LUCA {Full Book}

56

I leaned against the glass door, finally seeing Lorenzo shuffling up the street.

"Why am I here so early Luca?" He yawned, shivering under his coat.

"I need to be somewhere this morning." I stepped to the side, letting him unlock the shop door and I followed him in, taking a seat in the same barber shop chair I had since I was a boy.

"The usual?" He looked towards the mirror, meeting my eyes in the reflection as he pulled out his scissors, lying them on the stand at his side.

"No, I want all of it gone." My hair was my pride, my identity, my everything, it made me the man I was- but I needed to be rewired, humbled. "Bic it. Shave it all off, beard too."

His mouth dropped, looking at me through the glass like I was a fucking madman. "Have you lost your mind! I can't do that! This hair..." he huffed, raising his comb to it. "No, it'd be a crime against Italia. Men, and women, would die for this hair Luca."

"Time's ticking Lorenzo, shave it all off."

He raised his hand to his chest, tapping the sign of the cross before putting his scissors away and reaching for the electric shaver. "And you're sober?"

"Yes!" I watched him through the mirror, hearing the buzzing as he raised the clippers to my head, shaving off layer after layer of the thick black waves, my identity, my pride, falling to the floor, only to get swept away later with the trash.

I closed my eyes, this was too hard to watch. The connection I had to my family, my name, my Italian blood being removed strand by strand.

Then the buzzing stopped and I opened my eyes, looking across to the glass. I had seen the same fucking reflection for almost forty years, until I met her.

Now, the slick black hair was gone, nothing but skin left. A fresh start, a rewiring of what was important.

"Beard too?" Lorenzo cringed, shaking his head in disappointment and I nodded yes.

"All of it." All of me.

He slapped the shaving cream across my face, slowly running the razor down my cheeks and over my chin, revealing a complete and utter fucking stranger.

"All gone," he sighed, removing the black drape and I stood up, running my hand across my smooth face as he stepped behind me, grabbing my shoulder. "You don't even look like Luca Romano anymore, nobody's gonna recognize you."

"Only a few people ever really saw me anyways."

I handed him some cash, but he pushed it away and I shook his hand then headed out the door, making the trek up to the coffee shop.

I didn't know if she'd be here or not but I sank onto a bench anyways, watching the crowds shuffle up and down the sidewalk.

And then I saw her. Her usual chirpy smile was gone, replaced with tired, sad eyes and I knew that was all my fucking doing.

She continued right past me, then she stilled, backtracking and spinning back around.

"Oh my god!" She rushed back to me, raising her hands to my bare chin then up my cheeks and to my bald head. "Luca, what did you do! Your hair!"

"I made a sacrifice." I stood up, grabbing her hands in mine, locking them in so she couldn't rip them away.

"After my parents died, I stopped loving. I protected my family, but love, real love didn't come until the twins and then you. I'm trying to figure this shit out quickly and it's really fucking overwhelming, but please believe me when I say I won't hurt you again."

"Luca...why are you fighting so hard when I can't even promise you a future."

"I'm okay with not getting a tomorrow if you promise me all of your today's. I want to be a part of every fucking moment you have. Every last one, good or bad, because I'm so painfully fucking in love with you."

"What if I say no."

"Then I'm man enough to leave... but I'm Romano enough to come back here every damn morning, telling you I love you until you take my hand." I reached for her and she stepped in closer. "You can only resist me for so long, it's just a matter of time."

She rolled her eyes, cracking a smile and I squeezed her hand, pulling her into me as she looked up, meeting my eyes. "I can't do any more heartbreak Luca."

"I'm gonna fix my heart. You were right when you called me Tin Man and I've been on this yellow brick road trying to find the fucking wizard for a while now. It's been a lonely road, now maybe we can walk it together."

She lifted up on her tip-toes, reaching her hands to my head once more, rubbing over the skin before sliding her hand back down into mine, wrapping our fingers together.

"I don't want to walk with you Luca... would you let me drive instead...," she teased up to me, finally fucking smiling, really fucking smiling.

"You? Baby, we're never gonna find the fucking wizard of you're behind the wheel."

"Whatever journey we're both on, I want to take it with you. I'm yours Tin Man."