Taking the coffee, Jess took a sip. She stared down the valley, at the village of Saline far below, at the networks of roads and towns in the plains beyond that. Soon, in a matter of months, all of this could be gone. Just like that, as if it had never been here. Nothing seemed real, as if a plastic sheet had been pulled over reality, insulating her from it.
“This place is magical,” Celeste said, following Jess’s eyes looking down the valley. She reached across the table to hold Jess’s hand. “You were right to drag me out here. It does feel like home. And what a silver lining!” She laughed. “The police, your fight with your ex…if it hadn’t happened, Giovanni wouldn’t have invited us to be his guests. He came by this morning, said we should stay the week, invited us to go horseback riding through the vineyards. We can stop for lunch down—”
“We have to go,” Jess said in a dead voice, still staring down the valley at the village. She hadn’t seen her mother this happy in years, and it broke her heart to ruin it. But she had to. And, in a funny way, she might get what she wanted: get her mother and father together.
“What?” Celeste squeezed Jess’s hand. “Don’t be silly. And can you imagine? Giovanni’s grandfather was an astronomer, just like your dad—”
Jess pulled away from staring at the village and put her coffee down, turning to look her mother in the eye. How could she even start to explain this? “We—have—to—go,” she repeated.
The carefree smile on Celeste’s face slid away into concern, her brows furrowing together. “What happened? Something with Giovanni?”
“No.” Jess shook her head. “He was lovely, a perfect gentleman.”
“Then what? Jess, you can’t always be running—”
“I talked to dad last night. He’s in Rome.”
“In Rome?” The furrow between Celeste’s eyes deepened, and she leaned toward Jess. “Why is he in Rome?”
“He’s at the Astronomical Union meeting.”
“The Astronomical Union…” Celeste whispered. Her frown dissipated, and she cocked her head to one side and grinned. “What are you up to, missy?”
Jess pressed her lips together. “Look, I wasn’t being entirely honest. I wanted some one-on-one time with you, but when you got that Facebook message from the long lost Italian relative—”
“Who we haven’t heard from since,” Celeste reminded her.
“I know, look, it seemed like a perfect opportunity to get you and dad back together, you know, here in Italy, where you spent your honeymoon. I thought, I don’t know, maybe…”
The edges of Celeste’s smile trembled, her eyes tearing as she stared at her daughter. “Oh, baby, that’s what all this was about?”
“It was, but something’s happened.”
Celeste dropped her gaze, laughing. “Something is always just happening with you, isn’t it?”
“This is serious.”
“Is it something else to do with Ricardo? I’m sure that Giovanni could help—”
“Mom! STOP!”
Celeste blinked twice, letting go of Jess’s hand. “What?”
Jess took a deep breath. “Dad’s at this meeting, and they discovered something coming from deep space. It’s heading toward the Earth. He needs us to leave with him, get back to the States and go to the cabin in the Catskills—”
“From space?” Celeste shook her head, and then pursed her lips. “The cabin, but I thought he sold that years ago?”
“So did I.”
“What’s coming from space?”
“They don’t know, but it’s not good.”
Jess knew her mother, knew she wasn’t one to panic. She didn’t have to sugarcoat. Her mother had spent most of her life in the field as a geologist, exploring remote backcountry. Leaning across the table, Jess explained what her father told her the night before, and the look of disbelief on her mother’s face slowly turned to one of shock.
“Are they sure?” Celeste asked as Jess finished. “Shouldn’t we tell people?”
“Dad said not to, that they don’t know all the details yet.” As she said this, a soccer ball bounced off her right leg. Hector came running over, and Jess leaned down to retrieve the ball and give it to him.
“Prego, Miss Jessica,” Hector said as he took the ball, smiling at her before turning to run back to Raffael and Lucca and Enzo.
“Nobody?” Celeste stared at Jess, then looked in the direction of Hector.
Jess followed her eyes. “You’re right.” Enzo caught her eye and waved. She smiled, tight lipped, and waved back. Something about that guy was creepy. Nico was just coming out of the reception building behind them, leading another tour group. He waved, and she waved back.
“Nico,” Jess called out. “Do you know where Baron Ruspoli is?”
“Just out for five minutes,” Nico replied. “Down to the town.”
“Can you get him to meet me up in the observatory when he gets back?”