I hadn't guessed.
I couldn't even remember the last time someone gave me a gift.Other than my sister.She usually remembered our birthday.But I'd never gotten anything in such a pretty bag before.
“Open it!”she ordered, snapping me out of my shock.
I took a deep breath and carefully pulled out the perfectly placed tissue paper.I peered in to see—
“Oh, my gosh.”I reached in and grabbed the brand-new ricer.It was big and heavy.All signs of quality.“Is this—” My voice failed me.I looked at Anna.“Is this mine?”
She tilted her head slightly and smiled.“Of course it's for you.Let's wash it, and you can start on these potatoes.”
The bag floated from my hand onto the floor.I looked at—my—brand-new ricer.Then I gazed at Anna.
And then—
I burst into tears.
6
Stefan
“Finally decided to check in?”My brother's voice echoed in my office.
I set my feet on my desk and leaned back in the chair.“We've been—” I paused for a moment, “busy.”
Carlo laughed knowingly.“I knew you'd get over whatever hurdle you had to.Good for you, Brother.I take it you're enjoying yourself more?”He let out another laugh.
I cleared my throat.“We were enjoying the fuck out of each other.And then Mom showed up.”
There was a weighted silence before Carlo let out a long sigh.“Sorry, man.I tried to rein her in.But you know what she's like.There's no stopping her once she gets something in her head.”
I grinned to myself.Because I certainly knew exactly what my mother was like.
“She still there?”he asked in a significantly quieter voice than before.
I decided to let him off the hook.After all, it wasn't his fault that Elio and Olga had blabbed.
“She's in the kitchen giving Francesca a cooking lesson.”
A longer pause this time.“Fuck me.I'm sorry.Do you want me to talk to her?”
I shook my head even though he couldn't see.“No, we'll survive.”
Another long silence—and then he asked, “Just out of curiosity, what's she teaching your wife to cook?”
I smiled and answered instantly, “Gnocchi.”
He let out a breath.“Lucky asshole.”
I chuckled and dropped my feet from the desk.“It'll be good because Mom is cooking.But it'll also be good because Francesca is, too.”I stood and walked toward the windows.Nothing had made me happier than to see Francesca's reaction to the view.It affected her the same way it did me.
“Francesca cooks?”
The sky was bright and cloudless.Just how I liked it.“She fed me for weeks.Didn't always have the greatest ingredients.But she still did her best.”
Carlo had seen Francesca's place.He likely assumed how and what we were eating there.It didn't take a genius to figure out we hadn't been eating in style every day.
“Ah, then those two will have a good time.”
