I swallowed hard, catching a glimpse of myself in the window as I stared at the dissipating trees as Gabrielle took the corner, our endless rows of grapevines coming into view.I was nervous to see Tommaso again, and had no idea what I’d say to him, or how I’d even start the conversation.
One thing I knew for sure though, was that no man had ever made me feel the way he did just by walking into a room, and as terrified as I was to see him again, it was also something I couldn’t wait to do.
How messed up was that?
CHAPTER THREE
Tommaso
Iwasjustfinishingup the breakfast dishes when there was a knock at the door.
Portia grunted and trotted on her trotters from her princess bed in front of the fireplace to the front door.
“Who is it, darling?”I asked her in Italian.
Drying my hands on the tea towel, I met her at the door, peering out the window on the side onto the front porch to see a man in a suit with a manila envelope in his hand.The man appeared to have a stick lodged up his backside.Proverbially, anyway.
I had a suspicion about what this was about and let out a deep sigh.“I wish you were an aggressive attack dog sometimes, little chop,” I said to my pet pig in Italian.“That way you could bite his ankles and chase him off the property.”
Portia grunted and glanced up at me, impatiently waiting for me to open the door.Unlike me, who preferred to be left alone, my pig loved people—and entertaining.
I sighed again and opened the door.
“Tomasso Barone?”the young man, who couldn’t be more than thirty, asked as the morning sun glinted off his heavily-gelled black hair.
All I did was lift my eyebrows in response.
He thrust out the envelope.
“I’m here on behalf of Jansen, Johnson, and Jamieson Attorneys at Law.We represent Vincent Corcan.”
I didn’t move a muscle.The envelope remained between us, his arm up.Then he glanced down at my feet, where Portia stood, grunting and wagging her tail.
“Is that a … is that a pig?”
Half a dozen smart-ass remarks landed like a splash of good Italian wine on my tongue, but I swallowed them down and simply held my hand down at my hip for Portia to stay where she was.
I could tell she wasn’t happy about it, but my girl was a well-behaved pig and never went against my orders.
The blue-eyed kid shifted uncomfortably, cleared his throat, lifted his gaze from Portia, and more forcefully thrust the envelope toward me.“Mr.Corcan is filing a petition for land acquisition, stating that the land on which you currently reside rightfully belongs to him and his mother.”
I nodded slowly.“Mm-hmm.”
I enjoyed watching the man-child squirm.He wasn’t expecting this from me, and I certainly wasn’t going to make it easy for him.Sure, he was just doing his job, but it wasn’t my job or responsibility to make his job easy.
He shook the envelope again, his eyes turning almost pleading, like he just wanted me to take the damn thing so he could tick “complete” on his to-do list and get the hell off the island.
A soft whimper fled his throat, but he masked it with a quick grunt.“Please, just take this.You can obviously hire your own lawyer to fight it or whatever.I’m just the messenger.”
“You know what you’re giving me, right?”I asked.
His shoulders jostled a little in a half-assed shrug.“Petition for land acquisition.”
“This land legally belongs to my son.My late wife’s parents owned this land.Then, my wife died, so the land passed toherson.Myson.And while he does not live here, because he is living his very best life in Milan doing what he loves with the man he loves,Ihave a right to be here.He has allowed me to live here and fulfill his mother’s dream of running a safe place for animals to live out their final days in peace.So, Mr.Corcan may think that he and his mother—the sister of my late father-in-law—are entitled to this land, but they are not.It belongs to my son.”
The kid’s cheeks took on some color, and the softening in his eyes told me he actually now felt a little guilty about what he was doing to me.“I … I’m just the messenger,” he repeated.“I’m just a first-year law associate doing what I was told to do.For what it’s worth, I hope you fight him and win.”
I could tell he meant what he said.So I finally put him out of his misery and took the envelope from his hand, jerking my chin toward the silver Hyundai sedan parked on the gravel in front of my farmhouse.
