But his screen displayed a different, more surprising name. It was Robert. “It’s my boss,” he said.

“You should take that,” Antonia said, holding a large butcher knife over the pizza. “It could be mysterious tenure stuff.”

Aiden rolled his eyes. “He demanded I go on holiday. Mysterious tenure stuff could wait a little while.”

She smiled as she cut herself a slice of pizza. “Still. You have to think about your future.”

Antonia’s gentle chiding was pleasant to his ears. It was as if they’d been dancing around the kitchen, making breakfast pizza, for years. He let his gaze linger on her smile as he answered the phone. “Hey, Robert.”

“Oh, good, Aiden, I’m glad I caught you. How is Tully Cross?”

“It’s fine, Robert. We had a good storm last night, but it will dry out soon enough. What can I do for you?”

“I won’t take up your time, but Penny and I are leaving for Greece tomorrow and I need to make sure things are in order before we leave. I came across a call for chapters in an American Literature anthology that might be up your alley.”

“Oh yeah?” Aiden said absently, keeping his eyes on Antonia as she pulled her slice away from the pan. Cheese stretched with every tug, until she took the strings of mozzarella between her thumb and index finger and dropped them into her mouth. When she licked her fingers, Aiden licked his lips. She tilted her head back and let the corner of the slice rest against her tongue before taking a large bite. How can anyone make eating pizza look so sexy? Her eyes closed as a low groan escaped her throat.

“This is so good,” she whispered.

He nodded. He was a believer in Goodfella’s thin crust pizza, but it couldn’t have been better than his current view of her mouth.

“Yes, the ad was calling for an interesting mix of international voices to juxtapose certain themes in American Literature,” Robert continued. “Identity and nationality seems quite important to them.”

Aiden switched gears and returned to his phone conversation. “How exactly?”

“I’ve emailed it to you,” Robert said. “I think you should take a look at their criteria, but I imagine your conference paper could easily transition into a longer length article.”

“And possibly a chapter,” Aiden finished. “Yeah, I’ll look at that today.”

“How is the writing going?” his mentor asked in a cautious tone. “Have you been able to get back to it?”

He chuckled at Robert’s concern. He hated that the old man felt he needed to check in, but he appreciated the support nonetheless. “I have.”

“You seem a little distracted. Have I called at a bad time?”

As he continued watching Antonia nibble at her pizza, without a plate, he smiled. Her curls balanced precariously atop her head as she leaned over the stove, dropping crumbs over the burners. He wanted nothing more than to get off the phone and join her. And after they finished their meal, he could drive at a breakneck speed to Letterfrack for condoms. “No, not a bad time,” he said. “I’m actually at my neighbor’s cottage having breakfast.”