“Okay, Dad, I get it, you worked hard. You were gone a lot. But why would you think I couldn’t do that?”
“Patatina.” He reached across the counter to take her hand. “It’s not that I think you can’t do it. It’s that I don’t want you to. Why would I want that for my daughter? A lifetime of slavery to a company? Nothing more than brick and wood. The time I lost with my family, I can’t get that back. It’s gone. Why would I want that for you?” His eyes grew shiny in a way that made her panic.
If her father cried now, she’d be a mess.
“But I don’t want to be a stay-at-home mom while my husband is away working day and night either, Dad. I know Nico had his fantasies, but?—”
“What fantasies? What does Nico have to do with anything?” Maria finally chimed in.
“He had the wonderful idea that he would inherit Barone & Sons and marry me and I’d stay home raising his babies and cooking him spaghetti.”
The kitchen filled with stunned silence.
And then her mother started yelling in Italian. “You see, Luciano?” She smacked his forearm with a spatula. “I told you that the degenerate was out for money and power. You’re too good, too generous. You gave him a chance, but I said he was going to double cross you and he almost did. Marry Luciana, ha! Never.”
Lucy’s jaw dropped. Wow, she always assumed her mother adored Nico, the golden boy from Italy, come to save the family business from being lost.
Luciano waved Maria’s spatula away. “Of course, I’d never let him marry Lucy. He can’t. He’s her cousin.”
“Second cousin, Dad, and technically?—”
“He’s gone now, so it doesn’t matter, but Luciana—” He turned back to her, a regretful expression on his face. “Had I truly known how much you wanted the business, I would have gladly given it to you.”
Tears dripped down her cheeks. “I told you so many times, dad.”
Luciano shook his head, expression full of regret. “I wouldn’t believe it. It was never what I wanted— my daughters working as hard as I did. I wanted a better life for you. An easier one.”
This time, Lucy reached for her father’s hand. “And it is,Dad. If I ran the company now, it would be easier for me than it was for you. You started from scratch, no customers, no money, no employees, nothing. But look at it now. We are turning people away, we’re so busy. There’s money and staff who know what they’re doing.” She patted his hand. “I could take a vacation, get married, have a—” She swallowed the word, a familiar fear stopping her. “I can have all the things you want me to have, because you worked so hard, Dad.”
Luciano pressed his fist to his eye. Maria slipped the pizza into the oven. And Lucy’s heart filled with love and respect. This whole time, she thought she wasn’t enough. The wrong gender. The wrong child. But truthfully, her father had wanted to protect her, to save her from a life of endless grinding, like he’d done.
Running Barone & Sons would still be a grind, always hard work, but she’d meant what she said. He’d laid a foundation that would make it so much easier for her than it ever had been for him. And for that, she was forever grateful.
“Maria,” her father said, his voice rough like sandpaper. “Get the grappa. Tonight, we celebrate.”
“Celebrate what?” her mother asked, shuffling to the liquor cabinet.
“Our daughter, taking over our company.”
CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
Opening the door to the penthouse held an extra weight, because Lucy knew what she had to do and she really, really didn’t like doing it.
She found Joel on the terrace, where they’d made love against the railing just yesterday. Hours ago, when everything had seemed so clear, so easy. He sat on one of the patio chairs, still wearing his work slacks and white shirt, tie removed, sleeves rolled up, a half-finished Scotch in hand.
Was she about to make the biggest mistake of her life? Was she really about to risk everything because she had something to prove to herself?
As she walked toward him, his gaze shifted from the view to her. His brow furrowed and his lips thinned, like he knew what she’d come to tell him. His shoulders rose and fell on a deep breath.
Whatever happened, however he reacted, she knew she needed to be touching him, so she didn’t stop walking until she stood between his splayed legs. Knowing what she needed in this moment, he set his drink aside and tugged her hand until she was settled on his lap. Her tears welled,making her burrow her face into the crook of his neck. His hands rubbing her back were like aloe on a burn, and her mind raced in search of all the reasons she was doing this.
“I wasn’t lying when I told you this feels like home,” she murmured against his neck, her lips grazing his skin.
The hand on her back faltered infinitesimally before starting again. “But?”
“Hmmm,” she hummed, delaying.
“Lucy.” He dragged her name out like a plea.
