“We reached an amicable agreement,” I say quietly. “I want to raise my daughter on my own. I didn’t want to raise her in Los Angeles. It’s better for all of us this way.”
The answer is close to the truth of the situation. Close enough, but I still get a very sad look from Lucia and a shade of stink-eye from Aunt Sassy.
My aunt frowns. “Well, that asshole doesn’t know what he’s missing out on.”
“Ma, seriously. You going to ground Sassy for that kind of language?”
I look up from my perch on the floor to see Vito leaning against the living room doorway.
And sweet Jesus…somehow, he looks even better than he did earlier.
“V, baby, I didn’t even hear you come in. You hungry? We got loads of leftovers. Let me make you a plate.” Lucia jumps up before he can accept. She passes by him, and he gives her a kiss as she heads to the kitchen.
Then he strolls past me and takes Lucia’s seat next to my aunt on the couch. “You know she wouldn’t listen if I told her no,” he says, grinning at my aunt. “So, who’s the asshole?”
Sassy shakes her head and frowns. “Nobody that matters, that’s for sure.”
“Fair enough,” Vito says. He kicks up his feet and shares the ottoman with my aunt. The gesture is so comfortable, so familiar. I can’t believe this is the life my aunt’s lived all these years. A pang of longing hits me deep in my chest, and I do what I always do now when the hard feelings close in. I shake them off.
I crawl over to Junie’s diaper bag and pull out her favorite toy, a little fabric book with large felt pieces that can be stuck to the pages of the book. I focus on my daughter but address my question to Vito.
“So, uh, how was your meeting?” I settle Junie in my lap and cross my legs to form a chair for her little body. She tears the fabric teddy bear and carrots and cars off the book and then sticks them back on in different places. I avoid making eye contact as I ask the question, but I peek up at him as he answers.
“Good, I guess.” He’s quiet, his full lips pressed together. He studies my face, and for a moment, I feel like he’s going to say more, but then he just says, “Thanks for asking.”
I fix my attention on Junie while Lucia comes back in with a plate of food for Vito. “Oh honey, I didn’t grab you anything to drink. What do you want?”
Vito takes the plate from his mom and motions to the couch. “Ma, sit. I’ll get myself a water. Take a load off, will you? You’ve been running all day. Hang with your friends.”
He takes his plate and wanders off toward the kitchen. I can’t even help myself. As he passes by, I check out his ass.
And man, that was the wrong thing to do. It’s a really, really nice ass.
I drag my eyes away just as Sassy and Lucia settle in for their next pointed question.
“So, Eden,” Lucia asks. She rubs her hands together gleefully while Sassy rolls her eyes and groans. “What kind of dog are you thinking?”
I chuckle and kiss the top of my daughter’s head.
Welcome to Star Falls.
I have a feeling I’m going to like living in a small town a lot more than I ever dreamed was possible.
3
VITO
The one badthing about living in a small town is sometimes you have to go far outside your comfort zone.
One thing that was never in my comfort zone was school—specifically, college. But ever since our meeting last week, the words of my chief keep echoing in my ears.
I’m a firefighter. Been a firefighter since I was twenty. I toyed around with a bunch of jobs—some I liked and a few I even liked a lot. And I admit there were a few I got fired from, but shit, I was a kid back then.
What I always knew was that I was not cut out for college. Nobody in my family went to college. Gracie is a self-taught artist who started tattooing right out of high school. Franco’s a mechanic. Benito did go to culinary school, but that’s a totally different type of learning. I mean, there’s no math required in culinary school—at least not as far as my brother said. Kitchen math, sure, like measuring, budgets, and shit. But the kind of stuff that put me to sleep in high school? Algebra and whatnot… I just couldn’t see spending four years and a load of money to learn stuff I’d never use in my life.
When I met with the chief, I asked him point-blank about my future. Fourteen years with the department. Excellent reviews and commendations. But I’m the only one who hasn’t been promoted. Last month, I applied for two jobs—captain in a city department about an hour away from Star Falls and inspector here in town.
I didn’t get either.
