*Olivia*
I whirled through the dining room in a haze of excitement. Dahlia and I were going to go back to school next week, and there was so much planning to do. I needed new notebooks; somehow my backpack had gotten lost in the wedding shuffle, and Mom just went home a few days ago, so I had barely had any time to do anything.
As I passed the room that had been hers for the length of her stay, I paused. I’d missed my mom more than I realized in the months since we moved to Italy. Having her here every day, teasing me about Gio with Dahlia and nagging me about wearing sunscreen when I went out despite the autumn chill, had felt like a dream come true.
Once, Becca made a joke about retiring to the Italian countryside, and her eyes had gotten kind of far away. Later, she asked me if I minded having her around so much. She’d joked about moving here on my wedding day, but I was starting to think she’d seriously consider it.
