Chapter 18

Natalia awoke sometime after sunrise and smelled fire and coffee. What a magical combination of scents! And was there bacon mixed in with it, too? She pulled on a pair of shorts and wriggled out of the bed, trying not to wake Steve, and at the last moment, she looked and realized he wasn’t in bed. The girls were still asleep, Emma was clutching the ugliest stuffed animal that Natalia had ever seen. Then she stepped outside to a world that she hated, a world without her mother.

It was a cool morning, and a thick fog had moved in, giving the world a prehistoric look where a pelican could be a pterodactyl and the screeches and cries coming out of the woods could be any creature. Steve was sitting in a folding chair by the fire ring. A small fire was warming the coffee pot and the smell of the fragrant smoke, and the hearty coffee made a Maria-less world just a bit less painful for Natalia.

Seeing Natalia come out of the trailer, Steve set up a chair for her and poured her a cup of coffee. “Thank you for last night,” she whispered.

“I didn’t do anything.”

“You were a gentleman,” she insisted.

Steve was quiet for a while, then whispered, “thank you for letting me be a gentleman.”

“What are we going to do?” she asked.

“I’m trying to find a hotel suite to stay in until the house is done. Two bedroom and kitchen suite kind of thing, but it’s tourist season and rooms are hard to find.”

“If you can, y’know, be a gentleman a single would be ok we can work it out. And we could go to Aunt Fabbi’s house and do laundry.” With a fist bump, Steve took out his tablet and began searching for a suite with a kitchenette. Soon the Tamaro’s came out. At least Jeannie and Derick came out. Their girls were still asleep.

“Would you like some breakfast?” asked Steve.

“No, we need to get going,” said Jeannie. “Derick needs to get to work so we’ll grab something on the road.” As Derick answered an email on his phone, Jeannie went back inside the camper and woke up the girls and soon emerged with a grumpy little Emma in her arms, followed by a complaining Anna.

“Aww, can’t we stay?”

“Potty first, then we have to get home.” When the girls came back from their trip to the bathroom, they got in Jeannie’s car. Because Derick was going to drive straight to work, he left right away.

“This is for you, I guess,” said Steve as he handed Jeannie a large manilla envelope with Maria’s script handwriting that simply said, “Giannina.”

“When did she give you this?”

“Saturday, about noon, it was the last time...” his voice caught, and he stopped there, unable to continue. It was their last kiss. Love’s last kiss.

Jeannie hugged her sister and Steve and said, “When I get home I’ll call you guys,” and moments later she was gone, leaving Steve and Natalia horribly alone.