“No,” she said. “She’sactuallygoing to cook us something.”
He looked at Nazzareno. “You have an anti-food-poison remedy here?”
Nazzareno grinned and kissed my temple. “She is actually quite good.”
“Yeah.” I used my pointer finger and pushed on Luci’s shoulder a little. “You’re not going to be talking smack after you eat it. And besides, if you don’t believe me, wait until Neil and Andrea get here. They’re my proof of life. He and Andrea are still breathing after I fed them.”
Luci looked up and made praying hands. “A miracle.”
A knock came at the door—and Luci’s eyes came straight to mine.
“I can’t really believe it,” she whispered.
“Me either.”
The four of us moved toward the door again. Minnie stormed through us to get to it first. She asked who was there, and Sonny said very seriously, “Sonny and Bonny.” Minnie opened the door in a rush, and cold air surged inside.
Bonny was holding on to Sonny’s arm. I smiled, and I noticed Luci was smiling too. She’d spent time with him in Florida, and I knew it did them both good to clear the air like we’d done.
Sonny seemed like an entirely new person. His dark hair was cut in a nice haircut, he had grown a beard, and he was just…warm. He must have gotten a tan in Florida, but I thought it went deeper than that. His life was finally coming together. He wasn’t constantly being chased by the ghost of Janis Hickey.
For the first time since I was little, he looked…so content.
We talked every week, and the more we did, the more I loved him. Yeah, he was quiet, but I didn’t mind filling in the silence. He seemed to enjoy it. He even laughed when I’d tell him stories about living in Italy. I even told him about my Instagram and how I was going to start posting my travels and experiences there. I hadn’t had time to add to the first post yet, but I was aching to write again and share photos that complemented my words.
Minnie hit Sonny so hard he made an “ung” noise, but he held her against him, and I was pretty sure the three women watching melted—even in the cold. Then we all hugged, and Nazzareno and I gave him and Bonny another tour while Luci went back to the kitchen.
After that, it seemed like we all congregated there. Bonny put on an apron, and we all got to work, chatting as we cooked. The kitchen had plenty of space because I wanted it to be the biggest room in the house. The kitchen should be spacious, but the bedroom…I wanted to be squished in with my Gladiator husband.
Luci and I had decided to tell dad about his villa after we saw how much he seemed to like the idea of us being close.
It was time.
“Dad,” Luci said, and I could tell it still choked her up to call him that. Same for me.
He was looking up, hands on his hips, checking out the dark wooden beams on the ceiling. Nazzareno had been telling him something about them, and in between, Lilo was telling him about their villa. After the men stopped talking, he was still looking up, like he was contemplating something.
It took him a second, but he turned and looked at us.
The honor of the word “dad” seemed to choke him up, too, but it was all in his eyes. He couldn’t hide his feelings there.
“We love it here,” I said, “but we’re missing something.”
He looked around. “You could use a tall lamp over there.” He nodded to a dark corner.
Luci and I grinned.
“Maybe, but that’s not what we’re talking about,” Luci said.
His entire face seemed to pinch, and he looked at Bonny. She shrugged.
“We bought you a villa here, right down the street.” My chest tightened and I had to take a deep breath. “Minnie has one, too, for when she’s older. We want to be close to you, Dad. We need it.”
The villa seemed to have a pulse of its own, and after the words left my mouth, it seemed like we could hear it speed up, like it was nervous about his answer too.
“You didn’t have to do that.” His voice was strangled. “I have a place in New York.”
“We did,” Luci said. “The house in New York is yours, but not the small apartment. And the place here, it’sallyours. Lilo and Naz are going to help you redo it. We’ll pitch in. It’ll be nice.”
