When Stars Align

The morning after.

The rays of the sun filtered in through the window, landing on Amanda’s face. She smiled and stretched on the bed, content to lie in bed all day with her partner. She and Luca had made love and stayed up talking until the early hours of the morning. She reached for him on the bed and felt nothing but empty space. Confused, she opened her eyes and looked around the room, she was alone. Luca had left again just like last time.

She got out of bed, picked up her discarded night dress from the floor and slipped it on. Her leg had fully healed now but she still felt twinges of pain with every step she took without her walking stick. She just had to wait till her next appointment with her doctor to get the cast off. She hobbles Deon the stairs as best she could.

The sound of laughter and pots and pans hitting the counter could be heard as she made it down the stairs. She entered the kitchen and found Luca there preparing breakfast, Alessandro was on the counter playing with an apple. They both turned at her entrance and her son reached out to her. She went to him and enveloped him in a hug, kissed his cheek and took the apple out of his hands.

“Good morning mummy,” he greeted in a chipper voice and she smiled at him.

“Good morning my angel, how was your night?”

“It was perfect,” Alessandro exclaimed happily.

“Good,” she patted his cheek.

She took a bite out of the apple and moved to Luca, she encircled her arms around his waist and he chuckled. “What are you making?” she asked. “It smells wonderful.” She peeped over his shoulder into the frying pan on fire. He had a thick slice of bread sizzling in the pan.

“I’m making French toast,” he flipped the bread on the other side and turned to face her, he grabbed her by the waist and pecked her on the lips.

“What’s that in the pot,” she pointed to a ceramic pot placed in a pot on the stove.

“It’s bialetti, Italian coffee, here try some,” he grabbed a teacup and scooped some out of the pot for her.

She stared at it sceptically. “Aren’t you going to add milk to it?”

He blinked at her confusedly. “You mean like an espresso?” he asked and she nodded.

He made a disgusted face at her and she laughed. “That is not real coffee,” he thrust the cup at her, “this is real coffee.”

“At least add some sugar to it.”

Begrudgingly, he reached for the canister of sugar and scooped out a teaspoon, poured it in the coffee and stirred. He handed the cup to her and she took it then thanked him.

He turned and took the pan off the stove. Luca stared at her expectantly as she brought the cup to her lips and took a sip.

“How is it?” he asked.

“It’s... surprisingly good,” she took a sip again and enjoyed the rich flavour of the coffee, it was still bitter but she could taste the essence of the coffee beans.

“I told you it was good, this is the best.”

“Yeah don’t flatter yourself.” She teased.

A phone rang in the parlour and Alessandro got down from the counter and ran for it. “I’ll get it,” he shouted as he ran to pick the call.

Luca grabbed her waist and pulled her to him. “I trust your night was great, yes?” he gave her s knowing smile and she chuckled.

“Yes,” she replied and kissed him on the lips.

“Well, mine was perfect,” he deepened the kiss.

“That reminds me, where are the rest of the staffs?” she asked and he released her.

“I gave them the rest of the day off, so right now it’s just you and me,” he tapped her lip with his index finger, turned back to the stove and started dishing the food.

“You forget Alessandro,” she pointed out.

“Yeah and him too.”

“Daddy the call is for you,” Alessandro calls from the living room and Luca sets a plate down on the dining table.

“Don’t worry I’ll finish setting it,” she grabbed a plate and arranged two French toasts on it.

“Thanks,” he pecked her on the cheek before leaving.

Amanda smiled. Earlier she had doubted him after waking up alone in bed but he was just here making breakfast for her. They were acting like a married couple. Were they a couple? She scoffed at her question, she was just being silly, of course they weren’t a couple. Last night changed a lot of things between them but it didn’t change the fact that he was still married to another woman and he just cheated on his wife with her.

She closed her eyes in mortification. What was she thinking, sleeping with another woman’s husband. Regardless of the fact that he was Alessandro’s father, she should’ve known better. The pitter patter of feet made her open her eyes, Alessandro ran into the dining room and sat on a chair. He tried to reach a jug of orange juice but couldn’t, he was too small and the seat was too low. On the chair he was only visible from the torso upwards, she went to him and placed the plate she held in front of him.

He struggled to reach the jug and she stopped him with a hand. “Wait baby, let me help you,” she grabbed the jug and poured some in a glass cup for him. Instead of handing it to him, she took a sip out of it and he gasped.

“Mummy you stole my juice,” he pouted and she laughed.

“Of course not, I simply tasted it to see...how fresh it was.”

He took the cup from her and drank out of it, placed it on the table and picked up his knife and fork. “Its fresh, dad and I picked the oranges from the garden this morning and squeezed it. I squeezed out the most juice,” he informed proudly before cutting into his toast.

“Oh really?” she wondered how long they’ve been awake for to have done so much.

“Uhn uhn,” he said as he chewed his food.

“Seems like you had a lot of fun without mummy today,” she grabbed a spoon and dished out some omelettes and sautéed salami on his plate.

“Yes but you’ll come next time. I climbed the tree mummy, it was so high and I climbed it,” he smiled proudly.

“Good boy,” she ruffled his hair and kissed him on the head, “come on eat up.”