Sabrina
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Iwas late. I had an early morning meeting, but I still had to get my nephew, Felix, to my mom’s so she could drop him at school. “Fox!” I called and he appeared in front of me suddenly.
“I’m right here, Auntie.”
“So you are.” I smiled down at him. “Did you brush your teeth?”
“Yep. See?” He bared his teeth.
I cupped his chin, staring into the eyes of my sister as I observed his handywork, then ran my thumb over his jaw. Sometimes the pain of losing Maria was almost too much to bear. “You did good, bud.”
He hugged me and sat up at my kitchen island again, focusing back on his coloring book.
“You ready to hang with Nonna for a little while?”
He cocked his head. “Will you still pick me up from the bus stop?”
“Of course. It’s the best part of my day.” I poured a travel cup of coffee and faced him again. “Grab your backpack and we’ll go, okay?”
He closed his coloring book and slid off his stool, grabbing his backpack and unzipping it. I slid his lunch inside, then we headed out to my car.
Driving the three miles to my parents’ home in record time, Felix was out of his booster seat and the car faster than I could turn the ignition off. I locked up and headed into the house where I could hear Felix chattering nonstop to my mom.
“Hi, Mom,” I called as I walked into the kitchen.
“Hey, honey,” she said, handing Felix a huge piece of her sausage egg bake.
“Thanks, Nonna,” he said and took a bite.
I’d caution her about overfeeding the kid, but my mom was your typical Italian grandmother, so it would fall on deaf ears.
I hugged her, and even though it was the hardest thing I’d done that day, I declined her offer of food. “I’ll meet him at the bus stop after school, but if you need me sooner, just give me a call.”
“Okay, honey. We’ll be good.”
I kissed the top of Felix’s head and made my way to work.
I own my own accounting firm, although, my area of expertise is forensic accounting. I have a great team who handles everything from yearly taxes to payroll, leaving me to focus on my passion.
And this morning, I was meeting with a very special client. My brother, Luca.
He is a detective with the Colorado Springs Police Department and they often hired me when they needed to find money a suspect might be hiding.
Walking into my office I sighed. “How the hell did you beat me here?”
Luca smiled, rising to his feet and pulling me in for a hug. “It’s my superpower.”
“Did you stop at Mom’s?”
He nodded. “She made me breakfast.”
I rolled my eyes as I sat at my desk. “Of course she did.”
“You said you had something for me?”
“Yep,” I said, grabbing the file from my satchel and handing it to him. “I didn’t think you’d want it emailed, but if you do, let me know.”
