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Alberto stands in the middle of the platform with Guilia’s dad Massimo, wide eyed and bouncing on his heels, searching the crowd of passengers pouring out of the train car like Machiavelli does to fish when they’re on the boat. He’s taller this summer, a few inches extra, perfect for peeking over heads to find his favorite curly haired people. The bench he’s standing on helps, too.
He hears Giulia before he sees her, her laugh like waves crashing against the shore, and his breath catches in his throat, because Giulia means Luca.
The second he spots Giulia’s dark red hair, he runs. Never mind the square is filled with people—he’s a pro at maneuvering around humans now. Alberto slips through the crowd like water, and soon he’s there, feet at the edge of the platform, grinning up the stairs at Giulia and Luca. And they’re beaming back at him, and for a split second, the world disappears.
“Alberto!” Luca cries, launching off the last stair and throwing his arms around him. Luca has barely grown an inch, ha! Perfect, it’s perfect—Alberto tucks Luca under his chin, cheek pressed against his hair, holding tight like he’ll slip away for the summer, too.
“Ciao, Alberto,” Giulia greets. Alberto pulls her into their hug, into their bubble like they had so many months ago. Someone clears their throat behind them. Giulia pulls away to run into someone else’s arm, shouting, “Papa!”
The streets are buzzing with stories of school. Giulia catches her dad up on classes and friends while Luca tells Alberto all about the wonders of the human world—cities and buses and classrooms and cafeterias and so many Vespas, Alberto! —and Alberto hangs onto every word, green eyes twinkling under the soft Italian sun.
At the top of a hill, there’s a clear view of the docks and the shimmering oceanfront. Alberto doesn’t notice he’s lost Luca until he’s a few steps down and his world is suddenly too quiet. He turns, a question on the tip of his tongue, and stops. Luca is staring at the ocean like he’s seeing it for the first time.
“I never thought I'd miss that water so much," he says, a little breathless. "Genova is on the coast too, but it isn't the same."
“Then that’s where we’re going first,” Alberto declares, grabbing his hand.
“Wait!” Luca cries as Alberto drags him down the street. “We’re supposed to have lunch at Giulia’s!”
“We can go for dinner,” Alberto promises. He looks back at Luca. “Don’t you want to see your family?”
Luca’s frown morphs into a wide smile. “Yeah. Yeah, I do.”
Alberto smiles back.
Luca gazes longingly at the beach as Alberto drags him to the shoreline, but they don’t stop there. Instead, Alberto leads him to a cliffside lined with an iron fence and branded with a NO JUMPING sign. There’s a nervous squeeze around his hand. He squeezes back with a smile.
He, Ciccio, and Guido, along with other kids from the village, jump from here all of the time. It all started shortly after Luca and Giulia left, when the square was settling with the last of summer rolling away like dust at their feet. Ciccio and Guido are no longer friends with Ercole, and Alberto was in need of a new victim to persuade into dangerous, fun activities. Their friendship was inevitable.
Alberto always jumps first. It’s the only way he can talk anyone into doing anything crazy on the water—he takes the first leap of faith, transforms into his scaled persona, and promises to save anyone who gets too close to the rocks (but that hardly ever happens). It works for them, so it works for him.
“Silenzio Bruno,” Alberto reminds. “Don’t tell me you forgot!” He flicks Luca’s forehead with a laugh and walks to the edge of the cliff.
“Of course not,” Luca says. He’s closer now, but Alberto is still standing alone at the edge.
He looks back. Luca’s hair is longer, bangs that brush across his eyelashes, the tips of his ears buried in curls. His shoulders are straighter than Alberto remembers; he walks a little taller, though maybe that just happens when you’re on human legs for that long. All of these changes, and yet, he still plays with his hands. He still sees the world through big, brown eyes full of wonder and fear and excitement.
Alberto walks backward until he’s even with Luca, and he grabs his hand, and he smiles, and Luca smiles back.
Then, Alberto runs.
“Wait, wait!” Luca cries. “It says no jumping back there! Alberto!”
Toes curl around the edge of the cliff as Alberto pushes off, blistering wind rushing through his hair, and for a moment, he’s flying. Next to him, Luca yells. He yells and cheers and laughs in a way Alberto is sure he hasn’t in a while, and he joins him.
There are rocks on top of rocks at the cliffside, underlying threats you can’t see until it’s too late. That’s why Alberto goes first. That’s why he shouts orders to his friends and repeats himself two more times before they jump.
That’s why he lurches for Luca, fingers barely curling around his arm, and yanks Luca into him just before they hit the water. He keeps him close with an arm around his waist, staring wide eyed at the boulder that almost turned Luca into a pancake.
The near-death experience is already lost on Alberto when he realizes Luca is out of his grasp and doing laps around a patch of seaweed. He hasn’t quite stopped smiling since he arrived, but Alberto knows this is the happiest he’s been all day.
Luca stops in front of Alberto. “What’s with you and cliff jumping?” he asks, raising an eyebrow.
“What do you mean? It’s the funnest thing to do around here!”
“I wish we could go cliff jumping in Genova.” Luca chuckles. “Some of my classmates wouldn’t approve.”
“Then it’s a good thing you’re home with me.” Alberto smiles proudly. “Ciccio, Guido, and I found new places along the coastline. I can’t wait to show them to you.”
“Are they all that dangerous?”
“Probably. Hey, I’ll race you to your cave!”
“Wait!” Luca calls after him. “Hold on, do you even know how to get to my cave?”
“I’ll figure it out!”
Luca laughs, and the race is on.
That night, they lay under the fairy lights strung throughout Giulia’s tree. The tree is lit every night, but this time feels different. Nostalgic. Comfortable, like the days of training for the race and hiding from Luca’s parents. As the seasons passed, their summer drifted further and further until they'd fallen lifetimes away from it.
But tonight, as Alberto stares at Luca’s sleeping form, the memories are still fresh in his mind. It was only last week that they’d met Giulia in the square, that they’d chased her up the street and formed a team with her. Only yesterday that they’d exposed their secret to the town and won the race in the process.
Luca rolls onto his back and sinks into his pillow with a quiet sigh. Alberto smiles, propping himself up on his elbow.
Before Luca, Alberto never cared much for summer. The seasons blended into each other—the Rainy and the Dry and whatever falls in between. They were just more chalk tallies on his wall.
But now summer is when Luca and Giulia come home. It’s three months of fun and adventure and cliff jumping. A reunion on top of a reunion, when spirits are high and concerts in the square last until morning.
Summer is lying in a tree under fairy lights, in the yard of a house that’s become a home.
Summer is… is…
Luca mumbles in his sleep. He faces Alberto again.
Alberto smiles, rolling onto his back to stare at the lights.
Summer is Luca.
And finally, they can begin again.