Carmine sighed. “That was part of the reason yes. Would you believe I’ve done it again since I’ve been here.”
She too sat up and stroked his cheek. “You have my genes, my handsome boy. I’m not surprised.”
People always commented how much like Maria Carmine was. Raoul and Monica resembled Stefano.
“I’m sorry that you had to go through these things without me,” she continued. “Tell me about him. If you like.”
Carmine swallowed. “It’s Noah Farman.”
“Oh my goodness,” she said. “You’d better make it up with him and quickly.”
“Why?”
“Because if your father finds out we almost had a Brockton player in the family and lost him, he’ll slap your legs from here to eternity.”
“You would accept a partner of mine into the family?”
Maria appeared genuinely shocked at this comment.
“Darling, I don’t know where you have the impression that we wouldn’t. All right, Nonna might take a bit of convincing and maybe Raoul. They can all go to hell. Anyone who cares for my son has a place at my table.”
Carmine’s eyes stung with tears once more. He’d hoped coming to the hotel would give him a rest. It appeared not.
He kissed his mother’s forehead.
“I love you.”
“I love you too. Now get a plan together. I want you to be happy.”
They both snuggled down. He wrapped his arms around his slight mother and held her as she fell asleep.
Could things be fixed with Noah? Once they settled into more of a routine for visiting Stefano, Carmine would turn his attention to that.
If it wasn’t too late.
TWENTY-ONE
NOAH
Noah sprinted as hard as he could on the treadmill. It had been four days and he’d only had one text from Carmine. His father was getting stronger and the signs were good. He was still under constant supervision from both medical staff and his family.
It gave Noah a glimmer of hope that Carmine had even bothered to tell him. Although it was torture that things between them were left so much in the air. He scolded himself for being so selfish. He had to be patient and see what the future held. Carmine had enough on his mind at the moment.
Of course he’d done the only thing he knew to take his mind off things. Trained. Hard.
Udo hopped up on the machine next to him. He set his at a steadier pace.
“What are you doing for the rest of the day?” he asked.
Noah shook his head and pointed at the display. Udo frowned and reduced the speed significantly.
“Hey,” Noah said.
“I want to talk to you,” Udo replied. “You’re away with the fairies whenever you’re not on the pitch. I thought perhaps this would be a perfect middle ground.”
They fell into step with each other. Noah had suspected he was overdue an interrogation from one of his teammates. He had expected Adam to conduct it. Surely it was the captain’s job?
Then he realised. Steven had probably pushed Udo to do this. Perhaps the fact-finding mission was coming from higher up than the captain. Noah made a point of not getting on the wrong side of managers.
