Silence stretches between us.
My chest heaves. I've said too much. Revealed too much. Given her ammunition she could use to destroy me if she wanted.
But she doesn't look like someone planning destruction.
She looks like someone who finally got the answer she was looking for.
Antonella reaches out. Her fingers brush my jaw. The touch is light, barely there, but it grounds me in a way nothing else has in two years.
"I don't know how to say no to people," she says.
The words don't make sense. Not after what I just admitted. Not after I laid myself bare in front of her like an idiot.
"What?"
"You said you don't know how to swim." She shifts closer, her knees pressing against my thigh. "I don't know how to say no. To anyone. Ever."
I stare at her. "You hung up on me. Our first phone call."
"That was different. That was anger." She shakes her head. "I mean the other kind. The kind where someone asks me for something and I give it even when I don't want to. Even when it costs me everything."
Her voice drops.
"My father asked me to sacrifice my future. I said yes. My sister needed me to be her mother. I said yes. My brother needed money he shouldn't have spent. I said yes." She meets my eyes. "I've been saying yes my whole life, Bruno. To everyone except myself."
The confession hangs between us. Raw. Honest. A mirror to my own admission.
"Why are you telling me this?"
"Because we can make a deal."
I narrow my eyes. "A deal."
"I'll teach you to swim." Her lips curve into something that's almost a smile. "And you'll teach me to say no."
"You think I can teach you anything?"
"You're the most stubborn person I've ever met." She says it like a compliment. "You don't care what anyone thinks. You do what you want. You say what you mean." Her hand drops from my jaw to my chest, palm flat against my heart. "I need to learn that. How to want things for myself. How to say no without feeling like I'm failing everyone."
I should refuse. Should tell her this is a terrible idea. That I'll only drag her down with me.
But her hand is warm on my chest. Her eyes are steady on mine. And for the first time in two years, someone is asking me for something I might actually be able to give.
"Fine."
Antonella's smile breaks across her face. That dimple appears.
"Fine," she repeats. "We have a deal."
"Don't look so pleased with yourself."
"I'm very pleased with myself." She leans forward and presses a kiss to my jaw. Quick. Light. Gone before I can react. "Now. I need to see Gianna."
Gianna.
I forgot.
I forgot because Antonella was in my lap. Because her mouth was on mine. Because for a few hours, nothing existed except her.