La Rosa Gialla

Chapter 40

August 2024

We were more than halfway through the season. More precisely, 14 races out of 24. It's amazing how fast time flies when you're having a good time, isn't it? A few weeks ago, I definitively accepted my role as a mere girlfriend and gave my position back to the returning physical therapist. Charles and Andrea tried to include me in their training, but even if they didn't, I wouldn't complain. It seemed to me that because of all the trouble with my mom, I didn't allow myself to be 100 percent happy the last few years and I stopped behaving the way people my age should behave. Discovering, finding out what interests them and fulfills them, occasionally slacking off a bit and taking care only of themselves. What's wrong with enjoying what life has to offer? What if my only current mission is to be with the one person I love more than anything in the world?

We spent the first few days of the summer break in and around Monaco on Sedici, the yacht with the original name. We enjoyed the sea and the sun surrounded by everyone who meant something to us. Lorenzo and Arthur with their girlfriends, Pascale, Joris with Camille, who still didn't run away from him to his great surprise, and several other close friends that I gradually got to know. If we detach ourselves from the past and the losses we have suffered, those were the days when everything was absolutely perfect. Only my dad, Luca, Alessandra and Elio were missing. Maybe even Sarah and Kala, although it still wasn't completely tension-free with Sarah, no matter how well Kala tried to play the role of mediator.

"Have you finally chosen your dress?" Lorenzo's girlfriend Charlotte asked me one afternoon as she lay down next to me on the sun lounger and I shook my head. "The wedding is in a week, Adri," she laughed.

"I know. But it's so hard. I hate being spoiled for choice. And Charles is completely useless as an advisor. On every dress, he says: You look beautiful in them," I imitated his voice and threw up my hands. "So how do I choose then?" I sighed.

"He's telling you that because he likes you in everything, not because he doesn't want to help you," Charlotte laughed. "I know," I smiled and looked in his direction. He caught my eye, tilted his head to the side, smiled and waved at me. "Sometimes I think you two should get married rather than Lorenzo and me," Charlotte sneered.

"What do you mean?"

"Looking at you makes me sick sometimes, how adorable you are."

"Sorry," I laughed.

"I have a suggestion. How about we take Pascale tomorrow, have a ladies' afternoon, and on that occasion finally help you pick out a dress?"

"I thought Pascale already had her dress," I hesitated.

"Yes, but unlike Charles, she will be an excellent advisor."

"These. That's it," Pascale declared when I tried on about the eighth dress. These were a light, pastel yellow. They had low chiffon straps, and floor-length skirt, and the neckline was edged with delicate lace in the same color. Simple but effective. "Besides, you fit my color palette perfectly," Charlotte agreed and I nodded.

"Show me," whined Charles when he saw the bag from the boutique in my hand. "No, let yourself be surprised," I teased him.

"Pleeeease, I beg you."

"Charlie," I laughed, but I knew he had me in his pocket. I let out an overly dramatic sigh and went to the bedroom to change. When I re-entered the living room, Charles cocked his head to the side and frowned slightly. "What don't you like?" I asked him a little flustered. He walked closer to me and circled me like a satellite. "It's good," he finally nodded and stopped right in front of me.

"Just good?"

"They look a little tricky to undress," he grumbled and my corners twitched. "But if you were able to put them on yourself, then I should be able to take them off."

"Charlie!" I yelled as he disappeared behind me again and started struggling with the laces. "Stop it!"

"Why?" he made puppy dog eyes at me and curled his lower lip.

"Here's a zipper," I sighed, lifting my right arm to reveal a hidden zipper on the side. He looked at me with glowing eyes and before I knew it I was lying on the couch with my legs wrapped around Charles' waist and a pile of yellow chiffon on the rug next to us.