many people to feed tonight.”
Her hand stopped mid-stir. Did he say tonight? As in tonight?
“What people?”
“The family, of course.”
Eight
“T hey come the last Friday of every month,” Nonno told Lucy.
And it was indeed the last Friday of the month. Her heart sank. “So, I’m making dinner for your entire family?”
Nonno nodded.
Aw, hell. She knew Tony ate at his grandfather’s the last Friday of every month, but she hadn’t made the connection.
Suddenly she wasn’t all that hungry anymore. Even worse, what food she did have in her stomach wanted to come back up for a visit.
“I need to rest,” Nonno said, rising slowly from the stool, appearing a little unsteady on his feet. “When I wake up, we’ll do the salad.”
Meaning he expected her to stay. Well, crap. What was she supposed to do now? He’d been so nice to her today. It would be rude not to stick around, but to meet the entire enormous family in one night? Why didn’t he just toss her into a cage with a pack of hungry wolves, or a tank of bloodthirsty piranha?
Either way she would be ripped to shreds.
“Walk with me,” Nonno said, taking her arm to steady himself. As they walked slowly through the kitchen to the elevator, she thought about his story, and the way he’d followed his beloved Angelica around the world. It tugged at her heartstrings, and at the same time made her inexplicably sad. She could only wish that someday someone would love her so completely that he would move heaven and earth to be with her.
“You were right,” she said, the words coming out of her mouth before she had even decided to say them. “I left hoping that Tony would follow me. He didn’t.”
It stung to admit that. To leave herself so vulnerable. For the first time in her life she had let herself wish for something. Something big. Unconditional love.
She should have known better.
Nonno gave her arm a reassuring squeeze as they stepped in the elevator and the doors rolled closed.
“I wasn’t supposed to fall in love with him,” she said, feeling as if she should explain. So he would understand why someone like her would get her hopes up about a guy like his grandson. “I didn’t think I even knew how to love someone. Then bam, there it was. And he didn’t love me back. How’s that for irony.”
“You told him this? That you love him?”
“Absolutely not. It would be too humiliating.”
He looked confused. “Because you assume that he doesn’t love you?”
“It seems like a pretty safe bet.”
“Ah, but mind reading is tricky business.”
“Mind reading?”
“Isn’t that what you’re doing? How can Tony know how you feel if you don’t tell him?”
Because what she felt didn’t matter. “Didn’t Tony tell you that he and I are just friends with benefits? It doesn’t get much clearer than that. That’s all it ever was to him. All it was ever supposed to be. It’s not his fault that I blew it. That I broke the rules.”
“But your feelings changed. Couldn’t they could have changed for him as well?”
Why was he pushing so hard about this? “Did Tony say something to you?”
A vague smile pulled at his tired eyes. “Tony says many things to me.”
She wasn’t sure how to take that. The door opened and he let go of her arm to step off the elevator. She expected him to turn and say something else, but he walked into his room directly across the hall and closed the door.
What the heck had he been trying to say to her?
She took the stairs down, calling Tony to see if he could drive her home to change. In black leggings and a long sweater, she wasn’t exactly dressed for dinner. He didn’t answer, so she left a message. She hoped it was casual Friday.
She stepped back into the kitchen, and was startled by the male figure hunched over the pot of sauce until she realized it was Tony. He had incredible timing.
“Hey, I just called you,” she said.
He turned, rising to his full height, and only then did
Her hand stopped mid-stir. Did he say tonight? As in tonight?
“What people?”
“The family, of course.”
Eight
“T hey come the last Friday of every month,” Nonno told Lucy.
And it was indeed the last Friday of the month. Her heart sank. “So, I’m making dinner for your entire family?”
Nonno nodded.
Aw, hell. She knew Tony ate at his grandfather’s the last Friday of every month, but she hadn’t made the connection.
Suddenly she wasn’t all that hungry anymore. Even worse, what food she did have in her stomach wanted to come back up for a visit.
“I need to rest,” Nonno said, rising slowly from the stool, appearing a little unsteady on his feet. “When I wake up, we’ll do the salad.”
Meaning he expected her to stay. Well, crap. What was she supposed to do now? He’d been so nice to her today. It would be rude not to stick around, but to meet the entire enormous family in one night? Why didn’t he just toss her into a cage with a pack of hungry wolves, or a tank of bloodthirsty piranha?
Either way she would be ripped to shreds.
“Walk with me,” Nonno said, taking her arm to steady himself. As they walked slowly through the kitchen to the elevator, she thought about his story, and the way he’d followed his beloved Angelica around the world. It tugged at her heartstrings, and at the same time made her inexplicably sad. She could only wish that someday someone would love her so completely that he would move heaven and earth to be with her.
“You were right,” she said, the words coming out of her mouth before she had even decided to say them. “I left hoping that Tony would follow me. He didn’t.”
It stung to admit that. To leave herself so vulnerable. For the first time in her life she had let herself wish for something. Something big. Unconditional love.
She should have known better.
Nonno gave her arm a reassuring squeeze as they stepped in the elevator and the doors rolled closed.
“I wasn’t supposed to fall in love with him,” she said, feeling as if she should explain. So he would understand why someone like her would get her hopes up about a guy like his grandson. “I didn’t think I even knew how to love someone. Then bam, there it was. And he didn’t love me back. How’s that for irony.”
“You told him this? That you love him?”
“Absolutely not. It would be too humiliating.”
He looked confused. “Because you assume that he doesn’t love you?”
“It seems like a pretty safe bet.”
“Ah, but mind reading is tricky business.”
“Mind reading?”
“Isn’t that what you’re doing? How can Tony know how you feel if you don’t tell him?”
Because what she felt didn’t matter. “Didn’t Tony tell you that he and I are just friends with benefits? It doesn’t get much clearer than that. That’s all it ever was to him. All it was ever supposed to be. It’s not his fault that I blew it. That I broke the rules.”
“But your feelings changed. Couldn’t they could have changed for him as well?”
Why was he pushing so hard about this? “Did Tony say something to you?”
A vague smile pulled at his tired eyes. “Tony says many things to me.”
She wasn’t sure how to take that. The door opened and he let go of her arm to step off the elevator. She expected him to turn and say something else, but he walked into his room directly across the hall and closed the door.
What the heck had he been trying to say to her?
She took the stairs down, calling Tony to see if he could drive her home to change. In black leggings and a long sweater, she wasn’t exactly dressed for dinner. He didn’t answer, so she left a message. She hoped it was casual Friday.
She stepped back into the kitchen, and was startled by the male figure hunched over the pot of sauce until she realized it was Tony. He had incredible timing.
“Hey, I just called you,” she said.
He turned, rising to his full height, and only then did
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