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A week had passed in a blurry haze since Samantha had left him. Edo had thrown himself into researching his competition, what other bed-and-breakfasts were doing, and had spent hours talking to tourists in the city about what they'd come to Florence to find.
He still caught himself looking for that bright red backpack.
Edo's mother knocked on his door. He sighed and let her in with her tray of pastries and coffee. She'd been feeding him nonstop, like that would make up for his loss.
This time, though, as Edo raised the pastry to his lips, she scowled. “I'm disappointed.”
Edo stopped in surprise.
“I thought you'd grown up enough this time, but you still need your mother to spell it out for you.”
Edo put down his pastry and took his mother's hands so she couldn't cross her arms at him anymore. “What did I do?”
His mother pulled her hands from him and gestured rapidly as she spoke. “It's not what you did, but what you didn't do. When you left for America, and Paola stayed, did you make any effort? Did you even write to her? No! You cut things off without a word, without even trying to change her mind.”
Edo felt the ache in his chest peeling open to expose the raw hurt underneath. “She was very clear in her answer.”
“You are so fatalistic. Do you think love is not stronger than oceans? Do you think I didn't still love you when you crossed the ocean and left me?”
“I can't make them love me enough to cross an ocean, Mama.” And with that, the pain in Edo's chest bubbled over and filled him; not just the pain of Samantha leaving, but the pain of Paola's rejection years before—together, it was a hurt that took his breath away.
“Not with that attitude,” his mother said unfeelingly. She took his face in her hands and rocked it gently side to side as though he were a silly little boy. “You sprang a choice on them and told them to choose immediately, but offered no proof that you would continue loving them even across an ocean. Of course they would not second-guess their choice when you ignore them completely.”
Edo pulled his mother's hands from his face and stood to pace his office. He didn't want to listen to this. Hadn't he made himself vulnerable enough? Hadn't he let down all his walls, stepped past all his pain to even ask Samantha to stay? “I respected their decisions. I won't pester Samantha when she's already said no.”
His mother stood and stepped into his way, making him stop. She was much smaller than him, but her presence, as always, was strong. “Then don't pester her. But at least be her friend.” His mother's eyes turned gentle. “That girl was one of the loneliest people I've ever met. At the least, be her friend.”
Was it even possible to be a friend after the way they'd kissed? Was it even possible for him to write to her without his pain showing through every stilted word?
Edo remembered the loneliness, though, that his mother talked about. He'd felt it himself when he’d moved to America after leaving Paola behind. Samantha had no family, was still reeling from the death of her grandmother. And he’d pushed her to make another massive change even as she worked to process her own grief. How could he have expected that of her?
“I'll try.”
His mother smiled and patted his shoulder. “Good boy.”