Love & Gelato (38 page)

“Valentina's dad works with my dad, only he's even higher up. I've been to lots of parties at their house and they're always crazy. One year they did this big Japanese dinner and there were women lying on the serving tables. You had to eat your sushi off of them.”

“Ew. Really?”

“Yeah, it was awesome.” He slid his hand onto my bare knee—again—and I made a big show of rearranging my legs so he'd move his hand. Again. I looked at him and sighed. Any other girl would trade all the gelato in Florence for a chancing to be sitting in my spot. But they weren't me. And they didn't know Ren.

When we finally pulled up to the party, I was shocked. Not because the house looked like Dracula's castle—of course it did—but because of how many people were there. Cars and cabs were all funneling into the driveway while throngs of ecstatic partygoers weaved their way toward the front door. It took us ten full minutes and three leg rearrangings just to wind our way up to the valet station.

When we got to the top Thomas threw his keys to the valet, then made a big show of helping me out of the car. A red carpet was draped on the big stone steps leading up to the entryway and tons of people were making their way inside. I'd been a little worried I'd be overdressed, but everyone looked like they were on their way to some kind of red-carpet premiere. This was definitely a The Dress occasion.

“This is way bigger than I thought it would be,” I said, grabbing Thomas's arm before I could lose my balance on the stairs.

“Told you. It's going to be awesome.”

“Do all of your friends live in houses like this?”

“Just the ones who throw parties.”

The entryway had a long, curving staircase and an extravagant chandelier made of colored glass. A man holding a big stack of papers stopped us.

“Name, please.” His accent was as thick as his biceps.

“Thomas Heath.” Thomas turned and grinned at me. “And my date.”

The man shuffled through his papers, marking Thomas's name. “
Benvenuti
.”

“Do you mind if I check your list really quick?” I asked. “I'm wondering if my friend is here.”

“No.” He scowled at me, covering the list with his hand. “It is
privato
.”

It wasn't like we were attending a party at the Pentagon or something. “I just need to look for one sec—”

“Come on.” Thomas grabbed my hand and yanked me away from the list and farther into the house. Everyone was sardine-ing themselves into this big, overly frilly room with high ceilings and like five more chandeliers, and we had to push our way in, tripping over all the fancy dresses and guys sweating into their jackets. All the furniture was moved to the outer edges of the room, and a makeshift stage had been set up in one corner. So far there was just a bunch of instruments up there, but music was playing from speakers around the room at a level that could kill small birds. It was
so
crowded. How was I going to find Ren?

“Lina! Thomas!” Elena emerged from the crowd, grabbing my arm. She was wearing a short gray dress and her hair was pulled up in a high ponytail. “Wow. Lina, you look
bella
. This is the color for you.”

“Thanks, Elena. Have you seen Ren?”

“Ren? No. I don't know if he's even coming. Mimi would probably kill him.”

“Why?”

Thomas cracked up. “Guys, look. There's Selma.” He pointed to a tall middle-aged woman who had climbed onto the stage and was fumbling around with cords. She was wearing a tiara and a hot-pink minidress that was about ten seconds from giving up on keeping her boobs covered.

“Ugh,” Elena said, shaking her head. “That is Valentina's mom. She was a supermodel in the nineties, and she displays sexy pictures of herself around the house. I think I would rather die than see my mom's cleavage on a daily basis.”

“Your mom's
bionic
cleavage,” Thomas said. “We should try to get a good spot by the band. Valentina said they start playing at ten.”

Elena shook her head. “I'm waiting for Marco.”

“Marco, huh?”

Elena scowled at him. “
Dai
. I just told him I would. It doesn't mean anything.”

“Uh-huh.”

“Elena, if you see Ren, will you tell him I really need to talk to him?” I asked.

“Sure, no problem.” She glanced at Thomas, then leaned in. “Wow. Thomas looks
incredibile
.” She pronounced it the Italian way. “Good choice. He is
troppo sexy
. I'm pretty sure every girl who's met him has tried for him. I guess you are the lucky one. It sucks that Ren broke up with Mimi for you, but I totally understand why you are here with Thomas.”

Eight hundred exclamation marks went off in my head. “Ren broke up with Mimi? When? Today?”

She frowned. “I don't know. Maybe yesterday? Mimi said she was glad, though. No offense, but Ren can be very strange. He always says whatever pops into his head.”

“Yeah, but that's what's so great about him.”

She slid her eyes at Thomas. “Yeah, I guess so. See you later. I'm going out front.”

“Bye. Just tell Ren where I am if you see him, okay?”

“You okay?” Thomas asked when Elena had left.

“Yeah, sure.” Maybe better than okay. Ren had broken up with Mimi for
me
? Then what was all that in Rome? The urgency of my Find Ren mission had pretty much hit the roof.

“Let's get a drink and go over by the stage,” Thomas said.

“Sure.”

The next couple of hours were incredibly slow. The band was Spanish, and after every couple of sets the drummer got carried away and threw his drumsticks into the crowd, where they had to be fished out again before they could start playing the next song.

Thomas kept disappearing for more and more drinks and Ren kept
not showing up.
Where was he? What if he
didn't
show up? Was this whole The Dress thing actually a curse? If so, I would have come in running clothes.

Finally I excused myself. “Thomas, I'm going to the bathroom. I'll be back in a while.”

He gave me an unfocused thumbs-up and I pushed myself through the crowd, doing a quick scan of the party. As far as I could tell, Ren wasn't in the main room. And he wasn't on the front steps or in the entryway, either. Where was he? Finally I decided to actually use the bathroom, but there was a long line, and I kept my neck craned to watch for Ren.

When it was my turn I locked the door behind me, then looked in the mirror and sighed. My dress still looked great, but I was sweaty and I could tell my hair was plotting a mutiny. I pulled it back into a ponytail, then checked my phone again. Nothing. Where was he?

Thomas was waiting for me outside the door. “There you are. We have to hurry. Everyone's supposed to go outside. There's a big surprise.”

I gave up on my shoes, taking them off and carrying them as we moved with the crowds toward the back doors. When we finally stepped outside I sucked in my breath. The yard was the size of a football field, and dozens of large white blankets checkered the ground, their edges lit with tea lights. It was nauseatingly romantic. Half the people out there were going to get carried away and start professing their undying love to each other.

“Thomas, you didn't see Ren while I was in the bathroom, did you?”

“No, no, no.” He stopped at the bottom of the stairs, putting both hands on my shoulders. “Let's make a pact. No more talking about Ren. I just want to talk about you.” He grinned. “And me. Now come on.”

He pulled me forward, and I stumbled a little as we made our way across the grass.

“Where are we going?”

“I told you, it's a surprise.”

We walked all the way to an empty blanket on the outskirts of the yard and Thomas sat down, loosening his tie and taking off his jacket. His shirt and hair were rumpled and I wished for about the thousandth time that Addie were here to enjoy all this hotness. It was totally wasted on me.

“Now lie down,” he said.

“What?”

“Lie down.” He patted the blanket.

“Thomas . . .”

“Relax. I'm not going to do anything. Just lie down for a second. I promise I'll stay right here.”

I looked at him for a moment, then lay down on the blanket, smoothing my dress around me. “Now what?”

“Close your eyes. I'll tell you when to open them.”

I looked at him, then exhaled, half closing my eyes. Did he have to be this gorgeous? It was really complicating my life.

He started counting down slowly. “Twenty . . . nineteen . . . eighteen . . .” By the time he got to “one” I'd been lying there for half a century, and I opened my eyes to the sound of a collective cheer going up from the lawn.

All around us, white paper lanterns lit by candles were rising into the air. There were
hundreds
of them.

Thomas grinned at my stunned expression. “Valentina told me they were doing this. Cool, right?”

“So cool.”

We watched quietly for a moment, the lanterns twirling up to the stars like graceful jellyfish. The night was beautiful and magical and
ugh—
I was so miserable I could cry. Here I was in
Italy
witnessing a scene out of a fairy tale, and all I could think about was Ren. Was I going to be like Howard? Heartbroken for life? Was I going to have to buy my own long board and start baking blueberry muffins in the dead of night?

“Told you you'd like it. They're doing fireworks later too.” Thomas reclined on one elbow, lowering his face close to mine. A bunch of lanterns were reflected in his eyes and for a second I lost track of why I wasn't into him. And then I remembered.

“Thomas, I have to tell you something.”

“Shh. You can tell me later.” Before I could react, he rolled on top of me, pressing his lips against mine and my whole body into the ground. For a second it was like Christmas and my birthday and summer vacation all rolled into one, but then it was all so
wrong
. I wriggled out from under him and sat up.

“Thomas, I can't do this.”

“Why?” He sat up too, a confused look on his face. This was probably his very first experience with rejection. Poor devil.

I shook my head. “You're great. And so good-looking. But I just can't.”

“Because of Ren?”

“Yeah.”

“Why'd you even come here with me if you're into Ren?”

“I'm sorry. It was really lame of me. And I should have told you earlier.”

He stood up and grabbed his jacket, brushing grass off his pants. “Lucky for you, lover boy's right over there.”

“What?” I whipped around. Ren was standing a few yards away, his back to me. I scrambled to my feet.

“See you around,” Thomas said.

“Thomas, I really am sorry,” I called after him, but he was already on his way back to the house.

I took a deep breath, then scooped up my shoes and half ran over to Ren. He was wearing a navy blue suit and it looked like someone had held him down and given him a haircut.

I touched his back. “Ren?”

He turned around and I felt the shards of my broken heart crumble to dust. He looked so good. Like
so
good.

“Hey.” Not even a hint of surprise.

“I was really hoping you'd be here. Could we talk?”

Suddenly Mimi materialized from a nearby group of girls. She was wearing a fitted black dress with cutout panels along the rib cage, and her eyes were outlined in dark liner. She looked like a tiger. I'd never seen anything more terrifying.

She linked her arm with Ren's. “Hello, Lina. How's Thomas?”

“He's okay,” I said quietly.

“Ren, let's go back inside. I think the band's going to start again.”

“Ren, can I talk to you for a minute?” I asked.

He was looking just past my right ear. “I'm kind of busy.”

“Please? It will only be a minute. I just have to tell you something.”

“He's busy,” Mimi said, tightening her grip on his arm.

He looked down at her hand, then back up at me. “Okay. One minute.”

“Seriously, Ren?” Mimi growled.

“It will just be a second. I'll be right back.”

She turned and flounced away. That girl knew how to flounce.

“What's up?” Ren asked quietly.

“Will you go for a walk with me?”

By the time we made it to the edge of the yard the lanterns were just tiny little specks in the sky, and I was a hundred percent sure that Ren hadn't gotten over what happened in Rome. He just kept trudging after me like a well-dressed robot, and I felt myself sinking lower and lower. Was this even going to work?

The yard was terraced and we walked down some steps, passing a couple making out against a tree and a group of guys riding around on croquet mallets like they were jockeys. Totally something we'd laugh about. That is, if we were talking.

Finally we came to a white stone bench and Ren sat down. I sat down next to him.

“Amazing party,” I said.

He just shrugged.

Okay. He wasn't going to make this easy on me.

“I guess I'll just get right into it.” My voice was wobbly. “I've never met anyone like you. You're smart and funny, and really easy to be around, and you're basically the one person I've met since my mom died who I don't feel like I have to act fake around. And I'm really,
really
sorry about what happened in Rome. Kissing you wasn't fair because you have a girlfriend . . . or
had
a girlfriend . . .” I looked at him, hoping he'd clarify, but he didn't say anything.

“Anyway. I didn't know right until that moment how I felt about you, but I should have just told you instead of basically jumping on you. Anyway, what I'm trying to say is, I really like you. A lot. But if you don't feel the same way about me, it's okay. Because you're really important to me, and I hope we can still be friends.”