Then he pushed a finger inside.
“Ihaven’t fucked you yet.”
Sweat oozed from her pores, trickling down her chest in rivulets to pool inside the cups of her bra. It dripped into her eyes and tickled her scalp, making it itch. She wished she could scratch it, but hunched over a vat of bubbling oil, fryingzeppole, she’d just have to ignore it.
Drop. Drain. Sprinkle. Bag.
On auto-pilot, after waking at four o’clock this morning to prepare enough dough for a thousand orders of the traditional festival sweet, though monotonous, her task was at least mercifully simple. It was a good thing Gina didn’t have to focus on it too much, because her mind kept drifting elsewhere.
Just a few more hours…
Lina was due to relieve her at four. Two hours to wash away sweat caked with powdered sugar and peanut oil was plenty of time, wasn’t it? It had to be. The concert started at eight. Her plan was to meet Matt by six. Anticipation thrummed through her veins, and that alone kept her going under the cover of Rossi’s tent on First Avenue as she toiled in this dreadful summer heat. Gina glanced up, and catching sight of Katie serving iced lattes from Beanie’s open-air booth across the street, she waved.
Coming toward her, a striking blonde couple wheeled a baby along the avenue. Gina recognized them and came out of the stall to peer inside the stroller.
My Christmas Eve delivery.
She’d never forget it. While all births are beautiful, this one was especially so. The expectant father was so loving and attentive to his wife as she labored with their first child, and with the baby presenting posterior, it was a difficult one. Gina loved it when a new dad was comfortable enough to show his emotions. So many men are afraid to. They hold them back, as if displaying their feelings somehow makes them appear weak. Quite the contrary. It takes a confident man to let his tears flow, and this man shed bucketfuls.
“Oh, wow! She’s gotten so big,” Gina exclaimed and hugged her former patient. What was her name again? She recalled it as being unique and pretty.Linnea, I think.“You look fantastic! How are you?”
“Good.” Smiling, the new mom nodded. “I’m good. You remember Dillon?”
“Yeah.”
But he wasn’t listening. “Hey, Nick. How’s it goin’, man?”
“You know my brother?”
“Nick’s your brother?” His mouth falling open, Dillon did a double-take.
“Yeah.” Gina pointed out her mother, who was ringing up customers. “That’s our mom right there.”
“I went to school with Nick. Tony, too.” A tentative smile building, he jerked his head back. “Wait a minute. You’re little Gina Rossi?”
Biting her lip, she nodded. “That would be me.”
“Well, damn. You couldn’t have been more than six or seven when we were in high school,” he said, nodding along with her.
“Sounds about right.”
“I never got a chance to thank you for taking such good care of my girls.” With his arm circling Linnea’s waist, Dillon kissed her crown. “So, thank you. I owe you one.”
She glanced down at the baby and smiled.You’ve got such a wonderful life ahead of you, little one. Your daddy loves you and your mommy so very much. “She’s beautiful. Congrats, again.”
Gina turned around to go back to work to find Nick standing right behind her as he watched the couple blend into the crowd on the street. “You know Linnea?”
“Not exactly. I was her labor nurse when her daughter was born.”
“So fucking sad,” he said with a shake of his head.
“What are you talking about?” She followed him inside the tent, questioning his nonsensical comment. “Any woman would be lucky to have a husband as devoted as hers.”
“Waslucky, maybe.” And halting his steps, Nick shrugged. “Her husband was killed in an accident before the baby was born.”
What? That can’t be right.
With a hand clapped over her mouth, Gina shook her head in disbelief.
