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Benito: Make sure you ask him.
Me: Yeah, I know, Benny.
Benito: Don’t Benny me. Be there soon.
I took a cup of coffee to my room and waited for him to arrive. When I got a text saying he was waiting out front, I hopped up and headed downstairs, only to find Luca and Isabel still preoccupied. It’d been a good twenty minutes, at least. I hesitated. I couldn’t stay here for another second, but the thought of confronting either of them made my stomach dip.
I found a piece of paper and wrote a quick note that Benito had picked me up and I was going home for a couple hours. My hand faltered on the word home. I didn’t believe I thought of my parents’ as home anymore, but today the last place home felt like was here.
I left through the front door since Benito waited on the street, but that wasn’t only it. I didn’t want to use the back door in case Luca would hear. An awareness itched in a corner of my mind that he might not let me leave, and that wasn’t an option. My heart beat with uncertainty as I let the screen door shut with a quiet click.
I climbed into the passenger seat.
Benito was sending a text, probably to some unlucky lady. He was a sight for sore eyes, and for some annoying reason tears began to well.
“I gotta tell you about this one, Elena,” he said, tossing his phone in the center console. “Blonde, tall . . . and these legs. Damn.” He made a circle with his thumb and forefinger in the “perfect” sign and looked over at me. His hand dropped, and his expression darkened. “What did that asshole do?”
“Nothing.” I shook my head, wiping my eyes. “I’m just being a stupid girl.”
His gaze narrowed. “Elena.”
I threw myself at him, wrapping my arms around his neck. He smelled like hundred-dollar hair gel and his signature cologne. “I don’t know how you get any women with how much cologne you wear. Could smell you from a mile away.”
He hugged me back. “Makes them come in droves.”
“Thanks for picking me up.”
His arms tightened around me. “If he hurts you, you’ll tell me.”
It wasn’t a question, though it felt like one. We both knew there was nothing he could do if it came down to that. Nobody meddled with a man’s wife or relationship in the Cosa Nostra. It wasn’t anyone’s business, regardless if he was abusive.
“I’ll tell you, but he hasn’t.” I pulled back and put my seatbelt on.
“So, what is this?” He wiped a tear off my cheek with a thumb. “Period shit? Aunt Flo in town?”
I laughed. “I missed you.”
“Missed you too, cuz. Let’s go home.”
Home.
It didn’t feel right when he said it either.
“If the Sun and Moon should ever doubt, they’d immediately go out.”
—William Blake
THE GRANDFATHER CLOCK’S TICKS AND tocks filled the silent room.
Mamma took a sip of wine and stared at me.
Nonna sat on the adjacent couch, watching me like she knew I’d had mind-blowing, premarital sex last night.
I flushed.
She smiled like a cat.
“Have some fruit salad, Elena.” Mamma set down her wine glass to push a plate across the coffee table. “I just made it last night.”