Page 44 of Tailored for You

I cleared my throat. I wanted to tell her, in excruciating detail, what I had been thinking about, but that was too much too fast.

“Yeah. Apologies, I was rummaging in here,” I tapped my head, “to see if I knew who Jimmy was.”

“It doesn’t matter. He’s been in jail for like twenty-something years. It’s just the most Jersey thing to vote for someone who got locked up for money laundering to be on the city council and decide on things like budgets.” She chuckled.

“Right. You're taking this information in stride. I guess I expected...” I trailed off.

“You expected me to grab Harper and run?” She tilted her head.

I nodded. “And maybe yell at me, too.”

“No. I’m not one to yell. I tend to get quiet when I’m angry.” I made note of that. She was quiet a lot around me, but I knew she was never mad.

I took it as her being shy.

“Should we go over the plan?” Serena prompted, moving us along.

Everything in me eased as she talked about how we’d get Harper to school. The biggest, potentially most important, conversation we needed to have was out of the way.

There was no yelling or running away. There weren’t even many questions beyond safety. Was it too much to hope that this was all?

Maybe, but a caval donato non si guarda in bocca.

I won’t search for a problem if she says there isn’t one.

That was one of the first things I was taught about women.

Women are easy, piccolo uomo, my father used to say. All they want is to be heard. What you need to do is listen to them, remember what they say, and work like hell to make it come true.

In addition to nearly stalking my mother, that was how he won her over.

That was exactly what I planned on doing for Serena and Harper.

“Sounds like we know what next week will look like. The men will be here at eight am, sharp, to set you up in your studio. A few will stick around and wait until you have deliveries. They’ll make them and take payment.” They’d also inform everyone that prices were going up, effective immediately.

Whether Serena liked it or not, I was going to show her how much she undervalued herself in every way.

Which, to me, was a fight I looked forward to.

“Okay,” she whispered. I nodded, turning to leave when she called my name. “Thank you. This is,” she said, out of breath. I knew she was buying time to find her words. She was thoughtful with her words, at least she had been with me.

I waited, willing to wait as long as she needed.

Finally, she started again. “Thank you. For the studio, it’s perfect. I don’t know if I mentioned that. It’s like a dream. And for making this easy. Going from no kids in the house to one as high-energy as Harper is a shock. If it ever gets too much, let me know.”

“It won’t be too much. Neither of you is too much,” I said, hoping she heard the truth in my voice.

Not for the first, or even the fifth, time, I wanted to beat Charles for making her think there was something wrong with her.

If I didn’t get out of this room, I wasn’t sure I could be held accountable for my actions.

“See you in the morning,” I said, marching out of the room before she kept me there any longer.

She wasn’t ready for everything I was going to give her, but I won one battle today. She was staying.

Now I just needed to convince her to stay forever.

CHAPTER 14