Page 72 of Contempt

A revelation?

It wasn’t.

Renzo couldn’t forget who owned him. They’d beaten it into him. Scars like those didn’t leave—they only faded.

TWELVE

Lucia shoved the last of her things into her messenger bag as she waited for the phone ringing in her ear to finally be answered. Today was her father’s second to last chemo treatment before he was finally finished—it was the hospital’s tradition for those who finished their chemo to ring a bell at the nurses’ station as a way to celebrate their achievement. Lucia wasn’t sure if her father was going to ring the bell or not, it didn’t seem like his style, but either way … well, she was going to be there for his last treatment.

“Hello?”

Finally.

“Kelly,” Lucia greeted, setting her bag on the bed so she could slip on her jacket. “How’s California?”

Her boss laughed. “Hot at the moment. And dry. How’s New York?”

“Polluted. Loud. Wet.”

“So, feels like home, then?”

Lucia grinned even though the woman couldn’t see it. “Yeah, it feels like home.”

“Please don’t tell me you’ve called to say you’re not coming back because being home has made you want to stay. I don’t think I could take the pain, Lucia.”

She could tell Kelly was kidding, and at the same time, still serious.

“I’m not calling for that,” Lucia murmured.

“But you are calling for something about that, I can tell.”

Kelly was a smart woman.

“I know I am supposed to be coming back at the end of this week,” Lucia said, “but I was thinking I might need to stay a couple weeks longer. I wanted to make sure that was okay—that you could work it out for me to get the time off, or let me know if it wasn’t possible. I mean, I would understand if you couldn’t.”

Kelly was quiet for a short while, but then let out a dismissive sound. “Listen, it’s all right, Lucia. I can figure it out. I’m sure you want to spend some more time with your dad, and all, so yeah. I can get it worked out.”

Sure, her father.

That was certainly part of it.

Lucia was finally getting to a good place with her dad. No, they hadn’t sat down and hashed out all of the shit that happened, but she didn’t feel like that was necessary, either. At least, not yet.

It didn’t matter.

They were in a better place.

Wasn’t that what counted?

It was more about Renzo for the reason why Lucia wanted to stay for a little while longer. She had unfinished business with him, and she didn’t think that running across the country would solve them. It certainly wasn’t going to help her to put distance between them when what she wanted and needed to do was handle the emotional mess she constantly felt whenever he was around. They had things to deal with—she wanted the chance to do that.

She couldn’t do it in California.

“So, you really don’t mind?” Lucia asked.

She shouldn’t have been surprised, but she still was, in a way. Kelly was a great boss, and always had been. She let her workers have a lot of legroom when other bosses would have had their employees on a very short leash.

Lucia appreciated it.