Eunice shook her head, her lips pinched. “I’ve already told you. No.” She set a pot she had filled with water on the stove, putting distance between her and Charlotte.
“No?” Charlotte repeated, as if she had never heard the word.
“We will pay you triple,” Travis said, not looking up.
“Triple.” Charlotte agreed with a bob of her head.
“No,” Eunice said simply.
“Then you are fired! You will never work for my family again.”
Eunice looked at me.
“You live with us,” I said, my hand on the door. “You’ve already picked out your room. It’s a done deal.”
Eunice visibly relaxed. Charlotte turned to me, mouth open, but I shut the door before she could get started.
I met Tito on his voyage around the property, the two of us pointing out areas with the most damage. A cypress had fallen over, blocking the driveway. It would need to be hacked into smaller sections and moved.
Rocco, Dario, Romeo, and Donato met us while we discussed the best course of action to get it all done. Donato recommended that we should get the men to come out and help. The property was vast.
Romeo rubbed his bottom lip, listening, and the motion was so second nature that he became nothing but a reflection of me. Rocco’s face held the same concentrated look. Dario’s too. Goosebumps rose on my arms. For the first time, I felt as though I looked at three versions of myself. I was pretty sure this was what an out-of-body experience felt like.
We stood the same way. Legs apart, one arm crossed over the chest, holding the other arm, which steadied our chins, thumb absentmindedly stroking the bottom lip. The only difference I caught—apart from the color of Rocco’s eyes—was our hair. All raven black, but cut in distinct ways. Rocco’s hair was thick and swirled to the side with pomade. Dario’s was cut shorter all around. Romeo had a low pompadour that swept like Rocco’s. My hair was shorter on the sides, a long strip down the middle—an undercut.
Our hair being different had kept me from noticing the similarities before. Since all of our heads were covered in beanies, the resemblance was shocking. Down to the sharp slope of our chins, we were almost identical.
Or maybe I took notice because I searched for the connection. When I slept, sometimes I had dreams of Matteo, a faceless, warm shape in my mind. Though I couldn’t see him, some instinct knew that he was my son.
Tito quieted, a thoughtful look coming over his face. Donato wore a matching expression as they gazed into the distance. But the four of us stared at each other, the light that seemed to go off in my head bright enough to attract notice.
“I didn’t see it before,” I said.
“Néme,” Rocco agreed.
“We are brothers,” Dario said logically.
“I am still the hottest,” Romeo said, grinning.
Out of the three of us, he looked in the mirror the most. If he knew there was one close by, he passed it, ruffling up his hair and smirking at himself.
“Now that we have had this greataha!moment, can we move on?” Tito said, throwing an impatient hand toward the distant hillocks. “We have work to do!”
Boots sank and squelched in the mud. Previously fallen snow had softened the earth when it melted, and the storm eroded it even further, making gullies and ditches where none had existed before.
Donato called me when I was on my way to the small stone building we used to house all the outside equipment. He asked me to walk with him. We stopped when we came to the garden below our bedroom window.
“Scarlett—ah—keeps looking for you. She comes here to see. I thought you should know.”
“Grazie, Donato.” I patted him on the shoulder and he nodded, moving toward more of the mess to give me space.
I ran my finger up and down the bare stem of a rose bush. A thorn caught my flesh, and a bubble of blood rose from my skin. I put it to my mouth, tasting iron, dirt, and rainwater.
Where are you, baby?Not but a few seconds later, I saw her. “There you are,” I said to myself.
She came to stand by the window, a thin, fragile shape, putting a hand to the glass. Seeing me, she took a step back but then came forward again. I lifted a hand to her, palm facing upward.Come. Come to me.
The weather was cold, but if she bundled up, the fresh air would do her some good. Sober her head from all of the pills.
