Written in the Stars (19 page)

“You’re going to leave me alone with your dad?”

“Don’t look so scared. His bark is a lot worse than his bite,” I teased him.

“I’m not scared.”

“Of course you’re not.” I gave him a quick kiss. “I’ll see you later.”

“Unless I’m swimming with the fish,” he joked.

“You’ll be fine.”

I thought being away from Geoff an hour was bad, but it was nothing compared to a whole afternoon. I was just going to have to find a way to keep myself busy for the sake of my dad’s happiness. I didn’t lie when I told Geoff he hadn’t smiled like that in years, and I definitely didn’t want to be the reason for it to fade. 

I opened every drawer until I found the one and only bathing suit Erin had packed for me. Honestly, I was not sure there was enough material to call it any kind of clothing, but it was all I had. For once, I was very happy to have a small chest since the bikini top looked like nothing more than dental floss, and since the bottoms were worse, I slipped back on the shorts.

“And my dad thought the shorts were bad; wait until he gets a load of this.” I looked into the mirror to make sure the top at least covered all the major body parts.

“Did you catch dinner yet?” I asked, sneaking up on my dad and Geoff. 

I could tell that Geoff had fully intended to answer my question when he turned around, but considering he lost all motor function when he saw me, it was kind of hard.

“Are you okay?” I couldn’t help smiling.

“Um,” was his only response.

I didn’t dare look at Dad. I could feel his disapproval radiating off of him.

“Well, don’t let me interrupt. I’m just on my way to the upper deck to catch some rays.” I started walking up the stairs.

“I have a better idea.” Geoff jumped up and grabbed a chair. “Why don’t you catch some rays down here with us?”

“Or you can go put on some clothes,” my dad said without looking at me.

“If I wore clothes, I wouldn’t get a tan, and I don’t like the smell of fish, so if you will both excuse me.” I took another step, only to have Geoff stop me.

“I’ll come with you.” Geoff looked up at me.

“No way.” I eyed him. “Enjoy your time getting to know my dad.”

“He probably could if you stayed away,” my dad mumbled.

“Point taken.” I kissed Geoff’s cheek. “Now go catch dinner.”

There was nothing that could have wiped the smirk off my face as I made my way up to the sundeck. I positioned the lounge chair perfectly for the sun to do its job before getting comfortable and drowning out the world with music. My lack of sleep quickly caught up to me, and halfway through the second song, I had fallen asleep.

“
Sophie,” I heard my mom’s voice calling from a distance.

I looked back at the island and saw her standing at the edge of the water, waving to me.

“Mom!” I shouted.

“I’ll miss you,” she said before blowing me a kiss.

“I’m coming, Mom!” I yelled. My heart dropped as the boat got further away and I could no longer see her.

“Turn around; we have to go back,” I cried to Geoff. “My mom’s not dead; we have to go back,” I told him, but he didn’t listen. Instead, he sped up the boat. “Didn’t you hear me?” I shouted. “She isn’t dead; we can’t leave her there alone,” I cried, but nothing I said or did made a difference. He just kept driving away. My heart broke when I could no longer see the island and anger filled me when I looked at my dad. “How could we leave her there? She’ll be lost without us.”

“Sophie.” Geoff finally said something.

“You left her,” I cried.

“Sophie,” he repeated. 

It wasn’t until I felt the softness of
his lips on mine that I awoke, still sunbathing and with a broken heart.

“You were dreaming again.” He moved some hair from my face.

“I know.”

“Who did we leave?” he asked.

“What?”

“You said that we left her.”

“My mom.” A tear fell from my eyes. “We left her behind.”

“We don’t have to do this if you don’t want to.”

“Yes, we do.” I tried to smile. “I’m going to get cleaned up.” I stood up and started walking away.

“Sophie, are you going to be okay?” He looked concerned.

“I’ll be fine,” I mumbled and went to my room.

I knew it was just a dream, but once again, the pain and anger followed me into reality. I also knew it really didn’t have anything to do with Geoff or my dad. The dream was fueled by my own insecurities of losing my mom and, for some reason, leaving her on the island bothered me more than I thought it would.

We docked as close as we could to shore, and took a motorboat the rest of the way to the island. The closer we got to the island, the more my heart broke. I kept reminding myself of what my dad said, that this is what she would have wanted and, even though I knew he was right, it still hurt knowing I was going to have to say goodbye all over again.

I never realized how small the island really was. It couldn’t have been more than twenty miles in radius, but it was as beautiful as I remembered it. Her resting area was easy to see once we reached shore. It resembled a small monument that was surrounded by all of her favorite flowers. I was surprised how well I was holding up as we walked towards it, until I saw
Nonna, Mario, and Erin standing next to one of the pillars. There was no stopping the tears.

“How did you all get here?” I asked Erin.

“Helicopter.” She hugged me.

“
Nonna hates boats.” Mario hugged me next.

“I know.” I turned and held tightly to
Nonna as I cried into her shoulder.

I looked up and saw my dad standing over a small podium that sat in the middle of the monument. I walked over to him and read the words etched in the plaque attached to it. “
Guilanna Mae Watters. Our Angel that God called home. Until we’re together again
.”

“It’s perfect.” I stared down at the plaque.

There was no controlling the tears for any one of us as we watched my dad kneel down and place my mother’s urn in the hole that was dug in front of the podium. I watched as the sand flowed through his fingers onto her urn, the way it had done years ago when my mom said goodbye to her island.

I grabbed a handful of sand and knelt by my dad before letting it flow through my fingers.
Nonna soon followed, along with everyone else. Every part of me wanted to brush off the sand and take her with me, but that would be selfish of me. She deserved to be happy, even in death.

“I love you, Mom.” I placed a white rose on her newly fresh grave.

I stood off to the side in Geoff’s arms as I watched everyone pay their last respects to my mom. Nonna was the hardest to watch, since she sat next to her grave and sang their song over and over again.

It wasn’t until the sun started to set that we left.
Nonna and my dad flew back in the helicopter while Erin and Mario joined us on Geoff’s yacht for what Erin liked to call “one last summer fling.”

Erin jaw dropped when we walked into the room I had been st
aying in and, just like me, she threw herself onto the bed and roll around.

“Sophie, you’re stupid if you don’t marry this guy.” She smiled up at me.

“I’m not going to marry someone for money, Erin, and marriage is definitely not in my near future to any guy.”

“Everyone knows it’s not money when it comes to you and Geoff. It’s true love.” She smiled.

“You’re crazy.” I lay next to her.

“I may be crazy, but you know I’m right.”

“So what do you want to do?” I asked her.

“Anything and everything.” She smiled.

“Well, then, we should probably get started.” I pulled her up.

I learned a lot about myself in the days to follow. I learned that laying Mom to rest was
exactly what I needed to let her go. I learned that I couldn’t water ski, but I was really good on a jet ski. I saw parts of Italy I never knew existed, but mostly I learned how good it felt to live instead of drowning in the shadows.

I hated the moment we docked home. In less than ten days, Erin and I would be heading back to reality, which I was hoping didn’t mean leaving any part of this dream behind. I wasn’t even convinced I wanted to live the college life anymore, since I wasn’t sure exactly how Geoff fit in it.

“I don’t want to go home.” Erin pouted as Mario helped her off the yacht.

“Sophie and I will meet up with you guys.” Geoff stopped me before I could follow Erin and Mario.

“No problem. Take all the time you need.” Erin winked at him.

“Please tell me we’re heading back out to sea and we’re leaving the world behind us.” I looked at him.

“You do know that I can make that happen right?” He smiled at me.

“After this last week, I believe you can make anything happen,” I replied.

“Do you really believe that?”

“Yes, I really believe that.”

“Good, because I’m about to ask you to do something I think may be impossible.”

“Nothing’s impossible.”

“As soon as we step off this boat, I’m heading to Rome for a charity breakout concert,” he said.

“Are you serious?” I got excited for him. “You’re singing again.”

“Yes, and I was hoping you would go with me as my girlfriend.”

Fear shot through me as he reminded me what being his girlfriend really meant. As much as I wanted to say yes, and to be seen on his arm, I wasn’t ready for the public to be a part of my life or having every little detail of it torn apart by people who knew nothing about me. I might have been ready to be known as Giovanni Mancini’s girlfriend, but not as Geoff Mann’s.

“Geoff, I’m really sorry, but I don’t think I’m ready for that yet.”

I saw the disappointment set in his eyes, and I could tell the smile on his face was forced when he told me that he understood.

“Please don’t be mad. It’s just…”

“Sophie, I’m not even the slightest bit mad. I never want you to do anything you’re not ready for, even if it does mean I’ll probably forget the lyrics, since you’re all I’ll be thinking about.”

I smiled and wrapped my arms around his neck. I made sure my lips brushed his when I told him that I loved him.

“Hold onto that until I get back,” he whispered before kissing me.

“Aw, you have no idea how sweet the view is from here,” Erin yelled up to us.

“She grows on you.” I giggled.

“I look forward to the day.” He gave me a quick peck on the lips, and then guided me down the ramp.

I stood there and watched his truck drive away until I climbed into the back of the car where Mario and Erin were waiting for me. I knew by the smile on Erin’s face exactly what she was thinking, and it was only a matter of seconds before I would hear the words I never wanted to hear.

“I was right, and you were wrong,” she sang. “I told you so.”

“I’m not a sore loser, and I’m definitely not afraid to admit when I’m wrong.” I looked at her. “What you do want, some kind of trophy or something?”

“No, I just want to be your maid of honor when you get married, and your first born child named after me, boy or girl.” She smirked.

“Really, that’s all?” I smiled.

“For now,” she said while putting on some lip gloss. “So what was so important that Geoff couldn’t say in front of us?”

“He wanted me to go to his charity breakout concert in Rome,” I said, and her mouth dropped.

“What did you say?”

“Considering he left without me, I said no.”

“Excuse me?” She glared at me.

“For what?”

“For you being stupid,” she snapped.

“Exactly how is not wanting the world to know who I am
, stupid?”

“In every way imaginable,” she said.

“I knew I shouldn’t have said anything to you.”

“Yes, you should have, because I’m the only one who will tell you how stupid you’re being. Sophie, after all he has done for you, you can at least go to his breakout concert!” she shouted.

“You have no idea what will happen if someone finds out we’re dating.”

“Who cares?” She looked at me as if I were crazy. “If Geoff Mann was in love with me, I would be shouting it from the rooftop.”

“I’m not you.”

“Clearly.” She shook her head. “We’re going to his concert, and you’re going to be up front and center, watching
your man sing to every girl who is wishing she was you.” She shoved her lip-gloss back into her bag.

“Erin, it’s not your life on the line here.”

“Maybe not, but I’m not about to let you be selfish. We’ll hide in the crowd, and wait until he’s alone so no one will know you’re with him.” She started making sense.

“Fine, but if I end up on the cover of a magazine, I will kill you,” I threatened her.

“Fair enough.” She smiled.

I called my dad and filled him in on what our new plans were, and instead of heading home to
Nonna’s, we were on way to Rome.

A little after eight p.m., we pulled up to a building that had to be at least two hundred years old and, without a doubt, haunted. I’d never been one for ghost stories and I definitely didn’t want to know if they really existed or not. I preferred living people, ones that I could hit if I needed to.

I tried to get the whole
Shining
twin girls on their bikes scene out of my head as we made our way to our room. I closed my eyes and prayed as I opened the bathroom door that I wouldn’t see the word REDRUM written on the mirror.

“What are you doing?” Erin pushed past me into the bathroom.

“Looking for REDRUM.”

“Do you even like rum?” She looked confused.

“No not rum, REDRUM,” I said again.

“Whatever. We have less than an hour to get ready, so go change and I’ll do your makeup.”

I quickly changed into a pair of jeans, a simple black tank top, and my red leather jacket for cover.

“You look cute.” Erin looked surprised. “Now for makeup.”

“Not a lot.”

I could feel myself getting antsy as she put on my makeup. I couldn’t wait to see Geoff’s face when he saw me in the crowd.

“Are you excited?” Erin asked me.

“To see Geoff, I am; not so much what’s to follow,” I replied. “How am I going to make sure he sees me?”

“Throw your bra up to him.”

“Not a chance in…”

“Fine, then I will,” she said.

“I’m sure that will get his attention.”

“And all the more reason for me to do it, for the love of a friend.” She smiled. “Done, now just rough up the hair a little and…”

“That’s good.” I pushed her hands away before my hair could end up looking like the Bride of Frankenstein’s.

“I’m done, anyways.” She put her makeup away. “Ready?”

“As ready as I’ll ever be.”

“Good, let’s go.” She grabbed my hand. “I can’t wait to meet Tyler again.” She beamed with excitement.

Our hotel was one of the two located in the courtyard where Geoff’s concert was, so all we had to do was walk out the front doors and fight a crowd of what seemed to be thousands to make it to the front of the stage.

“I can’t believe how many people are here.” I started getting worried.

“Well, if someone accepted his invitation, we would be backstage right now, instead of having to mess with this crowd.”

“Do you think he’ll see me here?” I asked once we found the middle of the stage.

“I’ll make sure he sees you.”

“I’m afraid of that.”

“I can’t believe he’s finally singing again,” a young girl next to me said in Italian. “He’s going to be singing only to me,” she sighed.

She looked to be about thirteen, and had the same look in her eyes that I had when I watched Geoff in concert at her age. I wanted to tell her that there was so much more to life than all of this, but I didn’t. Who was I to ruin someone else’s dream when mine had come true?

“Sophie, stop staring at the girl. You’re freaking her out.” Erin nudged me.

“Sorry, I didn’t realize I was.” I grabbed my cell phone from my front pocket when I felt it vibrate. “Erin, look.” I showed her Geoff’s text message.

“
I missed you the moment I left you. I wish you were here. I love you. Geoff.”
She read it out loud.

“Text him back and let him know we’re here so we can go back stage,” she said.

“No, I want to him to know how it feels to be surprised.”

“That’s stupid, but okay.” She shrugged.

Almost an hour later, and we were still waiting for any sign of life on the stage. The crowd kept us pretty entertained with the beach balls that were being thrown around and couple of fights that broke out around us. It was surreal to hear someone announce that there were at least

a
thousand people lining the street of Rome, waiting for the chance to watch Geoff perform. I wished I could have seen it by air so I could a better idea of just how many fans I would have to fight off later.

“Welcome, welcome, welcome. I’m so happy to be here with all of you to welcome Geoff Mann back to the music world.” The crowd went wild when a short, balding man walked out on the stage. “We have more than a few surprises for all of you tonight, including some never heard music written by Geoff Mann himself, so everyone put your hands
together and help me give a huge welcome to Geoff Mann!” he yelled into the microphone.

Screams came from all directions as the band took their positions and started playing music.

“Sophie, look! There’s Tyler Jymes.” Erin shook me.

“I see him!” I yelled towards her.

“Mario’s better looking.” She smiled.

“I agree.”

My heart leaped from my chest when I saw Geoff calmly walk to the middle of the stage and pick up his guitar.

“Hello, Rome.” He spoke into the microphone. “Thank you all for coming out and showing your support for The Cure of Cancer.” I wanted to cry when I heard what charity he was playing for. “Tonight’s concert is going to be a little different from what I used to be known for. Tonight, you get the real me,” he said with a smile,
and then started playing.

Just like everyone else in the crowd, tonight was the first night I had ever heard any of the songs he was singing and there were only a few times I blushed when a couple of them mentioned moments we shared together.

Even though the screaming that surrounded me was ear piercing, I was able to drown most of it out and only hear Geoff. It was as if everyone else had disappeared, and I stood alone as he sang to me. Now, if only I could get him to actually notice me.

“Erin, he hasn’t even looked in our direction yet,” I yelled into her ear. My face fell in shock as I watched her reach inside her shirt and start removing her bra.

“Don’t you dare!” I stopped her.

“Do you have a better idea?” she yelled just as the song ended. We both looked back up at Geoff and watched as he took a sip from his water bottle.

“I want to thank you all for sticking around when it’s so hot out here,” he said, and everyone screamed.

“I love you, Geoff!” the girl next to me screamed. I thought for sure he would see me when he searched for her.

“I love you too,” he said, and then sat down on a stool, still not noticing me.

“Unfortunately, the girl who inspired this next song couldn’t be here tonight, but I hope she knows that she has stolen my heart.” Everyone sighed.

I didn’t recognize the song until he started singing the words. It was the same song he sang to me our night under the stars. The night he told me that he loved me.

“Sophie, this song is all about you.”

Erin grabbed my arm. “And he’s singing it to you even though you’re not here, except that you are here, but he doesn’t know it. That’s so romantic.”

“He sang this song to me the first night on his yacht,” I screamed into her ear.

“Why didn’t you tell me that?”

“I forgot to.” I fell into a daze as I listened to Geoff sing.

The overwhelming screaming snapped me out of the daze. I was star struck as I watched Geoff take another sip of water, and then take center stage again.

“I couldn’t hav
e picked a better crowd to kick off my music career again.” The crowd went crazy before he could finish his sentence. “I also couldn’t have asked a better bunch of guys to help me bring my music alive.” He turned and faced the band, “Especially this guy right here.” He walked over to Tyler. “Playing lead guitar is none other than my lifelong best friend, Tyler Jymes.”

“I love you, Tyler.” Erin screamed louder than the crowd.

“I love you too.” Tyler gave a blanket reply. “Who’s excited to have Geoff Mann back?” Tyler yelled. “I have to tell you that I know this man right here better than anyone else in the world, so to say I was surprised to hear that he was off the market came as a total shock.” Geoff looked confused as he looked at Tyler. “But, I got over it when I found out that the future Mrs. Geoff Mann just happens to be the most beautiful woman in the world.”