“Distracted by what?”

Nothing in particular. Just all the filthy, passionate, awesome secret sex I’ve been having with my ex-boyfriend.

“Work stuff,” I say, my voice sounding pitchy. “Switching back to Italy, though, I meant to give you this last week.” I hop up from the chair and walk over to my desk, opening a drawer and pulling out a folder. “I did some early prep work for Jen’s baby shower since I’ll be gone during the planning time. Jen loves Beatrix Potter so I figured that can be our theme. I got some invitation samples for you to choose from and I printed out pictures of the decorations I’m going to buy. I’m thinking I’ll order things little by little while I’m in Rome and have them sent to your house.”

I hand Mom the folder. She opens it up and looks through each invitation and picture. “This all looks great. I’m surprised you got all of this done already.”

“Yeah, well, when you find out that you’re actually a sub-par writer who can’t finish her work on time, it’s shockingly therapeutic to shop for baby party decor online.”

My mom laughs and tucks the folder into her bag.

An hour later, I’m in the clear. The sneaky daughter gods have smiled upon me and my mom doesn’t suspect a thing, other than her thinking that I’m losing my mind, but that’s nothing new. I should feel guilty about lying to her, but she’ll find out about Ryan and me soon enough.

“Now, I know tomorrow is going to be hectic, but you could still text Jen and me pictures of all you girls in your dresses. And you better call me the next day to tell me all about the wedding.”

“I will, I promise.”

My mom smiles before kissing me on the cheek and heading for the elevator. I close the door behind her and my mind slowly drifts back to Italy. How could I have forgotten? I’ve been looking forward to this for months, years even. All my hard work has brought me to this trip. How is it possible that for even one hour it slipped my mind?

Ryan.

That’s how it slipped my mind. Between him and my deadline, I’ve been able to think of little else. Ryan is this surprising, amazing force that is back in my life and it’s starting to get hard to remember what it was like without him.

But what about Italy? Do I really want to pack up and leave for six months now? We’ll be right back to where we left off in college. Am I willing to risk what we have all over again?

I have to decide what to do. I have to tell Ryan.

Soon.

16