“You have to ask him, kid.”
“Put him on the phone.”
“Okay,” he said, “I’ll find him.”
I heard Mitch walking around, every so often he would breathe hard, and then he said, “Here. For you.”
Before Brando could even finish his greeting, I cut him off. “You’re not coming home.”
He didn’t answer right away. Instead, he breathed deep a few times. I couldn’t see him, but I knew he had taken a seat, and he was probably rubbing the bridge of his nose.
“They need me. I figured you’d be busy.”
They need me, but what about me? I wanted to say the words, I wanted to scream them at him, but I didn’t want to guilt him. Not liked I used to.
“What’s that supposed to mean, Brando?”
“You’ve been distracted lately.”
“I have, but that doesn’t mean I don’t want to see you.”
“Are you sure about that,bella?” He saidbellathe same exact way as Rocco had.
“Don’t call me that.”
“I’m not allowed.”
No, because that’s not what you call me.
Maggie Beautiful’s insinuations about me having an affair prickled the hairs on my neck. How could he even...assume? I bit my lip, tasting blood in my mouth.
I remembered when we were in Paris and he refused to dignify my questions about his loyalty with an answer. I thought it only fair I repay the favor. I decided to change tactics.
“Is it my hair, Brando? Is that what this is about?”
“No. But there’s something I should have told you. You’re beautiful, no matter what you do to your hair.”
Oh God, the regret in his voice, the sudden sadness, the only glimpse I knew he was going to give me into his mind and heart.
“Don’t feel bad,bella,” he said, the hardness in place again. “I’ll be home. Soon.”
I fought the temptation to cry, to give in to him and beg him to come home, to swear on my life that I only loved him, only could love him, that I hadn’t done him wrong, but I had my pride too. Little wonder it was a deadly sin—theworst.
Instead, I sucked the sadness in, and then released a taste of it on a trembled breath. “I understand,” I said, my voice even. “If you have to work, you have to work. It was just a surprise. I’ll be here when you’re…ready to come home. I’ll talk to you soon. I love you.”
I forced myself to disconnect.
Chapter Nine
Scarlett
Two weeks had passed. Two weeks that served to only grate on my tender nerves. The more my thoughts drifted toward Brando, the more agitated I became, until finally, I forced myself to find an outlet.
The outlet turned out to be the garden behind the villa.
The day was a hot one, more like scalding, and it was welcomed with open arms. I threw on a halter-top, jeans shorts, a floppy hat, and boots, and then got to work. In one of the two stone barns, one of the workers had found a tool that seemed to be the Italian cousin of a land tiller. It seemed older than Maggie Beautiful and I combined, but it was as sharp as new. I also found a wicked-looking sickle that made me grin.
Lifting the blade like a maniac, I let loose with as much vigor as could be mustered. It sliced right through the thick weeds without much effort. But I kept it up at a pace that had me breathing heavy and sweating like I had been rained on.
