“Make my last day with you my best, and that way, I will have some small peace when you go.”
My hands cover his wrists, but where mine are shaking, his are steady. More than a few tears slip down my cheeks when he kisses me: infinitely soft and full of longing for a future that we can’t be sure will happen. Not with everyone trying to tear us apart.
Massimo pulls back slowly and leans his forehead to mine, and I have no idea what he’s going to say next, but whatever it is, I can’t take it. “I have not done as I should,” he whispers. “I have been angry at others, angry at myself for what I have allowed to come between us, and because of this, she thinks I am going to leave her. It is not the truth.”
I nearly break, hearing him say it when I’ve been so convinced that I’d lost him. I bite my lip to keep from dissolving even more, but my voice is still small when I ask, “No? Because if they’re going to cut your contract because we’re—”
“No.” He shakes his head. “I will find a way to fix the contract. I do not know how, not yet, but I am going to keep looking. Leaving her? I will never do.”
Everything in me melts and plummets, relief twisted with guilt, and I can’t get a handle on it. How much I’ve missed him. How much he’s willing to risk, possibly sacrifice for me. How much I want to tell him not to—not because the magnitude of it doesn’t mean everything to me but because it’s not what I want from him. What I want for him.
Wondering if because he’s willing to do it, I’m supposed to be able to too.
“So to make sure she remembers how much I love her, even when I am my worst,” he says, “to her, I give this.”
My brow furrows, but then he lets me go and reaches up, unclasping the chain from around his neck. “Massimo, no…” But he doesn’t listen. He takes off the necklace, then drapes it around my own neck, clasping it shut as my sight blurs with tears.
“This cross was given from my mamma to my papà on the day they were married. He told me, I was to give it to this woman when I found her.”
I am locked completely in awe, filled with infinite pride as he adjusts the cross so it settles perfectly against my skin. When he’s finished, he rests his hands on my hips, pulling me closer into him, and I don’t care what it takes—I will find us a way through this.
“We may not always be together, Lorina,” he says, “but if you have this, then I will know the truth. You are the woman I love, and this belongs to you.”
I can’t hug my arms around his neck tight enough. His own arms come around me, pressing so tight into my ribs that they ache where he watched them be broken. But his other hand is tender in my hair, massaging it gently as I tuck my face into his neck, breathing him in and succumbing to all the different flavors of him, soothing all the rough edges of me.
“For all the ways,” he breathes, “all the times I have hurt you, I am sorry.”
I choke back a sob, nodding because I’m sorry too. For just…everything.
“I only did what I thought was right, even as it was wrong, because I wanted for you to see me. I wanted you to feel safe when I told you—that you will know the man who loves you. Maybe not all of me that is good, Lorina, but all of me that is bad.”
I pull back, cupping his face in my palms. “I see you,” I promise. “All the good and all the bad, and knowing you are that man…” I suck in a steadying breath, unable to resist smiling from the unbridled truth flowing through me. “Nothing has ever made me feel safer than that. Than knowing you are him.”
“I have missed you, cara.” Then, more softly, as if it’s a secret we’re only allowed to share among the beach, the stars, and the moon, he breathes, “Ti amo.”
THAILAND GRAND PRIX
Buriram, Sunday, October 06
Pos
Pts
Rider
Time
World Rank
1
25
Lorelai HARGROVE
39’55.722
188
2
20
Santos SAUCEDO
0.115
270
3
16
Cristiano ARELLANO
0.270
116
4
13
Billy KING
1.564
272
5
11
Giovanni MARCHESA
2.747
158
6
10
Gregorio PAREDES
3.023
78
7
9
Rainier HERRE
6.520
67
8
8
Mason KING
6.691
151
9
7
Elliston LAMBIRTH
9.944
56
10
6
Deven HORSLEY
11.077
84
11
5
Donato MALDONADO
15.488
56
12
4
Diarmaid DEAN
17.691
36
13
3
Galeno GIRÓN
21.413
65
14
2
Cesaro SOTO
22.802
42
15
1
Harleigh ELIN
23.628
58
16
Aurelio LOGGIA
23.804
69
17
Fredek SULZBACH
32.507
57
18
Timo GONZALES
37.216
32
Not Classified
Gustavo LIMÓN
5 Laps
32
Massimo VITOLO
10 Laps
218
GRAND PRIX OF JAPAN
Motegi, Sund
ay, October 20
Pos
Pts
Rider
Time
World Rank
1
25
Lorelai HARGROVE
42’20.989
213
2
20
Santos SAUCEDO
5.862
290
3
16
Billy KING
8.987
288
4
13
Giovanni MARCHESA
9.796
171
5
11
Massimo VITOLO
11.048
229
6
10
Aurelio LOGGIA
14.534
79
7
9
Mason KING
17.202
160
8
8
Timo GONZALES
22.273
40
9
7
Cesaro SOTO
27.641
49
10
6
Donato MALDONADO
31.998
62
11
5
Elliston LAMBIRTH
38.572
61
12
4
Deven HORSLEY
49.603
88
13
3
Cristiano ARELLANO
57.128
119
14
2
Fredek SULZBACH
1’06.673
59
15
1
Galeno GIRÓN
1’27.081
66
16
Gregorio PAREDES
1’45.854
78
17
Harleigh ELIN
1’54.159
58
Not Classified
Rainier HERRE
1 Lap
67
Gustavo LIMÓN
1 Lap
32
Diarmaid DEAN
22 Laps
36
AUSTRALIAN MOTORCYCLE GRAND PRIX
Phillip Island, Sunday, October 27
Pos
Pts
Rider
Time
World Rank
1
25
Billy KING
40’44.798
313
2
20
Lorelai HARGROVE
2.194
233
3
16
Santos SAUCEDO
3.601
306
4
13
Massimo VITOLO
7.645
242
5
11
Giovanni MARCHESA
11.009
182
6
10
Mason KING
15.732
170
7
9
Cristiano ARELLANO
19.571
128
8
8
Deven HORSLEY
24.285
96
9
7
30.668
56
10
6
Galeno GIRÓN
36.910
72
11
5
Diarmaid DEAN
43.476
41
12
4
Harleigh ELIN
49.351
62
13
3
Gustavo LIMÓN
57.299
35
14
2
Timo GONZALES
1’06.752
42
15
1
Donato MALDONADO
1’12.833
63
Not Classified
Rainier HERRE
3 Laps
67
Elliston LAMBIRTH
9 Laps
61
Fredek SULZBACH
12 Laps
59
Gregorio PAREDES
15 Laps
78
Aurelio LOGGIA
22 Laps
79
MALAYSIA MOTORCYCLE GRAND PRIX
Sepang, Sunday, November 03
Pos
Pts
Rider
Time
World Rank
1
25
Lorelai HARGROVE
40’39.984
258
2
20
Billy KING
1.502
333
3
16
Massimo VITOLO
4.104
258
4
13
Giovanni MARCHESA
8.263
195
5
11
Santos SAUCEDO
13.979
317
6
10
Rainier HERRE
21.041
77
7