“If that’s for me, I am.” I reach out my hand for the coffee, and Pops nods. “Thank you.”
Ma is sitting at the dining room table, a bunch of lists and paperwork spread out. She’s taking this move more seriously than Eden is, but I don’t say a word. I kiss the top of her hair and realize that Ma’s whole life has been about her kids and the people she loves.
She never went to college, never worked outside the home. All the energy and intelligence she has, she gives away. Whether she’s volunteering at the animal shelter, babysitting her grandkids, or pounding on my door at an ungodly early hour of the morning, Lucia Bianchi is a force to be reckoned with. Glittery nails and all.
I wrap the arm that’s not holding the coffee around her neck and bend down toward her ear. “You’re a fucking angel, you know that?”
Ma looks up at me in surprise, her pretty eyes heavy with mascara and liner. My words seem to hit her, and I can see every emotion cross her face. “Vito, language.” She playfully swats at me, then blows a kiss at my father. “Don’t dillydally,” she reminds us.
“Oh, I’m going to dilly, baby.” Pops is putting on a pair of work boots by the front door. “But I promise not to let V dally.”
He grabs his keys, and I slide my feet into my running shoes and follow Pops out the front door. His truck’s parked in the driveway, which means he probably cleaned it and gassed up even earlier this morning. Even though he’s retired, he still gets up early, takes care of his truck like it’s one of his kids, and never, ever complains, no matter what wild-goose chase Ma sends him on.
I buckle in and drink the scalding-hot coffee with cream and sugar, just the way I like it. “This is good, Pops. Thanks.”
My dad nods, but I’m feeling shit today, so I got to say something more.
“How do you know exactly how I like my coffee?” I ask.
Pops shrugs. “Son, don’t take this the wrong way, but you’ve been living under my roof long enough, I’d have to be a dead man not to pick up on some of your habits.”
He cracks himself up and I grin, but then he grows serious. “You know how I take my coffee,” he reasons. “It’s what families do. We pay attention to the small shit.”
That gets me thinking.
I didn’t notice Ma’s new nails. Maybe it’s because she’s my mother, or maybe it’s because she gets her nails done so often I can’t keep up. Maybe I take a lot of things for granted. That question’s got me feeling hot and uncomfortable.
“Was it hard?” I ask, swallowing a perfect sip of coffee. “Raising four of us? Ma always made it look so easy.”
Pops chuckles. “I’m glad you think she did,” he says. “But hell yeah, it was hard. But worth every second of the work. And that’s what it is, kiddo. Work. But it’s the best job on the planet if you’ve got people you love to do it with.”
“What about work? Did Ma ever think about working outside the home? I never felt like we were struggling for money, but raising four kids… That shit ain’t cheap.”
Pops nods. “I could have moved up into management if I’d just had that stupid piece of paper.” He shrugs. “I could have gone to school at night, but your mother and I decided I’d rather make less and be around more.” He takes his eyes off the road for a split second to meet my eyes. “I sometimes worry we should have pushed you kids harder on the college thing. I always assumed my kids would go, but I was no help in that department.”
“You did more than enough,” I tell him, and it’s true.
My parents cooked, kept a safe home, and never once let us worry about things that we had no business worrying about.
I grew up totally unlike Eden did, and while I’ve always appreciated my family and my upbringing, I’m starting to think I never really got how much having these two people as my parents made my life what it is.
It’s a life I love, and no matter how lost I feel at times, with Mario and Lucia behind me, my siblings beside me, I can look to the future and know I can handle whatever I set my mind to.
I just have to make up my mind.
“So, Pops,” I say, “what do you think about stopping for breakfast after we get Ma’s boxes? My treat.”
My dad shoots me a look. “Double bacon breakfast sandwiches, and you got a deal.”
I lean back in the passenger seat and finish off the coffee my pops made. “You got a deal.”
Some decisions in my life have been hard, but I think one just got a lot easier.
10
EDEN
“Eden?”
