Mr. Big(55)

“Listen, angel face, let me ask you like this. Your heart is pretty much broken right now, isn’t it?” he asked gently.

“Yes,” she answered solemnly. “It’s not too good.”

“What could be worse than the pain you already have? What are you actually going to lose by telling him that you love him? Do you even have any dignity left? I mean… that kind of went out the door with him when he walked out of your office, didn’t it?” His voice was the voice of truth, and she couldn’t deny anything he was saying to her.

“Yes. The dignity I had with him is completely gone,” she admitted miserably.

“And you can’t hurt any worse than you do now, right?” he continued.

“Right,” she agreed.

“Then what are you going to lose by saying it to him? And more importantly, there’s the chance that you won’t gain anything at all, but on the other side of that… what is there that you could gain if you did gain anything at all?” He was gentle as he spoke.

She thought about it. There would be something to gain. “You know, Liam, I guess you’re right. Even if it was just friendship, even if there was no romance and he just… and he just forgave me for what I did and we were able to be friends; that would be something,” she thought wistfully.

“You would be hurt a lot less and you’d feel a lot better than you do now, wouldn’t you?” he asked.

She knew he was right. She sighed. “You’re right about all of that,” she replied softly. “I don’t think he’s going to tell me that he loves me back, but maybe there is some shred of a chance that he might forgive me and maybe we could be friends. I really don’t have anything more to lose with him,” she said quietly.

Liam smiled and she could hear it through the phone. “Then are you going to tell him?”

“Yes,” she said thoughtfully and sadly. “I’ll tell him when I get back. For now I’m just going to try to find some kind of peace here, and see if I can’t make some of this pain go away. I need to try to find myself again somehow.” She laughed a little in a shallow way, “Maybe Ava was right and I need to find an Italian lover to distract me and help me get over Alexander.”

Liam laughed a little with her. “Perhaps… but, what if you got a hold of Alexander while you were there? Call him and tell him…” he pushed a little more.

Mia shook her head and looked down at the pebbles around her feet, running her fingers over them and plucking a few of them up, setting them back down again. “No, I don’t think I can do that. I don’t want to face him until I get home. I don’t think I have the strength for it right now. I need to be here and be alone and not think of him or have to deal with any of it. I’ll call him when I get home and talk to him.”

“Hmmm.” Liam hummed softly again. “I guess so.” He seemed to want to switch gears in the conversation then. “So where are you staying? What’s it like? Are there good people there to take care of you?” he asked hopefully.

She laughed a little and turned to look over her shoulder at the village as it rose up across the hillside. “It’s an amazing place. It’s an ancient village and the place where I’m staying is right on the beach. It’s a charming little old bed and breakfast. I’ll email you the address so you have it and you’ll know where I am in case anything happens to me. I should have done that before. Anyway, there’s a really sweet old couple who are running it, and they have a restaurant. It’s a lovely little place, and I think it’s just what I need. The old woman who owns it is bent on introducing me to some guy named Paolo tonight when we have dinner. She is really nice. She knew right away that I’m trying to get over someone and she just decided to take it upon herself to help me through it, so she’s setting me up with a local village guy. We’ll see how it goes.”

Liam laughed with her. “You’re already adopted by an Italian Mama? You’re going to be fine. Trust me. If she likes you like that already, you are going to be just fine.” He laughed a little more. “Good luck on your date tonight, my dear. I wish I was there with you.”

Mia nodded sincerely. “I wish you were here with me too, this would be so much fun with you here.”

“Well, maybe next time. This time you are there on your own and you need to heal, so focus on that, enjoy the food, the wine, the beach, the people, your little village, and especially this guy Paolo if he’s nice, and you better keep me posted. Email me to let me know where you are and what’s going on. I want all of the details. Okay?” he insisted.