“That’s good, honey. Get to all your restaurants?”
“Most of ‘em.” I grin over at Annie again.
“How ‘bout the quarry?” Ma asks in a softer voice.
I drum my fingers on the wheel. “Headed there now,” I finally answer. This is something I decide I’ll give to Annie, too.
Annie turns her head at my tone.
“It’s a real beautiful place, Annie,” Ma says. “You been?”
She shakes her head, even if Ma can’t see her. “No, I haven’t been.”
“It’s gorgeous,” Ma says. My throat tightens at the pain in her voice. “The last weekend we all had with Joe. Nico’s father. Spent the whole day swimmin’ there before flyin’ back to New York.” I grip the steering wheel tighter.
“Oh,” Annie says, voice delicate. “I had no idea.”
“Yeah,” Ma goes on. “We were down there visiting Duke your junior year. Joe was so proud of Nico for his grades. Wouldn’t stop talkin’ about it in those woods.Nico’s gonna be valedictorian. My boy, the Stuyvesant valedictorian. Nothing’sgonna stop him. No thing, no one.He was so excited for Nico to apply to Duke. He passed away the day after we got back.”
Annie stares at me.
“I’m so sorry,” Annie finally says, voice thin and reedy and not like anything I’ve ever heard before. “I really had no idea.”
“It’s okay,” Ma replies more fondly. “Joe’d be so proud of Nico today.”
The twinge between my ribcage grows. “He wouldn’t,” I mutter.
Annie surprises me by reaching over and taking my hand. Twists her little fingers through mine. I glance down, seeing the heart on her finger peeking through my fist. “He would,” she says quietly, for my ears only.
I shake my head. That I make a living off of people paying money to see my naked dick? Hundreds of thousands of people? Nah. He wouldn’t.
“Nico?”
“Yeah, Ma?”
“Say hi to him for me when you’re there, yeah?”
My eyes sting. “Yeah, Ma.”
Ma clears her throat of emotion. “All right, you two,” Ma tells us. “Be safe. No lifeguards there. Text me when you get to Miami, Nico, okay? Love ya.”
“Bye, Ma. Love you.”
“Bye, Mrs. Giannuzzi.”
I pull the car into the small lot shortly after. This place normally gets crowded on weekends, but since it’s early on a Wednesday morning, there’s no one here. I take a deep breath and look over at Annie.
She’s staring at me with that look that means she’s about to cry.
“It’s okay, honey,” I say. “It was a long time ago. I still miss him, but it was a long time ago. I’m okay now. We’re okay now.”
Annie gnaws on her lower lip. “When did he pass?”
“Huh?”
“What month?” she whispers.
“Oh.” I scratch my head. “May of our junior year.”
