Page 103 of Anyone But You

Lorena shrugged casually. “She’s deceased; therefore, we don’t speak.”

“I mean… hell yeah. Continue.”

“Rocco thought making an honest living was beneath him and became mob-affiliated.”

“Say less. You live by the streets; you die by the streets.”

“That’s a lovely way of putting it, Victoria,” she said, patting the back of my hand. At one point, I had pulled up a chair and we had cracked open a bottle of wine while trading stories.

“So, tell me about you and Mr. Ramsey.”

“I met my late husband at a pizzeria. He could make one hell of a pie.”

This explains so much….

“I remember walking into the shop after the funerals, and he was doing the tricks with the dough, twirling and tossing it above his head. He took one look at me and forgot to catch the dough. It fell on his head, and I couldn’t stop laughing. He was as red as a tomato when he finally got himself out of that mess. He apologized and said that it’d never happened to him before. I said, ‘What? Dropping dough on your head?’ He said, ‘No. A woman’s never taken my breath away like that before.’”

I wiped away a stray tear.

Why the fuck am I crying?

Lorena sighed and reclined in her chair.

“Dante was a beautiful man inside and out, and we shared many wonderful years together. He always made me laugh, and he had a penchant for mischief. There wasn’t a serious bone in the man’s body.”

That’s peculiar because the way Knox tells it, his dad had his foot on his neck. But, then again, at Knox’s big age, he still needs a foot on his neck.

“Dante was a little strict with Knox because that boy always found himself in the most absurd predicaments.”

“Like battling it out with a crackhead outside a bodega?”

My mother-in-law threw her head back and laughed. “I didn’t want to believe the story when he told me. I thought he was telling a little white lie. A few days later, I walk to the bodega and see the woman on my son’s bike. Gio’s bike was very distinguishable with the embellishments he put on it. Plus, I’d seen that bike in the middle of the damn driveway so many times that it was imprinted in my mind.

“Did you get the bike back?” I asked excitedly.

“Of course, I got it back. We weren’t wealthy, and we couldn’t afford to replace his bike at the drop of a dime. Plus, we needed Gio to have a bike because he needed to burn off all that energy. I fought that woman for my child’s bike. I was losing badly untilI found a steel pipe in that alley. I gave her all I had,” she boasted pridefully. “I returned home before Knox came home from school and pulled myself together. I had to put makeup on because that bike thief gave me two black eyes.”

I snickered.

“Damn. Not y’all both getting your asses kicked.”

She smiled genuinely. “I didn’t mind. I’d do whatever I could to protect my son. That’s why I took—” She paused and swallowed around a lump in her throat. “I didn’t handle the Naomi situation well. I was so excited that this woman who seemed perfect for my son appeared in our lives, but I was so blinded that I failed to protect him and led him to the lion’s den.”

“You have to let that go, Lorena. The important thing is that you’re here now, and you’re willing to make me pasta a minimum of twice a week.”

She smiled widely before saying, “I think I can manage that, but may I ask you a question?”

“Sure.”

“You’re not with my son for the money; I can accept that, but why are you with him?”

I chewed my bottom lip and thought of the most poetic way to tell her I loved her son.

“No, I’m not with Knox for the money. I’d still be with him if he only had two seashells to rub together because even on the worst day of my life, when we were stranded thousands of miles from home, Knox made me feel like a millionaire. He made a hut feel like a mansion and a turtle feel like a feast fit for a king. I’ll be honest, Lorena, I despised your son before the island, but I fell in love with him because he’s the most selfless, caring, and capable man I know. I suspect he was all that before the crash, and the island drew it out of him. I love him more with each day, and let’s face it, Giovanni is the only one who can handle Tori Montana.”

32

Jailbirds