"Uno!" Romano yelped, for what must have been the thousandth time that night.

"I give up," Lily dramatically slammed her cards down.

"He's cheating," Antonio growled at the same time.

"No, I'm not," Romano insisted. Though, I'd seen him stuff a card up his sleeve when he thought no one was looking.

"Alright, I think I'm gonna head to bed," I rubbed my eyes before a fight could ensue.

It was our final night at the cottage. Things had gotten pretty intense earlier, though after having Romano reveal the truth, I felt we'd been brought closer in a way.

After spending the day out and venturing through the remote town, we'd retired to playing card games while sprawled out on the floor of the living room. Multiple arguments later, I was ready to call it a day. Unfortunately, the others couldn't say the same.

"Sleepyhead," Antonio poked my cheek, though a betraying yawn escaped his lips quickly after.

I lazily smiled at him and planted a kiss on his cheek. The innocent action brought light to his eyes. His hand weaved into my own and he gently kissed me back, an action that did not go unnoticed by our friends. They began to emit noises varying from sounds of pure adoration to groans of disgust.

"Awww!" cooed Tabitha.

"Get a room," Lily playfully teased.

"Not while I'm eating," Benny protested all the way from the kitchen.

"You can't even see us," I rolled my eyes at his dramatics.

"Of all the men in the world, you choose him?" Romano questioned me, wildly gesturing towards his now offended cousin.

"Hey, what'd I do?" Antonio quirked a brow.

"For starters, exist." Romano laughed, though the amusement quickly left his face once Antonio rolled up his sleeves and launched in his direction.

Just as I expected, a fight broke out between the two cousins. Benny strolled into the room and stepped over the two of them as if this were an everyday occurrence–which it was. I laughed and stood up.

"That's my cue. Goodnight."

"Wait," Romano pried out of Antonio's chokehold, "aren't you forgetting something?"

"A kiss goodnight?" I teased.

"That'd be nice, but no." An excited, and frankly, concerning look flashed across Romano's face. "Annual cottage ritual."

Antonio let go of him and the two shared suspiciously excited grins.

Although they hadn't said a word, Benny seemed to know exactly what they were getting at and lowly scoffed. "The two of you..."

Antonio and Romano merely chortled. The girls and I shared confused looks, though I quickly caught on.

"We are not going skinny dipping right now," my eyes widened.

"Well, obviously not," Romano slyly grinned. "We have to get drunk first."

The group was a mixture of laughs and protests.

"It's nearly midnight," Lily pointed out.

That didn't stop Romano from jumping up and raiding the kitchen cabinets for alcohol. If anything, it only encouraged him. In his words, "the night's just started..."

• • •

We eventually went in the water, though kept our swimsuits on, no matter how much Romano insisted we live in the moment and get naked, bitches! I think that was the alcohol talking.

As the night sky darkened, I took to lying on my watermelon-shaped floaty and soaking in the sun–or rather, moon. The sound of the beach waves nearly lulled me to sleep, and I began to tune the others out. Antonio and Romano splashing each other, progressing into a fist fight. Benny breaking the cousins apart before sneaking off with Tabitha. Lily downing her fourth cup of fruit punch, which I was beginning to suspect was more than just fruit punch.

I contently sighed and closed my eyes. When things became too quiet, I opened my hazel eyes just in time to witness Antonio flip over my floaty and send me flying into the water.

"Antonio!" I shrieked. "You scheming jerk!"

Water flooded my nose as my hair clung to my face. The pink sunglasses that had been resting on my head were nowhere to be found. Of course, this only amused Antonio, who practically doubled over in laughter. A vengeful look settled onto my face and I began to splash him.

"Oh, you wanna play that game?" he deviously straightened up.

I screamed and began to run away from him.

"Stop!" I squealed as he submerged me in the water, dunking on my head as if he wasn't over a foot taller than me.

I giggled while we splashed each other back and forth, until our fingers were wrinkly and our stomachs hurt from laughing so hard. It was only then, that I realized what was occurring.

I was in the water. Not merely lounging atop my floaty, or dipping my toes in. My entire body was submerged, and dare I say, I was enjoying it.

"Antonio, I did it," I gasped in realization. "I faced my fear. I-I'm in the water."

We were motionless for a moment. He gazed at me in faint awe before suddenly erupting into cheers and proudly spinning me around. I could only imagine how silly we looked, celebrating something that seemed so minuscule. Though, it wasn't. Just months ago, I was too traumatized by my mother's death to even imagine going in the ocean. After all, she'd died by drowning. Yet here I was now, having the time of my life while doing the exact thing I'd always feared–going in the ocean. And I'd done it with Antonio by my side.

"I knew you could do it, Flower."

I smiled the widest I'd ever smiled. I must've looked insane, though somehow, I could see Antonio melt right in front of me. The pure adoration in his eyes... I didn't know it was possible to feel so loved.

While our friends remained in the water, we headed over to the bonfire on the beach and allowed ourselves to be warmed by the emanating flames. He draped a flannel blanket around my naked shoulders, which I was quite thankful for, as all I'd been wearing was a tiny bikini that did little to warm me from the brisk night air.

The time flew by. Time always seemed to do that when I was with Antonio. As we sat in front of the bonfire, we talked, occasionally argued, made out, laughed, and talked some more until our mouths began to dry and our eyes began to droop.

It was almost the perfect night.

My head rested on his broad shoulder, and he slowly wrapped an arm around my waist, bringing our bodies closer. We fit together like puzzle pieces, and I happily sighed at the gentle, warming contact. Just as I was on the verge of dozing off, Antonio's phone began to ring.

The high-pitched noise made me jump. I sagged in relief when the noise stopped, but it started again as quickly as it ended.

Antonio made no sign of hearing it, as if nothing, not even a high-pitched, ear-shattering noise could tear us apart. When I couldn't take the sound much more, I asked, "you gonna get that?"

"Too comfortable," he mumbled, mouth against my head.

The phone rang for a third time. I gave him a look before he grumbled in annoyance and got up to answer the persistent caller.

"What do you want?" he snapped. I nearly winced for the person on the other end of the call.

"You know, a call usually starts with hello," I said.

His lips twitched, though he mustered down the smile and resumed a stoic face. It was almost amusing to know that he could cuddle and kiss me one second, before yelling at someone for interrupting us the next.

"What?" Antonio sharply asked. "What happened?"

He looked shocked. I frowned in concern and straightened up, briefly wondering who would call him at his hour—who would call him at all. Alarmingly enough, his contact list only consisted of five people, including the local pizzeria.

"I'll be there in an hour," he said to the unknown person.

Without another word, he hung up and limply dropped his phone onto the sand.

"Who was it?" I slowly asked, almost afraid to hear the answer.

I wasn't prepared for his next few words, so simple, yet so complicated.

"It was my mother."

• • •