***
Too soon, I had to leave. Thank the lord we’d set an alarm. There was just enough time to whisk me across town and share one more kiss before the sun was up. Going through the backdoor, knowing that my future was my own and I had a boy who loved me, nothing else seemed to matter.
“Amanda.” My father’s snap cracked my spine straight. “What were you doing outside?”
Panic surged through my veins, threatening to overwhelm me. I looked around the kitchen for help. Dad’s gym bag gave me inspiration. “I was out for a jog.”
He bought the lie. “Jefferson reached out. They’ll have an opening at his firm for you this summer. We don’t want to pass this up; it’s an honor to be selected.”
It was. If I was serious about law school, which I was, this was a step in the right direction.
“I’ll take it, of course!” My smile went from forced to real.
“Good.” Dad walked over and handed me his bottle of electrolytes that he’d made for the gym. Taking my hand, he held it to the light. “How’s it feeling this morning?”
He cares!Delight simmered in my chest. “Not too bad.”
“You nailed him good,” he said with the smallest smile. “Don’t punch anymore sons of our friends. We can’t afford to lose face now.”
“I won’t. I’ll handle it better,” I insisted.
“I know you will. My girl always does the right thing.” With that, he gathered his gym bag and rolling suitcase. After his workout at the club, he would shower, change, and catch a flight from there to Belgium, where business threatened to keep him away for the next few weeks.
I ran and threw my arms around his back. “Thank you for helping me get the internship with Jefferson.”
He stiffened, then patted my arm. “It’s what we do for one another. I’m just glad I can help you kids succeed, since no one wasthere to help me.”
I wasn’t going to let him down. Not even a little. Going upstairs, I debated sleeping for a few more hours but decided against it. If I wanted to be the girl my dad hoped I would be, and if I wanted to keep my secret, forbidden relationship, I was going to have to work twice as hard. Someday, when I was an adult, when I had a shining law degree and was working with some big firm, it wouldn’t matter who I dated—who I spent the rest of my life with. But until I accomplished that future, there was no way Dad would accept anything less than perfect from his little girl.
Chapter 38 –Amanda
Holed up in the loft with a cat hater was hell. I didn’t know who hated it more, me or the darling little angels. Grigio and Bianco warmed up to me instantly. I brought them into the bedroom to sleep with the moment Bill took a second dose of Benadryl. I would have felt bad for the henchman, who couldn’t quit sneezing, if he hadn’t used his toe to flip Grigio across the room whenever the poor darling was unfortunate enough to get in his way.
For breakfast, I fed them tidbits of egg whites, and our friendship was solidified.
“You know they’ll eat your body if you die,” Bill grumped, snot rag balled in his fist as he watched me from the couch. “Dogs will lie by your side, but cats eat their owners.”
I pointed my pencil at him. “A dog is a natural scavenger. If they were hungry enough, they’d eat your corpse too.”
“Nope—”sneeze“—they would never.”
The door opened with a thud.
It wasn’t Vincenzo. He hadn’t come back for breakfast the other morning, like he said he would. I refused to let myself wonder why. Answers to that question hurt, and I didn’t like that reaction.
“Thank—”sneeze“—fuc—”sneeze sneeze“—king, hell!” Bill shot to his feet. “I’m going to burn these clothes and take a detox—”sneeze“—bath.”
As Nicole and Cristiano came into the loft, Bill shot past them. The bang of the closing door echoed with silence. My sister and I stared at one another.
It’d been far too long.
Her cheeks were fuller, her hips wider. But the glow shining around her made my baby sister look angelic.
I didn’t know which one of us rushed to the other first. In a tangle of arms, a protruding belly, and a fit of manic laughter, we embraced, squeezed, and rocked one another.
“Oh, you’re here, you’re here!” Nicole sang.
“I’m here.”
