Crossed fates

Chapter 5

Milan, July 2022

They remained a bit close to each other without speaking, then it was Gregg who unlocked the situation: "So what are we going to do now?"

Deborah let out a long sigh and replied: "I don't know. We must first find the courage to get up from here and promise that it really won't happen again, no matter how hard it is, at least for me. "

"I know you have a hard time believing it, but it is for me too. You hit me like a hurricane and I don't know how to get out "

She tried to play down because she was overwhelmed by feelings of guilt towards her husband but also tormented by the idea of ending that dream: "Well, technically, you are the one who overwhelmed me"

He smiled bitterly and said: "Seriously, I respect your decision and I understand it, I don't want to upset your life, but I'm here and if you change your mind I'll wait for you"

She replied: "Gregg, in a few days you will return home, we will share an ocean, you will return to your life and your interests and I will have been an Italian adventure"

"You forget that perhaps there is something that binds us and that we need to discover. I promised not to see you full of lover, but not as a friend or research partner, as long as you want it and don't prefer to forget "

Deborah was blown away by Gregg's attitude, she really still struggled to realize everything that happened, but she knew that she too wanted to keep a bond with him alive and was curious to find out if their destinies were really intertwined, so she replied: " I don't want to forget anything, I will live a long time of this beautiful memory and yes, I want to look for that connection and I want to continue to hear you ".

He kissed her and she let him, realizing it was a tender goodbye kiss. They got out of bed and got dressed, but before leaving the room, he asked her for her mobile number and sent her all the photos and video they had taken. Deborah would have jealously guarded them.

They held each other hand in hand and went downtown, it was already late afternoon and Deborah should have returned home soon. They sat down at a bar to decide what to do and how to get around. Gregg told her that the following days he would go to the archives of the region to see if he could find anything and Deborah said that she would talk about it with her husband and especially with her family to find out if her parents were aware of any connection with America. Deborah told him that she had planned a trip to the places of the pony express some time ago for the following month and that they could continue the research there too.

Before going they looked at the video shot in San Babila and he teased her saying: "Well, if you want to change jobs in the future, just let me know, I could hire you as a singer".

She patted him on the cheek and told him she had to go back to the station. Gregg accompanied her and when they arrived, they hugged each other tightly, looked into each other's eyes, and Deborah's filled with tears. They didn't say anything for a moment, then he whispered: "Talk to you soon, good return and tanks for the wonderful moments spent together"

"Thanks to you for making me dream. Let's keep up to date with our findings. Ciao "and got into the train carriage. He stayed on the platform watching her until the train left.

Deborah leaned back in her seat, closed her eyes and let her tears gush, so much so that an elderly gentleman sitting in front of her asked her: "Excuse me if I allow myself, lady, is everything okay?"

"Yes, thank you, I just said goodbye to a friend. It's very kind of you, I'm fine ".

The gentleman got off at the next stop and Deborah picked up the phone to call one of the friends with whom she shared her passion for Gregg: she needed to let off steam with someone who understood her. She'd asked Gregg to swear he wouldn't say anything to anyone, but she had to pour her guilt onto someone who didn't judge her. She called her friend Laura and explained the whole situation to her. The woman tried to console her and advised her to enjoy what she was going to have, after all until that morning he had been only a dream. Deborah thanked her and greeted her. Laura was right, but she couldn't quite understand what she was feeling.

A few minutes passed and her cell phone rang: she looked at the screen and couldn't believe it: it was already him. She answered trying to compose herself.

"Sorry if I call you already, but I have to tell you something: I don't know what you are going to tell your husband, but if I were you I would not omit the part of the video ... it's spoofing on Youtube and has already had several views. I think someone recognized me, filmed us and uploaded the video "

"Oh my God, what a shame. My mother will kill me as reserved as she is! Where should I look? And are you sure they haven't posted anything else? "Deborah said very worried.

Gregg told her how to find the video and then reassured her: he had already asked the hotel and was reassured that no one had asked any questions or had introduced himself to ask about him. At worst the American media would have talked about this video but then the thing would have died there.

Deborah was not very calm, the sense of guilt increased more and more. She greeted Gregg, put on her earphones and searched for the video on Youtube: Gregg hadn't lied to her ...

She arrived home an hour before the return of her husband and son and decided to take a relaxing bath, while thinking about what to tell about the day. When they arrived, Deborah kissed and hugged her son, asked him what his grandmother had done and then kissed her husband with great embarrassment. She tried to be as natural as possible despite being devoured by guilt. At dinner, she told of the meeting / clash with Gregg and her husband, who was informed of his wife's passion for the singer, teasing her told her: "Are you sure you didn't make up the story of the training course because you knew it was a Milan?".

Deborah used all her strength not to blush and just threw a napkin at her husband. She continued her story and informed him of both the Youtube video and the possibility of a distant link with Gregg. Her husband teased her again about the story of the video: "Apparently I have to deal with a future celebrity"

"Fool", she replied. "As for the other question, what do you think?"

"Honestly, I'm a bit skeptical, but if you want to investigate, go ahead, especially as we have to go to those places"

While they were arguing, the television was on the news and suddenly the child exclaimed: "Mom, it's you!"

Other than American media, apparently Gregg was not so unknown in Italy and in fact the amateur video shot in Milan was shown with a thousand conjectures about who was the mysterious woman who sang with the American celebrity.

In the following days, Deborah had to face questions from relatives and friends about the video and after calming her mother's fury, she found the right moment to ask her and her father about a connection with America.

At first they were both stunned by their daughter's story, but then the mother remembered that Deborah's grandmother had sometimes mentioned an old American uncle. Deborah asked her if she had kept anything useful and her mother told her she should look in her attic where all of her grandmother's old things were stacked.

Deborah, as soon as she had this information, sent a message to Gregg that in those days, as they had established, he had been searching the region and he too had found information. Neither, as promised, had mentioned their afternoon together anymore, but they had limited themselves to exchanging their findings and comments on the video that continued to circulate.

Somehow, a reporter had managed to trace her name and wanted to interview her. She did not want to face this thing alone, she talked about it with her husband who innocently advised her to do the interview with Gregg. She was uncertain what to do: she wanted to see him again, but she didn't know what reaction she would have and she was afraid that the reporter would notice something.

She took courage and called Gregg, who was delighted to hear her: "Ciao, come stai? Che bello sentirti!". He had started learning a little Italian and so he made an effort to use it with her.

"Anche per me รจ bello. Scusa se ti disturbo, ma devo chiederti un favore".

"Sorry, can you speak English? I am not able to understand you yet ", he asked kindly. His voice penetrated her bowels and she felt herself dying.

"Oh yes, sorry. I wanted to ask you a favor. A newspaper would like to interview me about the video on Youtube. Would you like to do the interview with me? I would feel safer if you were there too, you know how to deal with reporters "

"Sure, don't worry, I'll be there, let me know where and when. I am happy to be able to see you again. We could also take the opportunity to discuss our findings "

"Thanks Gregg and I'm happy to see you again"

Deborah communicated to Gregg when the interview would be held and the two decided to meet first to agree on what to say in case they were asked too personal questions.

The reporter wanted to see them in the lobby of Gregg's hotel and it was very difficult for Deborah to go there: she still had that afternoon together in her mind and she struggled not to feel guilty but also not to regret the fact that it would never happen again.

Mr. Ardenghi, the journalist, greeted them and then turned to Deborah: "So madam, can you tell me about your meeting with Gregg?"

Deborah told exactly how things had gone, at least about that she shouldn't have been lying. Gregg had a simultaneous translator who translated everything that was said to him and sometimes tried to intervene in the most natural way possible. He too was very tense because he had always tried to keep his private life out of the spotlight and he feared that everything would now come out and that it could harm Deborah and above all he feared that his stay in Milan would be influenced by the fact that he had been recognized.

As they expected, Mr. Ardenghi suddenly asked Deborah: "So Deborah, I can call her that, right?"

"Sure" she replied.

"A question that many Gregg fans are asking: is there something between you two?"

"Absolutely not. As I have already told you, we collided by chance and everything happened by chance, absurd, it is true, but completely by chance. We had never seen each other before and we don't have any kind of relationship "

Deborah was very tense as she answered this question, but using these words, she had finally told the truth: they didn't know each other before and above all they were not in a relationship. Gregg confirmed her words and the reporter pretended to believe the claims.

"Well, dispelled this doubt, what are your intentions for the future?"

Deborah replied: "Surely to continue with our lives, I don't think there is anything else to do"

"What about you Gregg?"

"The same".

"So your singing association won't last?"

"There was no singing association, we met some street artists (San Babila is full of them) and Gregg had this bizarre idea, that's all"

"Despite the success of the video on Youtube?"

"Exactly"

"Gregg, no plans at all?"

"For now, no, in the future you can never tell"

Deborah looked at him questioningly but said nothing more.

Mr. Ardenghi asked Deborah a few more questions about her life and then took his leave.

Deborah and Gregg left the hotel and went to a park to talk quietly.

"Gregg, what did you mean by now no, in the future you can never say when the reporter asked you the question about our musical future?", Deborah asked still intrigued by this statement.

"Mr. Ardenghi actually mentioned something I was thinking about: why don't we work together in the music field? You're good "

"Are you serious? First of all I already have a job and I am not a professional singer, second, and not least, we live almost on opposite poles of the world, if you had forgotten. "

"I have not forgotten, but given that according to our plans for the research of our ancestors we will have to keep in touch often, I do not see why we could not even do something together. I'll be honest, Deborah, I don't want to lose you and if we can't be together, at least I want to do something that binds me to you in some way "

"Oh Gregg, you make me dizzy, too many things all at once. I would say to start working with our research and then we'll see. I don't want to completely upset my life, I am not able to. I also don't want to lose you and I still want to have a bond with you, even if I do not hide from you that it is difficult, but we do one thing at a time, please. "

"Okay, but I won't give up thinking about something that could involve you trying to upset your life as little as possible, okay?"

"Okay"

Deborah told Gregg that the next week she would search through the paperwork in her mother's attic to see if she could find any clues.

Gregg, for his part, told her that he had discovered in the region that in fact, at the beginning of the last century, an American family with Italian ancestry in the female line had lived for a period in Italy, but when the war broke out, They were returned to America. He had recovered the names and once back in America he would have tried to do some research in Nebraska, where it seems that everything had begun.

Deborah listened with interest and promised Gregg that in a few days she would update him on her research.

Gregg offered to take her to the station and Deborah agreed.

When they arrived, before she got on the train they hugged and kissed each other on the cheek, like two good friends, but that kiss burned for both of them. They looked into each other's eyes and that look was worth a thousand words, but they both knew that things had to go this way by now.