It took no time for me to throw on some warm clothes and stuff my feet into boots and my shoulders into a jacket. I threw a beanie over my wild hair.
“Scarlett—”
“Brando—”
We collided. I had to grab her arms before she was propelled backward down the steps. Her fingers dug into my arms.
“I nearly forgot to tell you,” she said, almost out of breath. The near fall had her heart close to her rib cage. I could almost hear the thundering of it. “Violet will be over in a bit. I can’t stay, but I want you to watch it. We’ll watch it together later. And are you sure you can’t tell me where we’re going tonight?”
She rushed the last part out, already turning to head for the door. I took easy steps behind her. Eunice sent me a wave and then shoved a cup of coffee in my hand.
“Violet has a surprise for me?” I said.
My wife halted by the door in the vestibule. The day was cold, but the light was fierce, sending its shocking fingers through the beveled glass, highlighting her auburn hair and her green eyes. They were fucking unreal in this light. I stuck my Ray-Bans on. She did the same with hers and then wrapped a scarf around her neck.
“Yes,” she said, her voice almost quiet.
“Scarlett,” I warned.
“It’s something for our anniversary!”
I grunted and she kissed me.
“Just for today, all right?” she said.
“I hate fucking surprises—”
“I know,I know, when it comes to me,” she said.
“Who else?”
“I’m going to be soeffinglate!”
* * *
She was late, but notsoeffing late. I had rushed her to practice, but I took my time on the way home. Our neighborhood was quiet, almost a separate entity from the city that never sleeps.
Out of all the places Scarlett could’ve chosen for us to live—Manhattan, one of them—I liked that she had chosen for us to live in Brooklyn. We were separate from the city, but still connected.
The Park Slope Historic District was full of those old-time brownstones. Any work done on them had to be approved by the LPC so that all the elements that made these buildings historic stayed intact.
Since we moved in after renovations, all of the red tape had been bypassed, but Scarlett took it and made it ours. It wasn’t our central home, but I looked forward to coming home when we were away. It was comfortable, stable even.
After Scarlett had found my brothers in Italy, it soon became apparent that I wasn’t going to lose them. We became a cluster, and it made no difference where I went. They followed.
Rocco, Dario, Romeo, and Donato all bought homes in the same area. Scarlett and I fronted Mitch, Mick, and Violet the money for their own. And I backed Mick up in getting a garage opened. He only catered to high-priced vehicles. He was damn good at it, too. We all lived within a one-block radius of each other.
If it wasn’t our place where we gathered, it was another, a built-in party on the ready. We had dinners and spent holidays together. The kids were growing up together, getting their pictures taken on the stoops on Halloween.
Yeah,you were right all alongsometimes felt more likeyou are right all of the time, but I needed to keep her head a normal size, not inflate it to the point of liftoff.
I missed the woman already.
As I stood in front of our cream-colored brownstone, its stoop almost mauve in this light, the thought gave me pause. Voices echoed from the inside—the house was fully awake and ready to begin the day.
Snow fell onto my glasses as I mentally tallied our entire place from top to bottom.
The fourth floor had three bedrooms and a couple of bathrooms. The third floor was ours and consisted of the master suite and bathroom, along with an office and walk-in closet that rivaled a bedroom.
