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“Just call me when you land.” I watch both of them stumble out the door, following Valentino.
I chartered the jet for Luciana and Alessio’s trip back to the states.
My mind begins to race, worrying about Alessio again when a soft hand lands on my shoulder.
“Dad.” Luciana grins, wrapping her arms around me tightly. “You need to wish me luck.”
“Luck? For what?”
“For going back to college, obviously.”
She’s in a terrific mood, and my worries dissolve away as her energy spreads over to me.
“Of course, I should be wishing you luck, too.” She winks. “I hate that I can’t be here to witness the moment of reunion between Quinn and you. I expect to hear all about it.”
“If it goes well…” I mutter under my breath.
I’m going to take a leap of faith, but there’s no way of knowing what the outcome is going to be.
She frowns. “What’s that?”
“Nothing.” I shake my head. “Listen, have a safe flight back. And please, take care of your brother for me. He’s gotten even more off the rails than before.”
Luciana nods. “Don’t worry. I’ll keep an eye on him. He’s just trying to have fun. You know how he is.”
She leans forward to kiss my cheek, and whispers in my ear, “I’m so glad that you finally got your senses back. Quinn is perfect for you.”
I’m glad that she doesn’t turn to look back before leaving, because if she did, she would have seen the goofy smile on my face.
Quinn is perfect for me.
Now, I just have to make her see that as well.
31
QUINN
“Laurie,canyoucheckagain?”
Laurie laughs as she opens up my zipper bag for the tenth time. “Yup, the drive is still in there.”
“No, can you connect it to the TV and see if the file is working? I don’t want to take any chances.”
Inside the drive is the recording of my phone call with Liam.
My flight to Italy is in a few hours, and I want to double check—quadruple check—that everything is there before getting on that plane.
“You’re being a bit paranoid.” Laurie looks at me with a weary expression but does what I ask. “It’s all there, no need to worry.”
“Good.” I sigh. “I’m sorry, I’m just making sure that everything goes right. I’ve backed everything up to the cloud, too.”
“The recording is just fine. You’ve got everything under control, don’t worry.” Laurie purses her lips, sitting down next to me. “Now, have you thought about how you are going to tell Enzo? Are you prepared to see him again?”
I open my mouth to respond, but I’m stumped.
“Exactly.” Laurie grins at me. “So? What will you do?”
“I’m hoping to let my instinct guide me for that part,” I mutter as my cheeks burn.