DAYS BEFORE DIVORANDO: 15
Dante and Alessa ignored each other as much as two people could while trapped in close proximity, but the morning was so tense she was eager to start training. Nothing like a day of torturing friends to get a girl’s mind off the sting of rejection.
For their last day of training before Carnevale, however, Crollo blessed Saverio with a blistering heat wave, and the temperature plus the looming deadline meant tempers were short when she arrived in the training room.
The room grew stifling as the temperature ticked higher by the minute. Alessa and Josef teamed up to cool the room, but he couldn’t withstand her efforts long enough to provide much relief, and Saida’s attempt to cool everyone merely buffeted them with air so thick it felt like being thumped by a hot blanket.
“I can’t take a whole day of this.” Kaleb groaned. “It’s like trying to breathe boiling water.”
“There’s nowhere to go,” Kamaria said. “The whole island is scorching.”
“There’s the ocean,” Kaleb said.
“We can’t go to the beach,” Alessa said. “We need to practice, and they’re all crowded.”
“Not every beach,” Dante said. He shrugged. “I know a place.”
Alessa should have objected, or at least hesitated, before agreeing, but the thought of spending their final training session together on a beach instead of the stuffy training room was too tempting.
An hour later, a train of lanterns bobbed through a tunnel growing dustier the farther they went.
Kamaria hung back with Alessa as they neared the far side of the island and got their first taste of fresh air. “So, did that wrestling match continue in your room last night? Tell me everything.”
Alessa laughed nervously.
“Not everything. I’m not asking why he’s different. But since he is … did he kiss you?”
Alessa bit the inside of her cheek. “No.”
“But he wants to.” Kamaria lowered her voice as they caught up to the others.
“That’s the problem. He doesn’t.”
“Oh, please,” Kamaria said. “That boy wants you so bad his pants might catch fire.”
Alessa shielded her face against a sudden glare of sunlight as Kaleb and Dante wrenched open the rusted gate at the end of the tunnel. “I mean, if that’s the only way to get them off.”
At Kamaria’s burst of laughter, Dante turned back, glowering.
Alessa blushed as Kamaria leaned so close her lips nearly brushed her ear. “And that, kid, is what jealousy looks like.”
Alessa stifled a laugh, hoping the sudden change in lighting was enough to disguise her fluster.
“Watch your step,” Dante called back. He kicked a rock to prop the gate open, then another for good measure.
By the time Alessa and Kamaria stepped onto the narrow ledge beyond the gate, Kaleb was half-running, half-tumbling down the narrow steps carved into the cliffside, sending rocks clattering ahead, while Josef, Nina, and Saida followed more carefully.
When Alessa had asked Dante to name the most beautiful place he’d ever seen, this had been his answer. Now, it was hers, too. The beach below was a natural harbor, a triangular slice carved from the coastline, framed by high cliffs. Cerulean water kissed white sand in a spray of prosecco bubble waves below a few determined trees and shrubs hugging the cliffside. Where the cliffs notched, grass carpeted a small clearing, perfect for a cozy beach cottage where a girl could watch for a rowboat silhouetted against the sunset.
Dante glanced back at Alessa walking beside Kamaria. “Need help?”
“We’re fine,” Alessa said. “Help Saida.”
Saida’s diaphanous skirts kept catching on the rocks, and her efforts to save them put her a little too close to the edge. Dante gave Saida his arm to help her the rest of the way down.
“If Dante’s jealous,” Alessa asked Kamaria when he was out of earshot, “why did he jump off the couch last night when we were finally getting somewhere?”
“Oh ho,” Kamaria chortled. “Now we’re getting somewhere. Details? No? Ugh, you’re no fun.”
Alessa removed her shoes when they reached the sand and sat in a patch of shade beneath a withered lemon tree, while Kaleb ran straight into the ocean, fully dressed, sending arcs of water flying. Nina gleefully dragged Josef, hopping on one leg as he tried to roll up his pants, toward the water.
Kamaria took her time, disrobing without a hint of self-consciousness, as she continued their conversation.