When In Rome...Find Yourself: A Sweet New Adult Romance (20 page)

Everything was being taken care of, everything falling into place. She would breeze right through the next week. Only then would she let herself ask Ned what was going on, what was going to happen when she left. Would he stay indefinitely, or just through the summer? Now that she knew he was a Villines, she knew how he could afford to stay as long as he wanted. Old family money. It explained some of his presumptuous attitude, too. Who would have thought her dready stoner roommate was a spoiled rich boy?

She opened her emails and read one from Professor McClain with the rubric for their final paper attached. The other was from an unknown email. She almost deleted it, but it looked like a personal email, not some random company that had gotten her email and wanted to sell her something, so she clicked on it.

Hey, Rory,

Thanks for all the great shots you’ve been sending. It’s your lucky day. Had one of our interns drop out last minute, if you’re still interested email me. I won’t even make you get my coffee.

“Oh, no,” she said. “Oh my goodness. Oh, no.”

“What’s up?” Ned asked.

“I think I just got…I got…I can’t take it.”

“Why’s that?”

“I got an email from that travel e-zine,” she said, staring at her phone like it might bite her. “Someone had to drop out and they…they want me.”

“Whoa,” Ned said. “That’s awesome. Congrats, dude.”

“I can’t take it,” she said. “I mean, obviously. I can’t even walk down the street without getting lost. You saw me that night.”

“Yeah, but you got found,” Ned said. “That’s the important part.”

“I got lost for like two hours. I almost had to sleep on the street. My mom wanted me to fly home the next day.”

“Dude, it happens,” Ned said. “I’ve gotten lost before. Everybody has. And the point is, you didn’t sleep on the street. You found a ride home, and you were fine. Right?”

“I fell down and skinned my knee.”

“Oh, poor Rory,” Ned said, making face at her. “Want me to kiss it for you?”

“Shut up,” she said, her face warming. “It’s not funny. I could have been really hurt.”

“That’s true,” Ned said. “But you could get really hurt any time. You could get lost at home, too, right? You can get lost or hurt anywhere you are. But you can’t stop going out forever, like Theresa. You gotta live your life, dude.”

He was right. Maybe she had gotten lost, but she’d managed to make it back without anything bad happening to her. She might have been scared, but wouldn’t anyone be scared in her circumstances? And she’d been resourceful enough to get home.

Even so, could she stay for a whole summer in Rome? She’d only been there a month and she already missed her family. And Rory Hartnett was not the kind of girl who flew to Rome and stayed. Where would she live? How would she get money? Who would she hang out with? And what would her parents say?

She wasn’t really sure what kind of girl she was, though. At the beginning of summer, she’d never have believed that she could fall in love again, that she could be with someone and feel so at ease. She’d never have believed that she could hang out with girls like Kristina and Cynthia, or that she’d take a scooter ride from a stranger. Rory had to admit, when she’d watched Mea ride off that night, that the bike didn’t actually go all that fast. It had felt awfully fast when she was on it, though. That’s what counted.

In truth, she wasn’t sure who she was anymore. She’d been who everyone else wanted for so long. A scared little girl who depended too much on her parents, a casual hookup, a novelty project. But who was she really, without anyone telling her who to be? She wasn’t the nonchalant bad girl she’d pretended to be with Patty and Jack, or the sexy confident girl Kristina wanted her to be, but she wasn’t the good girl her parents thought she was, either. She wasn’t sure who she was yet. But she was starting to find out.

If she stayed, maybe she’d figure it out by the end of summer. In Rome, away from her past, away from everyone who wanted her to fit their mold. Maybe Ned could be part of that. Maybe she wasn’t allergic to love. Just because it hadn’t happened when she’d planned didn’t mean that it couldn’t happen at all. There had to be some wiggle room, some room for mistakes and imperfection. Ned wasn’t perfect by a long shot, but he also didn’t seem to expect her to be perfect. He was the one person who didn’t seem to want her to be anything she wasn’t.

If she took the internship, she could figure out more. If she went home, then that was that. She wouldn’t see Ned again, and life would go back to the way it had been. Now, she wasn’t sure if that was enough. She thought she might be ready for more. At least to figure out if there was more, if she was more. It didn’t mean she couldn’t go home. Home would always be there. But the internship wouldn’t. If she gave that up, she’d be giving in to the fear that had kept her waiting all this time. Like her mother said, she hadn’t controlled the anxiety. She’d let it control her. She was ready to take control.

CHAPTER twenty-one

“So…I think I’m going to do it,” Rory finished, after detailing the internship to her parents over video chat.

“I just don’t know what to say,” Winnie said.

“You have to understand, this is all so out of the blue,” Rod said. “We didn’t even know you applied for that.”

“I didn’t think I’d get it,” Rory said. “It was kind of an impulse.”

“We’ve never known you to be impulsive,” Rod said.

“I’m sorry,” Rory said. “But I really think I want to do it.”

“It’s just…this is the first we’ve heard about this,” Winnie said.

“I know. I’m sorry. I should have told you. I just didn’t think I’d even have a chance.”

“Well of course you’d have a chance,” Rod said. “You’re so good at taking pictures.”

“I don’t know about staying in Rome, though,” Winnie said. “You can take pictures here, you know.”

“I know, but Mom, this is a big opportunity.”

“Let’s be reasonable,” Winnie said. “What’s going to come of it? They aren’t even paying you, and you’ll have to find room and board…It will cost a lot.”

“Theresa said I could stay. And I have some money saved up. I’ll pay her back if I don’t have enough. It’s only another six weeks.”

“But what are you really getting out of this?” Rod asked. “You’re not going to do this for a career. Photography isn’t a career choice.”

“It could be…”

“Honey, that’s a hobby,” Winnie said. “Like your dad and his bird watching. You don’t make a living that way.”

“I’m twenty-one,” Rory said. “Maybe I won’t do this for the rest of my life. But I don’t have a family to support. I could do it for a few years. It can’t pay much worse than the mall.” Adjusting her laptop on her knees, Rory sat back against her pillows, her heart pounding and her stomach shaking. She never argued with her parents. It made her feel sick to go against their wishes. But she really wanted this.

“I thought you’d be proud of me,” she said, her throat aching.

“Oh, honeybun, we are,” Winnie said. “We just want you to be reasonable.”

“We couldn’t be any prouder,” Rod agreed. “You’re our little honeybun. But we want you to be safe.”

“I’m safe,” Rory said. “I have a place to stay. Theresa’s great.”

“We have to ask you, though…” Rod said. He gave Winnie a worried look.

“Is there…is this about a boy?” Winnie asked.

Rory winced. She should have known they’d guess. Quinn wouldn’t have told them, but then, she wouldn’t have to.

“I think we have a right to know,” Rod said. “After the last time…”

Rory hadn’t told them much about Jack, but they’d figured out enough. But this was different. “It’s not about that,” Rory said. “This isn’t about that.”

Her parents exchanged a look.

“It’s not,” Rory insisted. “But yes, I met a guy. He’s nice. He’s great. But this is for me. It has nothing to do with him.”

Did it? Maybe it did, somewhat. But so what? She wanted to stay, wanted to be with Ned. Wanted to make it work for long enough that they might continue it when they returned home.

“And what happens if it doesn’t work out?” Winnie asked. “Think about this, honey. Are you really being reasonable?”

Maybe she wasn’t. But she was tired of being reasonable. She was glad she had never told her parents about her boy roommate. They didn’t need to know everything about her life. She was an adult now.

She silently thanked God for her sister’s discretion, that she hadn’t ratted her out. Her parents would never let her stay then, knowing that she lived with this boy, knowing that if it didn’t work out, she’d be stuck in Rome, living in a house with the guy who had broken her heart. Even Rory didn’t want to think about that, what would happen if it didn’t work out, how she’d survive.

Right now, she didn’t need to think about that. Maybe it would work out this time. Even if it wasn’t forever, surely she could make it last for a summer. And so what if she’d followed her heart this time, stayed for love? She had her own thing going on, too, and so did Ned. But they also had each other. And that was enough for her, for now. She, cautious Rory Hartnett, wanted to take a chance for once in her predictable, sheltered little life.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “I love you both. But I’m going to stay. I’ve already decided.”

She had done it. She had made a decision, a big scary decision, all on her own. And she was determined to make the most of it, not to regret it, no matter how it turned out.

After a brief chat with her sister, in which she told Quinn about Ned’s heritage and her sister nearly deafened her with fangirl squealing, Rory promised that she would ask Ned for a signed picture of Brody, if he had one. “But he’s kind of sensitive about it,” she said. “I think he’s jealous.”

“I’m jealous,” Quinn panted. “You’re in Rome, dating Brody Villines’s cousin? I’m greener than the freaking Hulk. That’s how jealous I am. Look at me.”

“Okay,” Rory said, laughing. “You look fine. Your skin’s not the least bit green. And Ned doesn’t even know where he is. They’re not close, and he says Brody’s kind of a jerk.”

“Don’t do that,” Quinn said. “If he says anything bad, just don’t tell me. Promise you won’t.”

“Okay, but you have to promise not to be mad that I broke our pact.”

Quinn studied her fingernails. “Whatevs, that pact was our unbreakable bond of sisterhood.”

“Oh, no. Are you serious? You’re that mad at me?”

“No, I’m just giving you crap because you ripped on Brody. Of course I’m happy for you. There’s no way I’m going to make it to the end of college without dating. I was fifteen when I made that stupid pact.”

“Oh. Right.” Sometimes Rory forgot her sister was four years younger. That probably said something about her maturity level, but she wasn’t going to think of that and ruin her day. She was more sure than ever that she’d made the right decision. After they signed off, she closed her laptop and took a deep breath. She’d already told Theresa, but she’d sworn her to secrecy. Now, she had one more person to tell.

For once, she wasn’t scared that he’d freak out about it, or take it the wrong way, or be anything but overjoyed. They had a whole summer together. Anything could happen now. And she was ready for it.

*******

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If you want to read more about Kristina, preorder
When in Rome…Fall In Love
.

If you want to read more about Maggie, preorder
When In Rome…Come Undone.

If you want to read more about Cynthia, coming soon:
When In Rome…Lose Control
.

from THE AUTHOR

Hey, y’all! Thanks so much for accompanying Rory on her journey to Rome. Y’all are reading rockstars!

If you liked this book, there are more coming. You will have a chance to read about Kristina, Maggie, and Cynthia in upcoming books. If you want to know what happens to Rory for the rest of the summer, that will be coming in 2017.

If you’re still reading, you must be a fellow bibliophile (or my mom)! I love reading books all the way to the last word. Like Rory, I buried myself in books most of high school to survive my anxiety. In college, I went to Europe with my best friend, where I visited Rome and fell in love with the city. I hope I was able to do it a fraction of the justice it deserves!

Until next time,
ciao bella!