The 45th Parallel, page 17
Chapter 28
Within the week, each of the enormous tanks had a hydroponics system installed, complete with seedlings. We upgraded the settling basin and bio-filters and built new tanks for rearing young fish. Fabrizio was beside himself, constantly chattering away to me excitedly, forgetting that I understood one word in twenty. But his enthusiasm I understood completely, that sense of seeing a project go from concept to finished product, and seeing something miraculous evolve because of something you built.
As we watched the over the new installation, marveling at how quiet the new filters and pumps were, Antonio asked me if I was free to assist with another project, a glint making his eyes sparkle. He enjoyed practicing his rusty schoolboy English on me now, even trying to make me laugh with translated jokes.
“Si,” I responded. Antonio gestured, and I followed him into one of the restricted areas within the pod. I watched with astonishment as he gestured to the discarded skins of grapes used for winemaking and pointed out the final product drying on racks, a fabric that looked very much like leather. Slowly, he explained the steps as he used the waste from making wine, a highly productive sector here, and if I understood correctly, every three kilograms of waste was turned into a square meter of leather. He handed me a piece of the finished product. It was soft and pliable, surprisingly so. I had only ever seen leather made from animal skins, which was thicker, but not as soft as this. Antonio’s face was a picture when I touched it, smiling broadly at this lovely fabric. Yet again, it astounded me that two communities had evolved so differently over the past thirty years. Here they had industry and technology but no actual knowledge of the older ways of doing things. On Lewis, we had wide-open spaces, fresh air, and plentiful food but had not kept pace with the technological aspects found here that were necessary because of the limited physical space.
Buzzing with excitement, Antonio explained the equipment, describing each step in the process, half in English, half in Italian.
“Show me.”
Antonio’s face lit with glee, and he returned to the first step in the process, chattering away as he demonstrated each step, deliberately emphasizing the role of each piece of machinery, encouraging me to watch and then copy him. After a few hours of assisting and asking a million questions, I made some suggestions to streamline production. The process used very little water anyway, which was necessary as it was such a limited resource, but I suggested a few modifications to the filters, which meant we could use more of the wine process effluent and no additional water. Antonio was thrilled at the prospect of using less water. After thirty years, the water supply below the city had dropped nearly ten percent, and they were concerned about long-term sustainability, so every little saving helped.
Over dinner, Sera raved about the technical aspects of the pods: how they monitored temperature, oxygen levels, daylight. She had successfully reprogrammed the meteorological room where they tracked weather patterns and raised and lowered the pods accordingly. They could now operate on barometric pressure, lowering each arm and the main pod before storms hit. I tried to catch her eye. We needed to talk. It wasn’t long until the full moon, and we needed to discuss our next steps. Stay and let our family know where we were. Go home and face the consequences. Or revert to our original plan to get to Australia, although I doubted either of us had the stomach for that after all that had occurred. But after dinner, she curled on the opposite couch with Matteo, animatedly planning their work for the next day. Gio was still at work. One chef had sliced the tip from a finger, and he was busy in surgery. I excused myself and slipped off to the bedroom, listening to them through the closed door.
Sometime in the night, I felt the draft as the blankets were lifted and the warm body slipped in behind me. Rolling over, I snuggled up against him.
“Tired?” I whispered.
“Never too tired for you,” he whispered in my ear as I felt his hands sneak up my t-shirt, cup my breasts, weighing them. “Why are you wearing clothes? I thought I said there were to be no clothes between us.”
“You weren’t here, and I was cold.” I sighed as he lifted the t-shirt over my head.
“I can’t get enough of you,” he rumbled, his mouth caressing my breasts. “You are so beautiful.”
“Lie back,” I commanded, the moonlight streaming in from the window reflecting off his dark hair.
He complied, and I kissed his chest as a reward. Trailing my hair down his torso, I felt his breath quickening as I reached his hips.
“Oh god,” he moaned as I took him into my mouth, kissing and nipping gently. His back arched off the bed, and I enjoyed taunting him, pleasuring him.
“Now. I need to be inside you. Now!” he moaned.
“Not yet,” I whispered, running my tongue along his thigh.
“I can’t wait,” he panted. “I need you.”
“I am in charge tonight,” I whispered, taking the time to use my hair to stroke him.
“You are so cruel.” His breath was coming in spurts as I slid back up his torso.
“Say it,” I teased, caressing him. “Tell me, who is in charge?”
“Me,” he growled as he flipped me deftly onto the other side of the bed, a slight squeal escaping. My heart was pounding. Anticipating.
“Shall I tease you?” he whispered, his fingers playing with me.
“If you wish,” I replied, pressing my hips harder against him.
“So cruel,” he whispered, “and so beautiful.”
Chapter 29
Racing into the vineyard late, my face was reddened from running and guilt. Antonio had explicitly asked me for help today, and I had let him down. Nightmares had kept me awake, then I had fallen asleep after Gio left and had slept longer than I had intended. Now he wasn’t here. Catching my breath, I wondered what I could do to assist while awaiting his return and considered pruning some grapevines. Antonio had shown me how to train them along the espaliered wires, ensuring they were supported and had maximum exposure to the limited sunlight. Many times I had helped Dad manage espaliered trees, so I knew what to do. Secateurs, and possibly some wire. My mind was still replaying the events with Gio the night before. He was acting like I would stay forever, but at no point had I said I would. What was this? A relationship or just having fun? He said he had taken other girls to the hot springs, so he wasn’t innocent. Neither was I. We both knew what we were doing, but that didn’t mean it would last forever. We would both move on and meet other people. A pang of sadness struck me anew at the thought of leaving him. I hadn’t felt this way about leaving anyone else, including Reilly and Finn, whom I had known for years, not weeks. Was there a way we could stay? But that meant contacting our families, and then they would learn about these communities. Once the cat was out of the bag, it couldn’t be stuffed back in. This was bigger than just me. I needed to talk to Sera, alone.
My mind swirling with the potential ramifications of our actions, I entered the storage room and flicked on the light. In that split second, I saw far more than I should have. Blurting a hasty apology, I flicked off the light and closed the door as I fled.
“Caitlin!” Antonio came running after me as he rushed down the hallway, hurriedly pulling a shirt over his head.
Words tumbled over themselves in an effort to get out. “It’s fine, really. Your business is your business. I am not a gossip. I won’t tell anyone. I promise.”
His face was brilliant red, his mouth opening and closing like a fish. Gripping my arm, he steered me back into the vineyard. Joseph was there, now dressed, looking equally mortified.
“Guys, not my business,” I said, hoping they understood. Everything was obvious from their awkward posture and flushed faces. They were mortified I had walked in on them and terrified I would blab.
“You need to understand,” Joseph pleaded in halting English, “no one knows … about us.” He gestured between Antonio and himself. For the first time, Joseph looked scared. He was always so outgoing, so full of life. I couldn’t work out why he would be so worried. It took me a moment to realize that they weren’t embarrassed about me walking in but about people knowing.
“Why would anyone care? Are either of you married?”
“No. It is just… well, it isn’t usual.”
“What isn’t usual?”
“Two men,” Joseph whispered.
“It is where I come from,” I announced firmly. “Two men. Two women. Love is love where I live. My aunt has a female partner, one of my teachers at school too.”
They both stared at me, open-mouthed.
“It is usual?”
“It is normal.” I shrugged. “No one has an issue with any couple on Lewis, and we have some odd arrangements. Sometimes, three people live together in a relationship. In my house, we have my father and two mothers, although only my mother and father sleep together,” I hurriedly pointed out. “What happens between consenting adults is between them. We don’t judge.”
“You don’t think this is strange?” Antonio asked.
“No. Why? Do you think I am strange?”
“No.”
“My life is hardly usual. This is your business. But you need to come out and tell people. Love is love.”
“Love is love,” Antonio repeated. Joseph and Antonio looked at each other, and I could see the spark of passion flicking between them.
“What are you worried about?”
“My father,” Antonio admitted, looking like a child caught stealing. “He is a conservative man. He wants me to get married and have children. Joseph and I, we can’t have children.”
“Actually, yes, you can. It isn’t as easy, but my aunts both have children. They had a male donor, but the children are theirs.” I had learned at a very young age that Kendra was my father’s biological daughter, making her as close to Sorcha and Di’s child as genetically possible. My parents’ gift to my aunt.
“I am not sure my father would like that.”
“He is a good man who loves you,” I pointed out. “But it is not his choice. If he can’t accept who you love, then he isn’t the father you need. What is the worst thing that can happen?”
Antonio paused for a long time, considering. “He disowns me.”
“So you come and stay with me.” Joseph shrugged. I knew he lived with his sister. Both of his parents had passed some years ago. “Sofia won’t mind.”
“Soon,” Antonio promised. “I will tell him soon. Now, Caitlin, I have a gift for you.”
Giovanni’s face was a picture when I modeled the tight-fitting leather skirt in a lovely shade of merlot Antonio had given me as thanks for the help I had given him. When he first saw me turning around to show him, the soft buttery leather molding to my curves, his eyes nearly popped from his head. When he learned who gave it to me, his eyes had hooded, and a dark expression crossed his face.
“How dare he!” he ranted, and I laughed mockingly.
“It was a gift, a thank you. Nothing more. We are friends.”
“Men and women can’t be friends.”
“What a stupid idea. Who taught you that?”
“It is true. Women and men will always desire each other, even if they don’t admit it. It will always end badly. One will want more, and the other less. It is a disaster.”
“My father and Illy have been friends for years,” I pointed out. “Callie, too.”
“But none of them were single, were they? If they had both been available, would it be different?”
It was strange to think of my parents like that, but perhaps, maybe… but not in this circumstance. Not after what I witnessed this morning. But I had sworn to keep their confidence.
“You are wrong. Antonio and I are only friends. Like your brother and me. I care about him, but I don’t love him.”
“I am sure. And I am certain that Antonio wants to… how do you say… get into your pants?”
“Good thing this is a skirt then, isn’t it?” Flashing him a cheeky grin, I stripped off my top, modeling the red leather skirt with the black bra I wore. It was soft, slinky, and fitted my curves to perfection. I had lost weight on Yellowstone, and not yet returned to my former size. I liked it, the way the fabric clung to my hips. “He didn’t see me wear it. I saved that for you.”
“Really?”
“I promise.” I span once more to give him the full effect, and he pulled me close, stroking the skirt.
“Besides, I have another gift for you.” One you can use to remember me when I am gone, I thought sadly.
“For me? This isn’t enough?”
I beckoned, and Gio followed me into the bathroom, watching as I turned on the shower.
“You want to shower?” he asked before taking a sharp inhalation, realizing what was different.
“How?”
“There were excess pumps at the aquaponics pod.” I beamed, watching his face as he ran his hand through the water, feeling the heat and intense pressure from the shower. “So I brought one home.”
“How is this possible?”
I laughed. “I built my first pressure pump to enhance shower water flow as my entrance test into my engineering apprenticeship. There was a project component as well as a theory component. We had to make something that added value to our society. I remembered Mum talking about hot showers with pressure from her life before, so … I built one.”
“You built one?” He pulled his hand back and looked at me. “How old were you?”
“Fifteen,” I admitted.
“And you only built one?” In a flash, he had stripped off and stepped in. He tipped his head forward, dark hair obscuring his face as he felt the water beating on his neck. “This is magnificent.”
“Well, initially, I made just one. But soon, everyone had heard about it and wanted to see it, try it out. Dad didn’t enjoy having so many people traipsing through our home, so I found myself building and installing many more. It took me months!”
“Well, I don’t share. We are keeping this one to ourselves.” He beckoned to me to join him. Remembering what great use Gio could make of a shower wall, I didn’t resist.
Chapter 30
“My back hurts,” I groaned, tumbling headfirst into bed. “It has been ages since I had to do so much planting, and I forgot how much it hurts.”
I rolled back onto the pillow, willing the ache in my lower back to stop. I had offered to help Fabrizio and his team to plant new tree stock. Trees here were all grown in pots and espaliered to maximize cropping like I had seen Dad do, but they needed help to graft new trees. It was exhausting work, but I enjoyed being useful and didn’t want to admit that I was no longer used to hard manual labor. It was only ten days until the full moon, and Sera and I were no closer to deciding whether we would go or stay.
Gio’s powerful hands rolled me onto my stomach, and he sat across my hips. Before I could protest, his hands started kneading my shoulder blades like bread. Using his fingers, he pushed into sore spots, making me writhe in pain.
“What are you doing?” I squealed.
He stopped. “Have you never had a massage before?”
“No,” I whispered, my voice muffled from face planting the pillow. “I have heard of it, read about it in books. I thought it was supposed to be pleasurable—feel nice, that is. This hurts.”
“Only because your muscles are tense from use.” He resumed working his deft fingers into my sore shoulders. “When you relax, and the tension is released, you will feel the euforia. But I need to ask, what kind of place is your home if you have showers that feel wonderful but do not know about massage?”
I didn’t quite have an answer to that.
“So, no man has given you a massage before?” he hummed in my ear, his voice melting my insides.
“No,” I whispered. I had enjoyed the touching and exploring of each other’s bodies. But this was intense and different.
“I am pleased to be the first to give you this pleasure.” He spoke huskily as his strong fingers worked their way down my spine, and I learned what he meant by euphoria.
Maybe as you are the first man I have been with, and the rest were just boys? I wondered as I drifted off into oblivion, wondering how on earth I was going to give this up.
Sera and I finally made time to speak alone the following day. Gio was at work, rostered on the early shift at the clinic. He had dragged himself out of bed, and I had felt cold and alone. Matteo was working on a different project today and had also left early. Sera and I were alone. It was strangely silent in the apartment. Holding my mug, I stared out over the beautiful blue vista I had come to love in such a comparatively short period.
“We need to work out what we are going to do,” I said softly over breakfast.
“Do?”
“It is the full moon in nine nights,” I said gently, lowering my voice, even though we were alone. “We need to make plans.”
Her head jerked up, and she looked me full in the face. “Is it that soon?” She gasped. “It can’t be.”
“It is. Twenty-nine days. We have been here for nearly three weeks.”
“It can’t be! It feels so much longer, but in other ways, no time at all.”
“I know. But what do we do, Sairs? I’m not sure I am ready to leave, but I don’t want to spend my entire life here either.”
“We can wait another month?” she suggested hopefully.
“I can tell you from experience, the longer we stay, the harder it will be to leave.”
Sera looked heartbroken. “I’ve never felt like this, Cait,” she whispered, even though there was no one here to hear us. “I see him, and my heart skips a beat. He is so warm and gentle, and he understands me. He isn’t threatened by me and wants me to challenge him. Not to mention he…” She flushed vigorously and looked out across the lake.
