I ordered one scoop of chocolate and one vanilla.  Matt ordered the same.  I paid for our gelato and we moseyed out the door of the tiny café in Bogliasco.  It was well into intervallo on a blistering hot day, but the cafe had remained open for desperados like us. 

We plopped down on a worn wooden bench in the town square of this tiny village on the coast between Nervi and Recco, where Veronica and Thomas had moved to recently after their lease had run out in Sori.  This morning Matt and I decided to hit the beach here since we had nothing else on our agenda.  I called Veronica and Emil to join us but she declined explaining that they had an appointment with someone about a new loan for the villa in Busalla.

Our snack was a welcome break from the scorching sand and sun. We ate it slowly and savored every bite.  We had gotten into the habit of examining and describing our gelato indulgences in detail. 

“Oh, my goodness.  This is soooo delicious.”

“Can you taste the vanilla bean?”

 “The chocolate is unbelievable.”

“Take tiny bites and just let them melt on your tongue.”

 “Oh no, it’s almost gone.”

“Stop eating it so fast.”

“I can’t help it.”

“I only have two bites left.”

“I only have one.”

“That was soooo good.”

Contented sigh in unison.

 “Can you throw these cups in the trash over there?”

Matt slowly walked over to the trashcan in his navy bathing suit and silver-framed glasses.  He was on the brink of adolescence, and I could see his handsomeness looming on the horizon.  He was teetering on the official “awkward stage” but Matt was one of the lucky ones.  He was adorable, and he didn’t know it.  And that was not just his mother talking as I had been informed that Sonia, an older girl in school, was hot on his trail.

I loved that he still thought that it was a wonderful idea to ride the train to Bogliasco with his mother to go swimming. And I loved that I didn’t have to fit this in on alternating weekends. 

We had found a spot on the beach and laid out our towels.  I stretched out with a book, and he immediately went to explore the water’s edge and climb the huge rocks and boulders that hugged the coast.  He was not one to sit still, but I was.  It was enough for him that we were in close proximity of each other. 

He deposited the trash and came back to sit on the bench.  He smiled and stretched his long limbs. 

“So what do you want to do now?”

“I don’t know.”

 “That gelato was so good.”

“I could eat some more.”

“Me, too.”

“Seriously.  Wasn’t that the best vanilla and chocolate you ever tasted?”

“Definitely.”

“Two more scoops?”

Matt’s face lit up like I just promised him a million dollars.  We got up and hurried back across the street. The shop owner’s eyes twinkled when Matt told him what we wanted.  He filled two more cups and handed them to us.  This time we sat inside the shop at one of the tables. 

“Oh, my goodness.  This is soooo delicious.”

“Can you taste the vanilla bean?”

 “The chocolate is unbelievable.”

“Take tiny bites and just let them melt on your tongue.”

 “Oh no, it’s almost gone.”

“Stop eating it so fast.”

“I can’t help it.”

 “I only have two bites left.”

“I only have one.”

“That was soooo good.”

Contented sigh in unison.