an elegant feel, and still
leave room for a table at which to entertain—if she ever felt she
could do such a thing again.

Seeing Alessandro changed
her original plan to look for bedroom furniture. She left the store
as soon as she finished ordering the kitchen.

Tessa stopped and picked up
dinner, then drove home, still feeling distraught and unable to
focus on anything. She picked at her meal, not really hungry until
the food cooled off and no longer appealed to her. She ended up
throwing it away.

Alessandro wasn’t leaving
her thoughts. Butterflies in her stomach kept her awake almost all
night. He already seemed to have moved on; he’d had a woman there,
so beautiful and sexy, Italian like him, with whom he had probably
more in common than he did with her. She tried to convince herself
that she wasn’t jealous and that she lived the life she wanted.
Until she made peace with her past and healed from the rape, she’d
stay single. No man would fit in her life now; she was busy
creating her nest, taking charge over her own life and finding
something to work on to ensure the living standards she wanted for
the future.
Right?

God, how I miss
her
! Alessandro stood there, looking
longingly after Tessa. He liked her new hairstyle and color, which
made her look even younger, but it also gave her a mysterious and
sexy look. Her eyes looked like burning emeralds, the color even
more intense. The total change in her appearance told him she
looked for a new start; one that didn’t include him,
apparently.

He came to look for
furniture for his new house. The construction was almost done, and
he’d moved into one of the bedrooms. For the kitchen, he got a
plastic table and two chairs, a little gas stove and coffee
machine—that’s all he needed for now. He moved out of the rental
place he had shared for a short period with Tessa, and tried to
look at the new house as being his new home. He spent a lot of time
in each furniture store in town, looking for the best quality and
price he could get. He was in no hurry to furnish the house, first
because it wasn’t finished and second, because he liked to take as
much time as possible until he found what he really envisioned for
the inside.

Alessandro returned to his
old habits after life with Tessa; work, work and more work. He
traveled sometimes across the country, one day in the mountains,
and the next in the opposite direction towards the Black Sea. He
fell in love with a medieval looking town called Brasov, about 300
km from Bucharest. He loved the scenery, the untouched and wild
nature in the mountains and the historical buildings everywhere. As
often as he could, he was on the road, driving kilometer after
kilometer and discovering more interesting and historical
places.

He read the Romanian
history, which sounded captivating. Long ago, the Roman Empire
invaded Dacia, the country located around the Carpathian Mountains
all the way to the Black Sea, because the country was rich in gold,
silver, copper and had flourishing agriculture. After two long and
difficult wars, the Roman Empire conquered the country and enslaved
the people. History says many of the Roman soldiers remained in
Dacia, married, and began a new life. This was considered the birth
of the Romanian nation.

In some ways—him being an
Italian, choosing to live in Romania—didn’t seem that strange,
though it was something not many foreigners elected to do.
Alessandro liked to believe somewhere among his ancestors, one of
them had traveled and fallen in love with Romania the way he did.
He made some friends in the places he visited and felt increasingly
accustomed to the people around him.

He found most of them warm
and friendly once they allowed someone in their house. But on the
streets, there were a lot of distrustful, almost scary looks people
shot each other. When he asked Victor why, Victor explained that
during Communism, lots of people betrayed their own relatives,
friends or co-workers by revealing discussions carried in those
circles to the Communist Party. They were mainly about the
frustration with Communism, political chaos and the overly
controlling Government.

Although the Government
changed after the Revolution back in December of 1989, people’s
mentality and life were still as they’d always been. Almost twenty
years later, many things had changed for the better, but some of
them worsened and for many families, life still meant a struggle
and a harsh battle for survival.

Alessandro had learned so
much since his break up with Tessa. His heart felt empty at times,
but his life was filled with the exciting new things he learned
every day. He made sure his time was occupied, surrounded by new
friends, learning about the country, its traditions and its people.
But at night, there was nothing and no one around him. It was then
when he couldn’t help but wondered about Tessa.

He missed her each and
every day, but he loved her too much to try to get her back, at
least not until she was ready. He believed their lives would
eventually intersect and, hopefully, by then she’d know where her
heart was.

Women came—and left—his
life as fast as they entered it. At work, at various events he
attended, places he visited, there was always someone interested in
knowing him
better
. A drink, a dinner, an invitation, but that was all he had to
offer. His heart belonged to someone else and he preferred it that
way.

“
Let me guess; by the look
on your face you saw a ghost,” Gabriela said.

“
Yeah, you can say
that…let’s get out of here,” Alessandro replied and, taking the
young woman’s elbow, he rushed out of the store.

***

The next morning, Tessa
decided to do something she hadn’t done since Daniel’s attack. She
found a sports center and went for her first workout. She paid for
the membership, checked the class schedule and opted for a step
class. She knew she’d be sore afterwards, but at least it would
give her a new focal point that would help her forget about
Alessandro and his new girlfriend.

By the time the class
finished, Tessa was out of breath, soaking wet and totally spent.
She left the class and decided to swim as well. She went first to
the lockers to exchange her clothes for a swimsuit. It seemed all
the ladies around her had the same interest—Cristian, the step
class instructor.

“
I’ve never seen a man as
well built as Cristian,” one woman said.

“
I should take a picture of
him and glue it to my ceiling; each time I’m having sex with my
husband I can look at it,” said another one, and several women
burst into laughter.

“
Oh, God, he is the best
trainer ever, and his routine is really designed to make us sweat,”
another one said. “I’m taking all his classes from now
on.”

“
That toned body, those
muscles screaming out, yum! And his blue eyes—I swear he is like
looking right through me. And his lips, so kissable,
and…”

Tessa tuned the chatter
out. She didn’t observe any of those things her fellow classmates
gossiped about. She left the locker room, and went to the swimming
pool.

On her way, she saw
Cristian talking outside the pool area with two other girls. He
smiled briefly and inclined his head towards her and continued his
conversation. She went in, swam ten laps and, exhausted but
refreshed, went to take a shower. She finished with fifteen minutes
in the sauna, then took one last shower, and prepared to leave. Her
body ached already, and from past experience she knew she’d pay a
hefty price for exercising so much in one day after such a long
absence. Tomorrow she’d be lucky to make it out of bed. On her way
out, she saw Cristian again in the reception area. She passed by
and went out to the parking lot.

“
You are quite a pro,”
Tessa heard someone say as she arrived at her car. When she turned,
she saw Cristian approaching her quickly. She looked around, unsure
if he’d spoken to her or someone else, but there was nobody
around.

“
Yes, I mean you,” he said,
still walking her way. “I don’t very often see women working out so
much in one day. An hour is the most they’ll hang out in a gym,
including their chit-chat,” Cristian said, standing in front of
her.

“
I guess I have more time
on my hands than the others,” Tessa said, not sure why he had
engaged her in conversation.

“
So much time on your hands
that you could have lunch with me?” came his blunt
question.

Tessa raised a brow and
said, “Do you do this a lot?”

“
What do you
mean?”

“
Well, inviting your
students for lunch after you just met them.”

“
Not all students. Just
you,” he said, smiling and confident looking.

“
How many times have you
said this before?”

His self-confidence bugged
her. Just because they met during the class, didn’t mean that they
were pals and could hang out now. He was probably used to having
girls fall all over him and, most likely, he thought she was easy
prey—so wrong of him.

“
I don’t usually ask my
students out. But throughout my entire career as a trainer I rarely
have met hard working people like you, so I’m just curious to know
you better.” He shrugged while he pulled his car keys out of his
pocket and lifted his gym bag over one shoulder.

“
I’m afraid I have other
plans. But thanks for the invitation.” Tessa turned around, dropped
her gym bag on the back seat and drove away.

She smiled just thinking
about his surprised facial expression and how he just stood there
after she left. It would be something different if they had known
each other for a longer time and found some common ground. But out
of the blue, after just being in the same room for one hour, he
made such a bold move on her. Well, too bad; she had no interest in
knowing him or any other man, for that matter.

Tessa had a sandwich and an
iced tea at a corner coffee shop and went to order more furniture.
She was so ready to be done with this project and move on. For the
bedrooms she opted for combined sets of steel and wood that would
complement the blinds and the flooring. The furniture was very
basic, but with a modern cut. She hoped that after all the
accessories were bought, the rooms would look perfect.

For the office she opted
for a bookshelf, a similar color to her mama’s antique desk and
rocking chair. She also picked an extendable sofa, thinking
whenever her sisters visited, the office could be used as a bedroom
as well. And finally, for the living room, she chose a mocha color
leather sectional sofa, end tables, and an entertainment center in
dark brown finish. Her account looked scary after she made the down
payment, but she knew that this was the last investment she’d make
for a while.

With the furniture not
being delivered for a few weeks, Tessa decided to really empty out
the storage unit. She brought home the remainder of the boxes
containing the items she’d keep, but she still had way too many
things she needed to get rid off.

She called Dina and asked
if she knew of anybody needing clothing and house
supplies.

“
I actually do know a place
you can take everything you don’t need anymore. It’s a very
secluded location and not too many people know of it, especially
men. It’s for battered mothers that need protection with their
kids. I give them a place to live until they find either a job or a
place they will be safe from their husbands. We’re always in need
of clothes, shoes and pretty much anything you might have to
spare.”