“It means I get to stalk around the house, asking, ‘Where’s my wife?’ before dragging you into closets and empty rooms for quickies.”
“Sounds good to me.”
His arm tightens around me and he kisses my head with a chuckle. God, I missed that sound. I missed all his sounds. Even the soft snore he does when he’s sleeping in a weird position.
“I can’t wait to get back to our normal, baby. Even if I still get stuck in the back seat.”
“Well, Lil did call shotgun for life.” I yawn and look at my watch. “She better get back up here with my food, by the way. I’m getting hangry and need a nap.”
I’ve slept better since Luca woke up two days ago, and even though I’m not supposed to be sleeping in his bed with him, no one challenges it. Another DeVille perk, I’m sure, but one I’m thankful for. But even with sleeping better, I’m still tired as fuck. I can’t wait to get home, to our bed, away from the beeps and the nurses. I doze off for a few minutes waiting for Lil, but she brings me a cheesy quesadilla so I guess I’ll forgive her for taking so long. Luca steals a few bites plus eats a shredded chicken one, even though I know his mouth still hurts.
This is after he has already eaten his first lunch. If the man weren’t a giant, I’d think he was a hobbit.
I sip my iced coffee and fight the need to take a longer nap. It’s a losing battle and I doze off again, waking up when the doctor comes in and declares Luca ready to go home.
“Thank fuck,” he yells at the ceiling as Lil and I laugh.
I call Dad. “Ari, my sweet girl, we were just about to leave to come visit.”
“Oh, good, because we missed the bus, and now we’re stuck in the school parking lot with no way home.”
He pauses for a second. “So Luca’s being discharged, and you three need a ride home?”
“It’s kind of a long walk.”
“We’ll be there as soon as we can. But Ariana,” oh shit, he’s got his serious dad voice going now, “we will speak about the Maserati soon.”
“I mean, I’ve kind of been through a lot this week. I thought maybe I could get a pass on that.”
“No.”
“Meh, it was worth a shot. See you soon!” I hang up and turn to Luca. “Hey, Hot Stuff, if a girl is twenty and married, can shestill get grounded for stealing her Dad’s car and keeping it hidden for a year?”
“No pass, huh? You’d think the old ‘my husband was kidnapped, tortured, and in a coma for five days’ would be worth something these days.”
“Right? Jeez.” The doctor comes back in with the paperwork. Luca gets dressed in a T-shirt and sweats and slips his feet into a pair of slides.
Lil and I move through the room, collecting the things we want to take home in a bag and throwing the things we don’t into the garbage.
“Make sure that card Callie made me gets in the bag, please, baby. Can’t lose that.”
I smile at the memory from yesterday when Danielle brought Callie by after the little girl drew Luca a card and then begged to bring it to him. She flung open the door, climbed on a chair, and threw herself at him before any of us could stop her. He let her hug him for a solid three minutes, even though it hurt. He’ll never tell her that she popped two of his stitches with that flying leap.
“It was the first thing I grabbed.”
Dad and Anthony walk through the door a little while later. “Busting out of here, son?” Anthony grins at Luca, then pulls me in for a hug. I can’t believe how much he’s changed since Luca left home. “Good timing, there’s some decent baseball games on tomorrow if you’re interested.”
“Yeah, Dad, that sounds good. Sitting on the couch is one of the few things I’m allowed to do for now.”
“Marco, you in?”
“Always.”
Anthony looks at me and grins. “What about you girls?”
“Fuck no,” Lil and I reply in unison.
“We’ll find something else to do while you guys watch boys play with sticks and balls,” Lil says.
