Italian Romance Read Online Free Page A

pizzas when Melissa wiped her
hands on a napkin and fixed her sister in a level gaze.
    “So Kay, you’ve been biding your time but now you might as well
come out with it.”
    “What?” Melissa’s directness caught Kay off guard. She had a
mouthful of pizza and was attempting to mop up the oil that was dribbling down
her chin.
    “I can read you like a book,” her sister continued, “your
disapproval radiated down the phone line even before you got here. Now we’re
face to face its screaming at me. Come on, let’s get this over with and then
you can enjoy the rest of your stay in Rome.”
     Kay swallowed her mouthful of pizza and took a sip of rapidly
warming beer.
    “There's no need to get defensive,” she said finally.
    “It's hard not to be,” Melissa replied, “when you feel someone
mounting an attack against you. Come on, spit it out.”
    Kay frowned. She hadn’t wanted to broach the subject like this. Melissa
had a knack for throwing her. Deciding subtlety wasn't going to work now, Kay
took a deep breath.
    “You're making an enormous mistake Mel,” she began, watching her
sister's face closely as she spoke, “and I couldn't sit back in Wellington and
let you do it. Think how this appears to everyone. One minute you're madly in
love with Jake, about to get married, you've even bought a house together –
then you go off on holiday to Italy and drop everything for the first man who
crosses your path. No wonder mum and dad are livid. Jake's a mess. I had to do
something. I arrive here to find you totally complacent about what you've done.
Don't you have a conscience?”
    Kay sat back in her chair and waited for Melissa's response. Her
words had been harsh and cutting but they'd had to be. Melissa's face was
hooded for a few moments. She looked down at her plate and when she looked up
again, Kay saw her sister’s eyes were bright with unshed tears.
    “I know I broke things off with Jake in a cowardly way,” she
began, her voice low, “I thought it would be less messy if I didn’t have to
speak to him.” Melissa pushed her half-finished pizza away. Her appetite had
faded along with her carefree mood. “I've hurt him and I wish I hadn’t. He’s
not a bad man but when I came here and I met Vincenzo I realized that for years
I’d been pretending to want the life I had when I didn’t.”
    Kay stared at her uncomprehendingly, confused by Melissa’s
convoluted argument. Melissa saw she’d lost her and so she sought to explain
herself better.
    “For years I thought I’d done so well. A great career, the boyfriend
all my friends wanted but over the last two years I’ve felt like I’ve just been
going through the motions. I took the safe track Kay. I could have done what some
of my friends did: travelled, tried out different countries, different jobs. Instead,
I’ve spent the last decade living a serious, confined life. I never realized
what I was missing out on until I came here.”
    Kay frowned. She and Melissa had been living similar lives until
Melissa absconded to Italy. Kay felt insulted. Melissa may have felt her life
was serious and confined but Kay’s wasn’t.
    “Sounds like some kind of early mid-life crisis to me,” she said,
not liking the sniping tone she was using but unable to stop herself.
    “Maybe it was,” Melissa sighed, “but I’m glad it came. I love it here
Kay and I can’t believe how lucky I was to meet Vincenzo. Few people ever meet
their soul mate and I have.”
    “Soul mate!” Kay spluttered, “but you’ve only known him a month!
You sound like an infatuated teenager!”
    “And you sound like a bitter old maid!” Melissa shot back, “for
god’s sake, you’re only twenty-nine. Way too young to be so jaded. I’m
surprised you didn’t get on better with Vincenzo’s brother because you sound
just like him. People are so quick to judge, to tell you what you should and
shouldn’t do. Vincenzo and I just want to be together. Some people stay in