I Won't Bridge an Impossible Gap novel · Chapter 11 of 24

Chapter 11: Four Hundred Euros

We did not go back to the house.

We went into the olive grove, under the oldest tree, where the bench still stood.

The festival was a faint gold glow down the hill.

Alessio sat with his sling across his chest, and I stood in front of him with my hands knotted.

"I'm going first," I said. "Don't say anything until I'm finished."

"All right."

"Five years ago, on this night, I was twenty-two. My mother was dying in a basement on the Vico Lungo, and the pharmacy wanted four hundred euros for the pills that kept her breathing."

I made myself keep looking at him.

"I had eleven euros."

He did not move.

"So I went to the festival in a green coat that wasn't mine, and I picked a pocket."

My voice shook, and I made it steady.

"I had done it once before, for bread, when I was fifteen. I hated it. I swore never again. And then I stood in that street with the lanterns, and a man in a dark jacket was leaning on a wall with his back to me, and his wallet was sticking out of his pocket."

"Nina."

"Don't. Let me." I took a breath. "I took it. I ran. In the alley behind the church I took four hundred euros out of it, and I left the cards."

"You left the cards?"

"I couldn't take them. I couldn't take anything more than the pills. I kept the wallet, because I thought, I'll find him, I'll give it back, I'll pay him. I carried it for a month, and I never found him."

My chin was shaking.

"My mother lived four more months. I bought her all the medicine in the world with a thief's money. And then she died, and I buried her, and I swore I'd never take anything from anyone again."

I laughed, bitterly.

"And then a tall man came into the alteration shop to have a button sewn on, and he asked me to dinner, and he was kind. I thought, God has a terrible sense of humour. I thought, I can't take his money. Not a cent, not ever. That's the only way I can stand beside him."

← Chapter 10 · All chapters · Chapter 12 →

Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend