Unarmed

Chapter 39

Luca's POV (yes, again)

I open my front door and there she is. I do my best to subtly take her in. She's wearing what I guess you would call a sweater dress. It's white and stops above her knees. She has her natural hair in a bun and she looks gorgeous.

"Hey," I say. I have to stop myself from staring.

"Hi," she says. She's holding a double wine bag and a chocolate cake.

"I can take those from you," I offer.

She hands them to me and I open the door wider to let her in.

"Wow," she says, stepping into my place. She slides her heels off then takes in the room. "This is a really nice place you have Lucas."

"Thanks," I say, putting the cake in the fridge. I take out the bottle of white wine then put the rosé in the fridge. The white will pair perfectly with dinner.

"I really like the huge windows." Chantelle walks to the living room and up to the large windows that overlook downtown San Francisco. The sun is beginning to set and it really is a beautiful view.

"Can I help with anything?" Chantelle asks, walking into the kitchen.

"No," I reply. "I'm just gonna open this bottle and we can eat."

"Okay." She takes a seat at the dining table and I get the cork out of the wine. After pouring us both a glass, I take a seat across from her.

"Thanks for the wine and dessert," I say.

"Thanks for inviting me over."

There's a bit of awkwardness in the air but I hope it will fade as the evening goes on. I genuinely want this to dinner to go well. I take a large swig of wine and relax as best I can.

"This all looks amazing," she prompts. "What'd you make?"

"We have marinated flank steak, garlic roasted potatoes and an arugula salad. Can I serve you some of each?"

"Yeah, that would be great." I serve her then serve myself and we both dig in.

"So how's your week been?" she asks.

"Pretty good," I reply. "I had my first therapy appointment."

"How'd it go?" Now it's her turn to take a large swig of wine.

"Pretty good actually. I'm really glad I went. The doc gave me some practical tips to work through the shooting but also our relationship."

Chantelle nods then plays with her food a little. "Can I... can I ask what he said about us?"

"Well he recognized how much I value you. And how much you mean to me. But he also recognized that I'm guarded. And the only way we're going to be able to move forward is to slowly rebuild that trust."

"I think that's totally fair." Chantelle takes a bite of food and we're silent for a moment. "Can I ask one thing?"

"Yeah," I say.

"I know I hurt you Lucas. And I will forever apologize for that. I was hurt too. But I don't want either of us lording that over the other person. It's gonna take time. I know that. But can this actually be a fresh start? Like we are truly moving forward?"

I nod because I understand her. "I know where you're coming from Chantelle. And I agree. It's not fair to hold that over you and vice versa. I can't say there won't be times when I don't think about what happened but I'm gonna try my hardest. I promise you that."

"That's all I want," Chantelle says, giving me a small smile.

We finish dinner and the first bottle of wine. I get up to clean off the table and Chantelle stands up to help too.

"Don't worry about it," I say.

"I'm worried about it," Chantelle teases.

"I'm just gonna put them in the dishwasher."

"What can I do then?"

"Mm.. do you wanna get the cake out? There's serving utensils next to the fridge and plates in the cabinet above."

"Okay," Chantelle says. "Can I also open this second bottle?"

"That'd be great."

I load the dishwasher while Chantelle serves the cake and pours wine.

"We can move to the couch," I say.

"Sounds good."

Chantelle places our slices of cake on the coffee table then comes back to the kitchen to grab our wine glasses and the new bottle.

"I'll be there in a sec," I say, rinsing my hands.