I sighed again, this time longer, and Scarlett looked up from setting a pitcher of the fragrant drink on the table. Her eyes went back down, studying the glasses she was pouring into with a focus that was too hard for what she was doing. We hadn’t discussed what happened at the end of my birthday party with Luca, but I could tell she felt something.
Neither of us brought it up in front of the men. Even after they went outside to work on the shed, we mostly concentrated on the food, keeping our conversation light. We both knew the time was coming soon to discuss the heavy weight probably sitting on her chest—it was definitely sitting on mine.
I was thankful it was only the two of us, though. I didn’t want anyone else to know what was going on, unless they had a direct reason to be involved. The Fausti family was vast, but if my feelings were correct, this directly had to do with Maggie Beautiful and Luca. No other reason made sense, and only their direct circle should be privy to the information that, so far, Luca and Maggie Beautiful seemed to be keeping to themselves.
The feeling coming from my father-in-law…it had to do with her. Even if Maggie Beautiful was keeping a secret, I had a feeling Scarlett had already felt it. I wondered if she was not telling Brando—if she was as unsure as I was—or if she had. I wasn’t secure in my feelings enough to tell Rocco yet. I didn’t want to cause worry, or worse, if I shared my feelings and they were wrong.
Scarlett was concentrating so hard, the water overflowed, and she jumped back. “Shit! I didn’t even realize!”
“It’s all right. That’s what they make napkins for.”
She and I both went for a napkin at once, and our hands touched. She didn’t pull back, just blinked, and a sweet grin came to her face. Whatever she had just felt, she seemed to likeit. I hope that meant all would be well with Maggie Beautiful. But as quickly as the grin came, it faded, and I could tell she was pensive again.
“Why don’t you sit down.” I nodded to her chair. “I got this. I’m the hostess with the most-ess.” It was a lame joke that we both laughed at.
She tucked a strand of silver-accented hair behind her ear. “I feel like doing everything but nothing at once—does that even make sense?” She grinned as she took a seat.
While I set a few napkins over the spill, I nodded. “I’m feeling the same way.” Once the napkins had sucked up the liquid, I went into the kitchen to trash them.
Scarlett had both of our plates and glasses filled when I got back. I took the seat next to hers and all but plopped in it, sighing as I did. We both started to eat by unspoken agreement, but we both stopped when we realized we were just picking at our plates.
“This is really delicious, Ari.”
“Thank you,” I whispered. “But I’m feeling the same—I’m just eating to eat, maybe to give my hands something to do, but I’m not really hungry.”
“You picked up on that too?”
We locked eyes.
“I think we have more in common than our outfits today,” she whispered.
We’d laughed when she first arrived. We were both wearing identical loose, leopard-print jumpsuits, except she had paired hers with an oversized leather jacket and I’d paired mine with a cream-colored cardigan. Her short hair was done in big waves. I’d pulled my hair up on the sides.
“I think so too.” I sighed.
She took a small sip of her drink, and after she set it down, she rubbed her finger along the glass. “The last time MaggieBeautiful suspected she was sick, she didn’t tell anyone, at first. She told Luca, of course, but swore him to secrecy.”
She paused, then took an almost dramatic breath.
“Years ago, Luca expected me to tell him something, something about Maggie Beautiful’s health. At the time, I had no feelings either way. He did, though. He had a feeling. He just wanted me to confirm it.”
“If you didn’t?”
Her eyes studied mine. “That was best case scenario. If I had?”
“It would have been a fight—between Brando and his father.”
She nodded. “If I would’ve had bad news for him back then…I’m not sure the whole ‘don’t kill the messenger’ idiom would’ve worked for me. It’s the same as it was back then for me, though. I’m not sure what I’m feeling, except for anxious, and that could be because of a couple of things going on in the family.”
Since she was being so open and honest with me, I explained to her how Luca had come to me the night of my birthday party, and underneath the fireworks lighting up the night sky, I had seen how disheveled he’d looked, how I felt fear coming from him.
“Yeah,” she whispered. “Something’s not right.”
“Maggie Beautiful?” I asked. “Has she said anything?”
She shook her head. “She’ll keep it between them, unless she has to share. I think…well, I think Maggie Beautiful is of theif I don’t acknowledge it, it doesn’t existmindset. She thinks looking at it as a part of her life will give it power.”
“I can see that…I’m not sure how I’d take that kind of news either.” What she was possibly dealing with had everything over what I did with my money…but at one time, when money was low, it was the same mindset I’d had. If I didn’t see it, the being-broke problem didn’t exist.
