Which means I’ll have to go to work on him myself. There’s no time to waste.
I take a long pull of the scotch and allow myself three seconds of despair over what’s going to happen to the bodyguard who used to take me and my brothers to school, and then I tell myself to get the hell over it. What Donno has done to my family is unforgivable. He has to pay.
“Hey, Armani?” Candi says.
Glancing over at her, I see she’s pushed her mask up like a headband. She looks wide awake. So much for napping and leaving me in peace.
“What?” I snap.
She lifts a brow, studying me with that penetrating gaze. “May I have my phone back?”
“Sure.”
I get my bag out of the overhead and rifle through it until I find her cell. When I power it back on, it’s still got a good charge on it.
“Here,” I say, handing it to her. “Enjoy the Wi-Fi.”
But she just shoves it into her bag and then pulls out a dog-eared Italian-English dictionary.
Slyly but haltingly, she tells me,“Sto inizianda…ad apprezzare…di più la lingua Italiana.”
“You’re starting to appreciate Italian more?” I repeat back to her. “It’siniziando, actually.”
“Iniziando!You knew what I meant, though,” she gloats.
“You’re doing well.”
Visibly pleased with herself, she takes out a legal pad covered in vocabulary words and verb conjugations and starts writing more notes. When the flight attendant comes over to check on us, Candi proudly orders another club soda in Italian. I might think it was cute if I wasn’t so stressed out right now.
Looking over at me, she says, “Voglio ringra…ziarti…per ieri.”
“You want to thank me for yesterday?” I ask, making sure she said what she meant to say.
She nods, visibly blushing, and then drops her eyes to the notebook, where she’s written something out for herself. “So che questo viaggio…”
In my head, I translate into English instantly:I know that this trip…
“non e stato davvero uno luna di miele…” she goes on.
Wasn’t really a honeymoon…
“In Italian, they call itviaggio di nozze,” I interrupt. “Wedding trip.”
Candi smiles. “I thinkluna di mieleis prettier, even if it’s more literal.”
“Suit yourself,” I tell her. “But a real Italian won’t—”
“Let me finish!” she says teasingly. “Ma vedendo quella cascata con voi—”
But seeing that waterfall with you…
“Con tu,” I correct.
“Con tu…sarà sempre una delle…esperienze più magiche…della mia vita.”
I put it all together and replay her words in my mind:I know this trip wasn’t a real honeymoon, but seeing that waterfall with you will always be one of the most magical experiences of my life.
My throat goes tight. I take a gulp of scotch and then say, “You’re welcome.”
