“Angelo and I started hanging out as friends, but we flirted a lot. I think we were both still dwelling on our grief so much that we couldn’t move forward. But that was what brought us together. Unless you’ve loved and lost, it’s hard to comprehend exactly how the other person feels.”
“I can’t imagine losing Joe,” she says quietly and looks down at her wineglass. “My world would end.”
“It feels like that for a long time, but somehow we keep breathing.”
“The man may be a total badass and cocky as hell, but he’s treated me like a queen since the day I met him. He didn’t care that I didn’t like to party and I wasn’t his usual type. For some reason, we clicked. God, he even saved my life. How can a girl walk away from a man after he saves her life?”
I gasp. “He did?”
She nods. “Some asshole attacked me in the parking lot of the biker bar. I thought Joe was going to kill him. After that, I knew he’d always protect me. No one had ever done anything even remotely close to that for me. I always only had myself. Not even my parents seemed to give a shit what happened to me.”
“The Gallos are very protective,” I say, knowing that much about Angelo. The man would take a bullet for me without even blinking.
“They are. Now here I am with three girls, an amazing husband, and a large family that’s like a small mob, none of which I planned. It’s funny how life works out sometimes.”
I don’t say anything as I sit next to her, sipping my wine, letting her words seep into my heart.
“What you’re feeling is normal,” she says like she’s reading my mind. “I just wanted to tell you that.”
“Thank you for sharing all that with me. I loved hearing about how you and Joe met and fell in love.”
“Izzy’s story is better.” She smirks, and her gaze goes to the window and Izzy. “James was Thomas’s best friend.”
My eyes widen. “Thomas was okay with that?”
Suzy shakes her head and twists her lips into a salacious smile. “Not at all. It all started at my wedding.”
“Wait, I think we need more wine,” I tell her and quickly stand. “Don’t move.”
Everyone’s so busy, no one seems to notice me as I run into the dining room, grab a bottle, and head back outside.
Suzy’s sitting on the swing, running her fingers through her long blond hair. She holds her glass up and says, “So Thomas sent James to our wedding because he was working so deep undercover, he couldn’t make it.”
“Okay,” I tell her as I fill her glass. “And?”
“I saw the spark as soon as they met. Izzy was Izzy and totally playing it off like she didn’t even like the guy. She can be rough sometimes, even on someone as tough as James.”
I pour the wine into my glass after I sit down and turn toward Suzy, ready to get the dirt. “Keep going.”
“She got totally shit-faced and ended up in his hotel room doing the nasty all night, and then she left without even saying goodbye. Just dropped the guy like a hot potato.”
“How did they get together again?”
“Izzy went to Bike Week and got in over her head. Thomas was there, still undercover, but somehow, he got a message to James and had Izzy arrested for drug possession.”
My mouth’s hanging open, but she continues.
“After she was arrested, James went to the station and decided to bring her home.”
“That’s all it took?”
Suzy laughs loudly, slapping her leg. “No way. James wasn’t going to play nice with her, so he handcuffed her to the bed all night and most of the way home.”
“He did not.” My eyes widen.
“Izzy was not amused.”
I suck my lips into my mouth, trying not to laugh because more than one person has turned their attention to the window, and I like our little Suzy and Tilly bubble. “So, what happened?”
