After taking a few deep breaths and straightening his posture, he opened the door and strode in confidently.
Gabriella Fierro came out of the kitchen with a platter of scrambled eggs that she placed on the enormous dining table. “Luca! You’re just in time for breakfast. I want to hear all about your first day on the job.”
“First night, you mean. I’m exhausted, Ma. I just want to fall into bed.” He warred with himself. He wanted those scrambled eggs almost as much as he wanted his pillow.
“I’ll bet. But you’ll sleep better if you have something in your stomach.”
“Unless you just ate a bunch of doughnuts.” His father, always the joker, came from the kitchen carrying a plate piled high with slices of toast in one hand and the butter dish in the other.
Ah, the hell with it. “Would you mind if I just made a breakfast sandwich and took it to my room?”
Gabriella was moving toward the silverware drawer but stopped and turned around. “Did something happen that you don’t want to talk about?”
“Damn,” he muttered.
“Please, Son. Sit,” Antonio Fierro said. As much as his father loved to joke around, he also knew when to be serious.
Luca’s posture sagged, and he slumped into a dining chair.
“So, tell us what happened.” Gabriella finished gathering the silverware and distributed it to the three of them.
Luca let out a long sigh. “I don’t know what to say. I guess it was a normal shift, but I got the rookie treatment at the end. They hid my car. I thought it had been stolen.”
“Oh, honey. That’s mean. I’m sorry to hear they did that.”
“Cops.” His father practically spat the word and shook his head.
“It’s okay. I figured they’d do something. I’m considering it a rite of passage.”
Luca took two pieces of toast and scooped some scrambled eggs between them. His mother always seasoned them with salt, pepper, and a few hot spices. They were always delicious, and this morning, the comfort food hit the spot.
He was suddenly glad he hadn’t moved in with Lisa. He could only imagine how he would have felt going home to his apartment after a bad first day at work, only to be dumped by his girlfriend in bed.
They dug into their food and didn’t speak while they ate. Luca figured he’d dodged a bullet…figuratively, so far.
“Did something else happen? You seemed to take the prank in stride.” Gabriella’s sharp mind picked up on the rest of his crap. What could he tell her that would satisfy her curiosity but not alarm her? He didn’t want to tell them he’d had a secret girlfriend since his junior year and all those trips to the library were a ruse. But Dawn wasn’t Lisa.
“There was this weird girl. She stopped me and said something about being a psychic and picking up some strange energy. I doubt it was anything.”
“Did she want money?” his father asked with eyes narrowed. His dad was shrewd, and his mind usually went to scammers.
“No. If she had, I would’ve kept walking. But there was something real about her… I don’t know how to describe it. Her concern seemed genuine.”
“Did you ask what she meant by strange energy?” Gabriella asked.
“Yeah. We talked for a couple of minutes. I think it was just the long shift, my being tired, and maybe the prank on top of everything else.”
“Everything else? What does that mean?”
Damn. His mother had the instincts of a seasoned police detective. She picked up on the smallest things.
“Forget it, Mom. Nothing much happened. Just a drunk driving arrest, a bar fight with a few mouthy spectators, and a lot of driving around.”
“So you kept the public safe and had a successful shift?” she asked.
“Yeah. I guess so.” He gulped down the rest of his sandwich, yawned, and said, “I really need to hit the sack. Thanks for breakfast. Just put the leftovers in the fridge and I’ll microwave them later.”
Gabriella glanced at her husband.
