Six Nights to Love

Author's Note: I'm really enjoying writing these short novellas and I'm hoping to keep pushing them out on a monthly basis. This one started as an idea that suddenly grew wings one today. I had to get it down and this is the result. Enjoy!

PROLOGUE

The funny thing about being five years old was that everything about the world, and just about everyone, seemed to be built for fun. That's how Andy felt as Miss Yvonne waved him forward for his turn on the water slide. It was a warm summer day, the kind that made you want to play outside until the sun dipped over the horizon, and Andy was having the time of his life. The water slide was one of his favorite activities, and Miss Yvonne was about as kindhearted as they came. Behind him, the rest of the kids at day care lined up to take their turn on the slide as well, so Andy carefully sat at the top and gently pushed himself off.

His smile went wide before a steady stream of laughter erupted on the descent. Soon enough, he shot out the bottom and landed in the small pool below. Picking himself up, Andy waved back at Miss Yvonne so she could let the next kid slide down. Knowing who was behind him, Andy waited near the slide.

In a blur, the next girl came rushing down, giggling the entire way. His good friend, Julia, let out an excited squeal as she hit the water and pushed up in a smooth motion while clapping her hands together. "That was so much fun, Andy!"

Andy beamed. "Yeah, it was! I want to go again!"

Julia was following in his wake as soon as he said the words. It was always like that. Every summer, they shared the same day care while their parents worked, and every summer, they were as thick as thieves. Julia was his best friend, long before he had any notions that girls could be icky or could give you the cooties.

As they waited in line, he felt Julia hug him from behind. "Thanks for riding the slide with me. You're my best friend."

He could only smile in return. Even if hedidn't like the slide (which he clearly did), he would have ridden it all day with Julia. It was just the kind of thing you did when it was your best friend asking. Besides, they'd earned it. The past year of kindergarten had them separated into different classes so they rarely saw each other. Summer was for them to make up lost time.

As much fun as they were having that day, it wasn't always smiles that filled their faces. At one point, Julia missed a step by the pool and skinned her knee on the landing. It was enough to cause tears, and the wound on her knee was sure to leave a scar. While Miss Yvonne patched her up with a fresh bandage, she held Andy's hand while she winced in pain. He put on a brave face for her. After all, he'd seen his share of skinned knees by that age. Soon enough, she was moving around freely and had largely forgotten the earlier wound. Right after they had ridden the slide about five more times, Julia turned to face him.

"Do you think we're always going to be so close?"

Andy nodded confidently. "I know we'll be. Especially since we'll be in the same class next year!"

Julia beamed with a smile and for the rest of that summer, life couldn't be better.

PRESENT DAY - 21 YEARS LATER

"Andy, wait until you see what I've got," said Maggie, his assistant, as she sing-songed her way into his office. Andy looked up from the email he was writing as Maggie set a container on his desk. After she popped the lid, the smell of warm, freshly-baked cookies soon had his mouth watering.

"Maggie, you brought cookies? That's amazing," said Andy as he helped himself to the first one he saw. It was still soft in the center, and the chocolate seemed to melt against his tongue.Perfect.

"I spent all weekend making them with my granddaughters," said Maggie as she sat down in the spare chair in his office. "What we didn't eat, I decided to bring in for you today as a good luck charm!"

Andy started to chuckle. The good luck that she was referring to was that he was set to hear about a promotion this morning. Their company was going through a phase of rapid expansion, and they were set to open their first international office in Rome in two months' time. Once the news had been announced, word got out that they were looking for someone to promote from here in the States to manage the office. And since Andy had been with the company since graduating college four years ago, he had enough seniority to make a confident bid for the position.

The interview went flawlessly. He thought he gave a great rendition of his skills and aptitude and gave them a compelling reason to pick him. Besides, this was a chance to go take a grand adventure. He'd get to start something new in one of the oldest cities in Europe. After all, Andy wasn't married, and now was the time in his life to take a chance and see what happened.

But if he was being honest, he was on edge this morning. If he got the job, a lot of things would have to change. You didn't just uproot your life and move to a whole new continent in a matter of weeks, but that would be what the position would require him to do. If he got it, there would be a lot that needed to happen in a short time period. There was too much stress in waiting for the answer, so he was glad that today had finally arrived and he'd know sooner rather than later.

"I was thinking about you all weekend," said Maggie as she grabbed her own cookie. "You're going to get this. I just know it!"

Andy smiled. Maggie had been the perfect assistant, even though she was old enough to be his grandmother. She had a way of making the working hours go by faster with her conversation, and it would be first on the list of many things and people he'd miss if he got the job.

"I'm glad you're so confident about this, Maggie," said Andy as he checked his email once more for news. "They easily could have gone with someone else with more experience."

Maggie scoffed. "You were the ninth person hired at the company! Who else has more seniority and experience than you do?"

Andy pointed down the hall. "Greg's been here longer and he speaks a little Italian too."

"Greg can't even talk to customers without stuttering," said Maggie with a dismissive wave. "You're going to get this. I know you will!"

She got up from her seat and grabbed the cookies as well. "I'll leave these out in the common area for anyone who wants one."

"Probably a good thing," said Andy with a laugh. "If you leave them on my desk, they'll be gone before lunch."

Maggie laughed. "You can't have a tooth ache when you find out about your promotion. If you need me, I'll be at my desk."

She glided out of the office without another word and a few minutes later, Andy heard the sound of Bruno Mars playing from her desk. It was all that she played lately, and mostly, he regretted introducing her to something a bit more contemporary than she was used to.

Andy worked on emails and generated a few quotes that morning but his mind was rather distracted. It wasn't until about eleven-thirty that his boss sent him a message asking Andy to come to his office.

Andy took a deep breath and pushed out from his chair. On the way to his boss's office, Maggie flashed him a thumbs-up. "Good luck," she whispered with an excited tone.

"Thanks, Maggie," Andy whispered right back.

He walked down the long hallway until coming to a stop in front of the president of the company's door. Knocking twice, he was soon beckoned inside.

"There you are, Andy!" said Joe DeLuca, his direct boss for the last four years. Joe had founded the company five years ago and it was a completely different place when Andy first joined. Back then, they struggled to keep the lights on and to find customers. Now, success had found them, and they rushed to take advantage of expansion opportunities when they arose.

"Hey Joe, good morning," said Andy while taking his seat right in front of Joe's desk. Almost as soon as his butt was in the chair, Joe was waving his hand and shaking his head.

"No, no, no," said Joe. "It's not good morning! It'sbuongiorno! If you're going to lead my new Italian office, you have to start working on the language, my friend."

Andy beamed with a grin. "You mean it? I have the job? I'm going to Italy?"

"You're going to Italy, Andy. There's no better candidate for the job. It's a one year commitment minimum, and if you do an excellent job, we'll extend it as long as you want the position."

Andy let out a sigh of relief. "You had me nervous there when you started throwing your hands around widely."

"I can't let you gettoo comfortable now," said Joe with a grin. "After all, comfort is going to be a stranger for you soon, Andy. Living in a whole new country on your own and doing business in Europe is going to be a fresh but strange experience for you. You're going to have to get used to being out of your comfort zone."

"I can do it," said Andy confidently. "It's a once in a lifetime opportunity, and I know I can do the job well."

Joe started to nod. "I think so too. So listen, we plan to have that office operational in two months. I want you to get out there a month early and set yourself up. That leaves you a month here to settle your affairs, pack your things, and find a place to live over there. Sound daunting yet?"

Andy laughed. "Sounds like a challenge but I think I'm up to it."

"Good. Talk with Dante after you leave my office. He lived in Italy for six months so he may be able to help you with getting started out. Once you're there, it's go time, Andy. We have to hit the ground running quickly. I don't know why the Italians love our products so much but you're going to be in the center of the action to coordinate those sales."

"I'm sure it's not much different than selling to Americans," said Andy.

"It will be at first. That's why you should start taking Italian classes right away. If you can speak the language, you'll be much better off."

"Already one step ahead of you, boss," said Andy. "Started taking the online courses once I found out about this position."

Joe banged his hand on the desk with excitement. "That's what I'm talking about! I knew I picked the right man for this. Let's set up some time to talk about the logistics of this in a couple days."

"Sounds good," said Andy. "I'll get back to my desk. Thank you for the great news!"

"I should be thanking you," said Joe. "Job well done. Talk soon!"

Andy left Joe's office with a grin that split from ear to ear. Once he was back to his own office, Maggie could tell right away.

"You got it? Right? Right? Tell me, please!" she begged, watching him grin.

"I got it, Maggie. I'm going to lead the Rome office!"

Maggie clapped her hands excitedly. "I'm so happy for you!"

The rest of the day was a complete blur of activity for him. Just about every one of his coworkers stopped by his office to offer their congratulations. Even Greg, who seemed so clearly disappointed, stopped by to wish him well on the next role. Andy was ecstatic but now that he had the job, there was much to do.

For one, he had to find a place to live in Rome. Taking Joe's advice, he spoke with his coworker Dante and received some great advice on international apartment hunting. The toughest thing about doing that was that any place he moved to would have to be taken sight unseen. There wasn't enough time to fly to Italy to scope out places to live so once he found a place that looked like a good fit, he put in a security deposit and hoped for the best.

Next, he had to start packing. But before he could pack, he had to work on throwing things away that he no longer needed. You can accumulate a lot of things in twenty-six years, and Andy kept the trash cans full of all the items that he no longer needed or didn't intend to take with him. For everything else, he got a storage locker.

After that, he worked on getting his work visa from the Italian government, a rather easy task when all else was considered. Once received, he had a whole year before renewal—more than enough time to decide if he was going to make Italy work. And he intended to make this work very well.

One thing he didn't have to worry about was saying goodbye to a girlfriend. Andy had been single since the winter, when his last girlfriend had called it quits. Looking back, he couldn't say that he blamed her. Ava had just been too different from him to give their relationship any chance of working, and that's why they decided to call it off shortly after Christmas.

He was just fine with being single for a while. There was a type of reflection about your own life that was possible when you weren't attached to anyone else. But it wasn't something he relished. With thoughts of Italy on his mind, he wondered if he'd be able to meet a local, Italian girl while he was there. Perhaps that might be the answer to the problem that he'd been chasing so long.

With all that was going on, the next three weeks flew by until it was the week before he flew out. His flight was scheduled for Sunday morning and today was only Monday, and even with all that he'd accomplished in that time, there was no shortage of things to do. Most of his office was already cleaned out, and the only thing he had left was his computer, a small stack of files and personal items. Those remaining items would get shipped out come Friday.

The day started off usually enough, that is, until Maggie stopped by his office wearing a funny-looking smile.

"Oh, hey Maggie," said Andy nonchalantly, as he barely looked up from his monitor.

"Good morning! It looks like we have some new hires," said Maggie excitedly. "Over on the marketing side."

"That's nice," said Andy. In a rapidly growing company, there were just about always new hires so it really wasn't too novel of an event. When Maggie didn't walk away, he looked up to catch her still staring at him.

"One of them is really cute. You should go introduce yourself!"

Andy chuckled. Maggie was always trying to set him up, and usually, her taste in women didn't quite match up with his own. Not that she had a bad picker, it's just that what the sixty year old grandmother thought was cute usually didn't mesh with his. It never prevented her from trying though.

"It's not the best time for that, Maggie," said Andy while still laughing. "I'm flying out in less than a week! There's no time for dating or at least ogling someone new."

"Suit yourself, but you should at least go take a look," said Maggie with a shrug. "She's such a cutie!"

Andy took a deep breath and looked over at his desk. His coffee cup was nearly empty and hedid need to pass by marketing on his way to the communal kitchen.

"Oh, all right. One peek couldn't hurt, right?" he said while standing from his desk.

Maggie grinned. "Not at all! She looks like just your type. She's in the last cube on the right."

"Did you see a name at least? Who am I looking for?"

Maggie shook her head. "It was J something. Jessica?"

"J something, got it," said Andy with a laugh before leaving his office and thanking Maggie. Carrying his coffee cup in hand, he walked down the rest of the sales section before nearing marketing. There was a lot more clatter over here today, as was usual when there were new hires who were excitable and nervous about their first day. At first, Andy saw all sorts of new faces, a couple men he didn't recognize as well as an older lady wearing too much perfume. Resisting the urge to fan his nose, his pace picked up to get out of the fumes draft as he approached the cube that Maggie mentioned.

There was a woman inside, but that's about all he could tell just from rounding the corner. Her back was turned to him, and despite her mass of shiny, dark-brown hair, Andy couldn't make out any other features. Inside the cube, he recognized the manager of the marketing section, Rachel, giving a briefing, so Andy continued on. Perhaps there would be time later to sneak a peek at this promising new hire.

Stopping in the communal kitchen, he filled his coffee mug to the brim and put in just the right amount of sweetener. Once satisfied with the coffee, Andy stopped to chat with another colleague for a few minutes before returning to his desk. He almost forgot about looking for the new girl, that is, until he rounded the corner and found himself face-to-face with her. In that moment, it was all he could do to keep his jaw attached to the rest of his mouth.

She was beautiful—so much so that he didn't know what feature he wanted to look at most. Her long, straight, dark-brown hair hung loose to her shoulders, lustrous and inviting to his hands. Her eyes, a brilliant shade of blue, just seemed to pop with enough luminescence to make him start to breathe heavily right away. The rest of her features, from her small, button nose to her thin, yet kissable lips only served to further enhance her beauty.

Andy only had the briefest of moments to take in her body but it didn't disappoint. A slim and pleasing figure, her petite shoulders sloped down to a tight stomach before flaring out over a wide set of childbearing hips. The quick flicker of his eyes told him that her breasts hung high and proud, sticking just far enough out from her chest to make him hot under the collar. She was dressed smartly, wearing a dark-gray pencil skirt and a light-blue blouse that was unbuttoned at the top, showing off just the right amount of cleavage in a mixture of chastity and suggestion.

What was strangest about the entire encounter was the look that she gave him as they walked past each other. Surprisingly for himself, Andy managed to put on a polite smile and give a subtle hello, yet she seemed to stare at him as he passed her. A look that invited more questions than it answered. It was only once they were at their closest that a small smile filled her face, but before he knew it, she was already behind him.

Then something even stranger happened.

"Andy? Andy Lewis, is that you?"

Andy stopped in his tracks quick enough that some of his coffee spilled over the top of his mug. Pivoting on his feet, he once again turned to look back into the intensity of those brilliant, blue eyes. Eyes that now sparkled with a wide set smile to match. Eyes that he'd seen before. His memory sparked with recognition.Could it really be? I haven't seen her in forever.

"Julia?" he stammered. "Julia Barnes?"

She grinned and nodded her head excitedly. His mouth dropped open again, although this time it was from the rush of long forgotten memories instead of simple lust. One of his oldest friends, going back to the time when they were just kids, now stood in front of him. Growing up, he did just about everything with Julia, their friendship lasting until life started to pull them in separate directions. Yet, her presence in his early life provided some of his most treasured memories.

Andy set his coffee down on the table and gawked at her. "How is this possible? I haven't seen you since middle school!"

Julia giggled and bounded into his arms, enfolding him in a long-awaited hug. His arms wrapped around her as well, trying to keep a line between his personal feelings and professional propriety. However, this version of Julia was much different than the young girl he remembered. This version had a soft, warm and inviting body. This version had large breasts that were now pushing against his chest and the feel of hot breath against his neck was slowly starting to turn him on.

"I can't believe it's really you," whispered Julia.

"How long has it really been?"

She pulled away from him only reluctantly, an awkward resumption of professional life as they attracted a scene of onlookers at the disturbance. "My family moved away in the seventh grade," said Julia. "So it's been at least ten years!