Chapter 2

I slipped back into my normal routine without immediate contact from Piero, but I was very curious about him. He was sweet and friendly, and he made me laugh. His jokes from the other night were still making me smile.

A few days later I received a text from him:

"Abrielle's family is leaving today. She wanted me to tell you she says goodbye."

"How sweet! Tell her I said goodbye back."

"Certainly."

When he didn't send anything else, I texted him the next morning.

"How does it feel to have the house back to yourself?"

I tucked my phone into my pocket and went about my normal routine, checking my phone eagerly. After a while I received:

"Lonely…" I smiled. "…It's too quiet in here! I'm going crazy!"

"Why don't you get out of the house for a while? Find something to occupy your time?"

"Like what?"

"We're in Los Angeles; there are plenty of things to do!"

"Again, like what? All I seem to be interested in today is T.V. and moping."

"Go walk on the beach or something."

There was a pause, and then my phone rang. He was calling me. I picked up, and in his handsome accent he commented, "The beach, huh? Not a bad idea. Would you care to accompany me, Julia?"

I giggled.

"Piero, I have to work."

"Oh. Right."

He sounded a little disappointed.

"But…I get off of work at five if you would postpone it for a few hours."

"Yeah, let's do that! Should I pick you up?"

"I'll have my car at the hospital. I'll meet you at the beach after work."

"Great! It'll be fun!"

"But then what will you do for now?"

"Hang around and wait for it to be five."

I laughed, and he broke into song, "Reloj…"

I laughed at the outburst of a Spanish song about the clock.

"I'll see you later, Piero."

"Until tonight," he said charmingly, and I could hear the grin in his voice.

In the afternoon I changed into my swimsuit and tied a white cover-up on over it. I left the hospital and drove to the beach, where I texted Piero. When he assured me he was looking for me, I stood on the boardwalk and took off my cover-up. I took out my sunscreen and rubbed it as best as I could into my delicate, white skin.

As I waited for it to dry, I saw Piero walking toward me in the distance, wearing black swim trunks and a white T-shirt.

He held up his hand and waved, and I waved back.

He came up to me and reached out to hug me.

"I'm sticky," I warned, holding up my hands.

"Oh, sunscreen," he commented, smiling. He hugged me anyway.

I nodded.

"I get burned easily."

"That's not surprising," he said, "You have very light skin; it's lovely."

I smiled and thanked him.

He reached out and took the bottle from me.

"Here, I'll do your back for you. It's very bright today."

He squeezed out the lotion and I held my long hair out of his way. He gently rubbed it over my back and shoulders, and wiped his hands on his swim trunks.

Then we set off toward the water, leaving our shoes and the sunscreen on the boardwalk. We walked side by side on the sand, the cool water rushing over our feet.

I pulled my cover-up back on after we walked for a few moments and smiled up at him.

"So what'd you end up doing today?" I asked.

"I watched a lot of T.V., and I played a lot of piano. And that's pretty much it. It was a pretty lazy day. What did you do?"

"The usual. Classes, then work at the hospital."

"Your days are pretty busy."

I shrugged.

"Yes, they are. But I guess I like to be busy. This is rare for me to go out for a walk on the beach."

I smiled up at him, squinting against the bright sun.

"But I'll make an exception for you."

He smiled back, his dark eyes shimmering in the sunlight, and pushed up the red framed glasses on his nose.

"What do you do when you're at home?"

"I study, and I do a lot of housework. My mother doesn't do chores. So I must do them."

"Really? Your mother doesn't do housework?"

"Nope. She does the shopping, though."

"What about your father?"

"He's…out of the picture."

"Oh. I'm sorry, Julia."

I smiled softly at his penitent face and changed the subject.

"You're from Sicily, aren't you?"

He grinned at the mere mention of it, and his beautiful smile made me smile also.

"Tell me about it."

So he began to tell me all about Sicily, illustrating its beauty and wonders, and describing his family. He loved his family. He went on and on about his parents and his brother and sister, and I smiled to myself as I listened. He made them sound magnificent, as if they were living angels.

He rambled on about Sicily and his family, and I stayed quiet, happy to listen. He had a pleasant look on his face, and he was gazing off into the distance, lost in his reverie. He recounted pleasant memories of home to me, and I was content to walk alongside him through the sand and water and listen.

A huge piece of driftwood lay on the sand in front of me, and I stepped up onto it in my bare feet instead of going around. I held out my arms to balance, and Piero immediately took my hand to steady me, ending his speech about Sicily.

"Sorry. I was rambling."

I smiled down at my white feet on the dark wood.

"It's okay. It was wonderful. You were dreaming out loud."

"Well, tell me about you now. Where are you from?"

"I was born across the entire country, in Florida. I lived there until I was ten. Then my mom decided to completely end her relations with my father and move here, to California. It was good for both of us. It was just me and my mama, and it was wonderful! Now we still live in the same nice little house, and I go to school, and I work, and I keep busy."

I hopped down happily from the log, and he released my hand.

"Go on…"

"About what?"

"Anything. I had my time to ramble; now it's yours. And I like to listen to you. You have a lovely voice."

I blushed.

"I'm not much of a rambler."

"Right. You just like to keep busy, huh?"

I nodded.

A sly grin spread across his face.

"Then will you build sandcastles with me?"

I laughed and raised my eyebrows.

"Sandcastles, Piero?"

"Sure, why not?"

I shrugged and nodded, repeating his words, "Sure, why not?"

So we sat down on the sand and gathered up handfuls to build with. I tried to make little towers here and there as Piero expertly sculpted walls.

As we worked, he asked me to tell him more about the hospital, so I did. He paid close attention to my summary of life at the hospital, but I could tell he'd rather hear specific stories. So I began to provide him with individual stories of the children, focusing on the pleasant ones. He seemed to enjoy them, and he listened and watched my face as he worked on the sandcastle.

After a while, Piero deemed the castle complete, and stood back to admire it. I looked up at his pleased expression and laughed.

"It's not quite done, Piero."

"What's missing?"

I leaned forward and wrote our names in the middle.

"There."

I smiled up at him, and he reached his hands down to me and helped me up.

I brushed sand off of myself and waded out into the water to rinse the sand off my hands.

Piero yelped from behind me.

I turned to see him jumping up and down.

"I stepped on a crab!" he yelled, and went dancing down the beach.

I couldn't help but laugh, watching him dance about, and I jogged out of the water to him to ask if he was okay.

He laughed with me and took my hand.

"I'm fine. Do you want to get some dinner? I'm starving! We Sicilian people need to eat!"

I laughed again and nodded.

"Sounds good! Can we come back to see the sunset?"

"Of course!"

So we went to a beachside sandwich place, and I asked Piero to tell me more about his singing career. He tried to get me to tell him more about my life, but I didn't know what else to talk about.

So he started asking me questions about different things, and I answered each of them happily. He threw in absurd questions here and there to make me laugh.

I patiently let him ask whatever he wanted to, and he thankfully shied away from asking about my family.

When he ran out of questions, I asked him to tell me more stories from the Il Volo tours. He entertained me with them as we walked back to the beach, and when he saw the orange and pink-streaked sky, he burst into song.

"It's a beautiful day! Don't let it get away! Beautiful day!"

I smiled, listening happily.

"I've heard that song before! It's great!"

He grinned and took my hand, serenading me as we walked up to the ocean.

Then he released my hand and danced around before me on the beach, snapping his fingers and grinning. He made silly faces at me and I laughed.

I reached out to take his arm, stopping him and taking his hand again.

"You're crazy, Piero!"

He grinned.

"I know, I know! I just wanted to see your smile," he said. "You have a beautiful smile."

I blushed.

"Thank you, Piero. You do too."

I tugged on his hand and we started walking along the wet sand, the cool water rushing over our feet.

"Look, the moon!" I said, pointing up at it. It was a pretty half-moon, and I turned my head to Piero to see if he was looking at it too.

He smiled slyly at me, and I discovered that I was beginning to recognize that look in his eyes as he began to sing, "La luna hizo esto, fue culpa de la luna, haberme enamorado, enamorado de ti!"

I hadn't heard that song before, and I was mesmerized by it. I watched his face and listened in admiration of his voice and the song.

As he sang, he let go of my hand and instead placed his hand gently around my waist as we walked. His hand was strong and gentle, and it was both nerve-wracking and comforting to have him touch me so sweetly.

As I looked out over the darkening ocean and the brightening moon, I could feel his gaze upon me, and I looked up to smile encouragingly at him as he sang.

His voice was strong and handsome, and I listened as we walked along, looking out over the water.

When he finished, I was quiet, taking it all in before I spoke.

"I like that," I said finally, "What does it mean?"

"The moon did this; it's the moon's fault that I've fallen in love with you."

I looked up at the moon glowing above us.

"That's beautiful."

When the sun's light had disappeared and Piero had started to sing pop songs instead of his own music, we walked through the sand back to our cars.

He danced around next to me, and I laughed and jogged along beside him. He took my hands and spun me around, and I giggled and skipped along the beach in front of him. When I glanced back at him, he made a face at me, and I laughed.

"You sing something!" he said, reaching out to take my hand.

"Like what?"

"I don't know, pick something!"

I'm not mush of a singer, aside from when the children at the hospital asked it of me, but Piero seemed so eager to hear me sing that I consented.

I slowed to a walk and looked thoughtfully out at the ocean.

Then I snapped my fingers and danced around on the beach.

"I can't wait til I get you on the floor, good-looking! Going out so hot, just like an oven!"

"Yes!" he said in delight, picking up the tune for me. He clapped his hands and stepping up close to me. He took me around the waist and took my hand and his, and we danced around on the sand together.

I laughed as he playfully spun me around and then let go of me to dance in front of me. I giggled, watching him, and he took my hand in his as we romped through the sand together.

When we had reached the parking lot, I threw my arms around his neck and hugged him tightly.

"This was so much fun, Piero!" I said gleefully.

His arms went tightly around my back.

"Thank you for coming with me, Julia!" he grinned as I stepped back.

He took my hand in his strong one and leaned forward to kiss me lingeringly on the cheek. I closed my eyes for a moment to feel his lips against my skin, and smiled shyly at him when he pulled back.

"I'll call you sometime soon, okay?"

I nodded and turned to walk away to my car, slipping my hand out of his. I turned to look back at him, and he smiled beautifully and waved.