My smile stays smooth, effortless, and practiced. “After the holidays.”
“Yeah,” she says and grins. “I can’t wait to see that place.”
Yeah, well…
“You didn’t have to wait around,” I tell Deacon as he pulls away from the curb.
“I was waiting for someone to help me carry all those books.” He jokes, because he didn’t let me carry a thing.
“I love that you bought two of each.”
“Three,” he corrects, “Mom and Dad are going to take a set back to Italy so they can read to her over video calls too.”
“What show did they see last night?” I ask because they haven’t been around much since Thanksgiving, and Claudia mentioned his mother loves theatre.
“Hamilton,” he chuckles.
“Again?” I gasp.
“They love it.”
“Heading back to The Bridgeview?” he asks.
I clear my throat, “I am.”
“You could stay with us, you know.”
“I adore you all. I’m just,” I shrug. “I’m?—”
“Didn’t mean to put you on the spot, just want you to be okay.” He chuckles. “I was going to say that you could stay with my folks, Claudia, and Savannah when we hit that long stretch out of town coming up, but didn’t want you to think you weren’t welcome now, too.”
“I appreciate it, but please don’t feel like you need to tap dance around me. I’ve always prided myself on my ability to read people and I know you, Deacon Moretti, are a good man.” God, I hope I’m not wrong about James and… “Oh my God.”
“Fuck, what is it?” He pumps the brakes, and the horns everywhere sound off.
“Shit, no, sorry.”
“Sofie?”
“Gaww, I heard something while Claudia was on a call that I probably shouldn’t have, and now I’m not sure even if it did mean something,” I admit.
“You’re good,” he says, but the way he squeezes the wheel tells me he’s not.
I exhale. “Can I tell you a secret?”
“You can.”
“My half-sisters are giant cunts, and not in the way people use the word now, thinking it’s cute. It’s not, and if they ever had to deal with a true cunt, they wouldn’t play with words like that.” I sigh. “I’m rambling.”
“Nah, you’re good.”
“They were both Tri Gams.”
His head tilts, just enough to tell me I struck a nerve.
“Claudia was talking to a doctor, hell, I don’t know.” I turn fully and face him. “See, I wasn’t trying to eavesdrop I?—”
“You’re good.” He glances over. “What school did they attend?”
