A Place in the Sun

by R.S. Grey

“Oh my Liam Neeson. I’ve been taken!”

I WASN’T AN oblivious girl going through life unaware of how people felt about me. I knew Gianluca wanted me to bugger off, and I knew I was making him uncomfortable talking about Allie. I knew, I just didn’t care. I wanted to shake him silly, to shout at him, WAKE UP. THIS IS YOUR LIFE AND YOU’RE WASTING THE BEST BITS OF IT.

Everyone had something to offer and when I reached out to shake her hand, I did so with a genuine smile on my face. The day I got intimidated by another woman would be the day I was no longer Georgie Archibald.

When she smiled, the world smiled with her, and more than once, I found myself wishing I was the man she deserved to be with, the one she had come to Italy to find.

I meant what I’d said; there was no rush. I wanted to stretch out our time together, to revel in the possibilities. After all, it’d been five years since I’d felt a woman I loved on top of me.

Witnessing his love for Allie was a good thing because it made me realize what I wanted: for someone to love me the way he still loved her.

To have her love and attention was like standing beneath the scorching sun on a summer day: suffocating and sustaining all at once.