I’m momentarily sidetracked. My newfound concern for Liza’s well-being makes it so that I can’t stop myself from asking what he means by that.
“She’s still, you know, not in the best shape over my dad.” He shrugs and shoves his hands in his coat pocket. “They were really close, and it really affected her when he passed away.” He sighs and looks down at his feet. “I don’t think she’s really…been able to kind of…rebuild herself.”
I just stare at him for a second while we both process this information, and I realize that, by the looks of it, Liza isn’t the only Castelli sibling still struggling with their father’s death almost three years later, because I don’t think for one second that Vinny is only talking about his sister.
“Okay,” I say reluctantly. “I’ll stay away.”
He looks up and nods quietly before replying with, “Thanks, man.”
Vinny slaps me on the shoulder once and tells me to come inside and have dinner because his mother is making her famous butternut squash risotto, and I’m gonna love it.
I smile back, faking enthusiasm, absolutely gutted by my conversation with Vinny. He wasn’t just asking me to stay away and respect the bro code. He was asking me to stay away because he’s concerned about her, which is fair. But what he doesn’t know is that he’s just made it even more difficult now for me to stay away from Liza. I want to tell him that I know exactly what she’s going through because I went through it too. I want to tell him that Iwantto help her through this, Iwantto be there for her, Iwantto be her person, and that I know this just after spending one afternoon with her.
I should’ve fought harder. I should’ve told him that I’m not that guy anymore, that I haven’t been in a really long time. I want to tell him that, just likehe’schanged, so have I.
But he doesn’t really give me the chance, because Vinny turns and quickly makes his way back into the house through the front door, leaving me standing outside in the cold like an idiot.
I’m rattled by our conversation, but I take a deep breath, trying to calm my anger and frustration, and head back inside where my eyes immediately go to Liza who is playing on the couch with her nephew. She turns to look at me and smiles broadly. I can’t help myself; I smile back. I’m just automatically drawn to her, like a fucking magnet.
I make my way toward the couch, planning to sit next to her, fully aware that it might earn me an ass-kicking from Vinny, when Catterina walks through the door.
“Elisabetta,” she says with authority.
“Si?” Liza asks her mom, and they proceed to have a conversation in Italian.
Oh, God. She speaks Italian.
Now I’m even more attracted to her. She is so fucking sexy.
I suppress a groan.
“Can you watch him?” she interrupts the fantasies currently playing in my head of her naked with me on a terrace in Capri overlooking the Tyrrhenian Sea. Hearing Liza speak Italian makes me want to drink wine and eat prosciutto and pizza and make love all day every day.
“Huh?” I ask. She must think I’m slow.
“Can you watch him? Leo? I have to go help my mom with dinner.” She stares down at me with concern. “Hey, are you okay?”
“Yeah, sure.” I pull the kid toward me, but he hops off the couch and crawls toward the twins’ toy bin. “I’ll watch Leo. No problem.” I try to manage a smile, but I think I’ve been turned into goo.
“You okay?” she asks again in a low voice this time.
“Who isElisabetta?” I ask in a near-trancelike state.
Liza smirks. “That’s my name,” she laughs. “Elisabettais the ItalianElizabeth. Which is why people call me Liza.”
I try to unsuccessfully swallow the knot in my throat and force a smile. “Cool,” I say.
Cool?? COOL??
Something is seriously wrong with me.
“Uh, yeah, cool,” she chuckles and walks away, looking over her shoulder once before disappearing through the swinging door.
Elisabetta.
I fall back on the couch and groan, rubbing both hands down my face.
“I am royally fucked,” I mutter under my breath.
