“Because I realized there were other ways to build a life besides what my father had in mind. You make me think beyond Dominic.”
The room remained quiet around us. Outside, a car rolled slowly past on St. Charles, and the streetcar bell sounded once in the distance.
“My mother knew before I did,” Luca said. “About most things.”
“And your father?”
“He knew too.” Luca smiled faintly. “He just chose not to acknowledge it.”
I watched him for a moment.
“You’ve been wanting to tell me that?”
“For a few days.” He turned his head slightly toward me. “I’m not sure I explained it well, but you ask questions like someone who expects genuine answers.”
“And that’s unusual?”
“In my experience, yes.”
He lowered his head onto my shoulder and exhaled.
Chapter eleven
Luca
“Celeste is coming to dinner.”
Dominic announced it while reading the Arts Council’s latest programming memo over breakfast.
I looked up from preparing his breakfast French press. “When did she decide this?”
“Yesterday evening. She called after you went to bed.”
“She calls you at eleven at night?”
“She calls me whenever she has something to say.” He shrugged slightly. “I’ve never attempted to regulate her.”
At the far end of the kitchen table, Thiago was reviewing notes on his tablet with a legal pad beside it.
Dominic set down the memo. “She said seven.”
“Of course she did.”
He reached for the marmalade. “I assume this presents no hardship.”
“It presents planning.”
“Planning is one of your core pleasures.”
“That’s a terrible accusation to make before eight in the morning.”
The corner of Dominic’s mouth twitched. Across from him, Thiago finally looked up.
“Should I expect additional guests?” he asked.
“Not unless Celeste picks one up along St. Charles on her way over,” I said.
Dominic spread his marmalade with unnecessary precision. “If you try to govern her arrival, Mr. Reyes, she will ignore you.”
