Vanessa was still lost in her thoughts when the bubbling sound from the pot brought her back to reality.

Seeing the polenta boiling over, she hurriedly turned off the heat, but in her haste, she burned her hand on the spilled polenta.

She gasped and quickly pulled her hand back.

Luca rushed over, his footsteps heavy. “What happened?”

Vanessa was a bit surprised to see him and instinctively hid her hand behind her back. “Nothing, I was just making polenta.”

Making polenta? 

Upon ...