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“What plan?” I asked hopefully.
A twinkle sparkled in her eyes. “I will tell you soon. In the meantime, behave as if you are still going to marry Fabio and tell no one we spoke today.”
“Okay,” I breathed the word out.
“Now, do you think your appetite might have come back?”
I smiled broadly at her. “I think so.”
“Good. These pastries were brought from Sicily from a friend of mine today. They are delicious.”
I lifted the mug of hot chocolate to my mouth. “Thanks for the marshmallows, Nonna.”
“I hope the day never comes when you drink your hot chocolate without marshmallows in them.”
“Nonna?”
“Yes?”
“You do know I love you, don’t you?”
“Yes,” she said softly.
I took a sip of the hot drink and felt the silky-smooth beverage warm my body up instantly. Then I spooned a melting marshmallow into my mouth. I was digging around for another marshmallow when she called me.
“Sienna?”
I looked up at her. “Yeah.”
“You do know I love you too, don’t you?”
I grinned at her. “Yeah. I do.”
Chapter 45
Sienna
The next morning, I woke up in significantly brighter spirits.
After Nonna had left I had brushed my teeth and been so exhausted with all the crazy emotions that I had fallen asleep as soon as my head touched the pillow.
My phone rang and it was Christine. She wanted to set up a little get together. “Let’s meet for brunch. I’m dying to eat some poached eggs that I haven’t ruined,” she said.
I just laughed. Christine was famous for her terrible poached eggs. Why she continued to attempt them was a mystery to Charlotte and me. We’ve both told her to give up, but she never gave up trying to make a good one with dogged determination.
Since Charlotte was no longer around for me to confide in or even just have a good gossip with, I figured a little catching up with some old friends, and some fresh air outside the house would do me some good.
I knew I was supposed to keep away from Christine until Angelo had finished his investigation into who was responsible for the attempted kidnapping or at least find the Judas in our midst. Which meant Christine and Mandy were still not cleared, but I knew he would find nothing on them. Hell, Mandy didn’t even know I was coming till she got to Christine’s apartment. As for Christine, I knew he would find nothing on her. Christine was like a sister to me. Both Charlotte and her were the sisters I never had.
I had another very important reason to agreeing to the meet-up without a second thought. I needed to know if Angelo was still in my father’s employ. What if he had quit last night? This would be a good way to confirm if he was still my bodyguard. I went downstairs and didn’t see him around, which was worrying because he was always hanging around.
I had no choice but to tell Gemma I would be heading out for brunch. I gave her the address and the names of the people I was meeting, and told her to pass the information on to the security room. As I walked towards the elevator leading to the garage I thought I would die if some other man turned up.
I waited with bated breath inside my car in the underground garage. Nervously, I watched the doors of the service elevator until I spotted the light that showed the car was descending. It seemed a lifetime had passed while the car descended.
When the door slid open, a tall man with a baseball hat hanging low on his head, exited the car with a leisurely gait. The kind of relief and wild joy welling up in my body was indescribable. I started the engine, then leaned over to push the passenger door open.
Angelo made a gesture with his hand to indicate I should move into the passenger seat.
I felt too happy to see him to argue. Obediently, I shifted over and he got into the driver’s seat. “Hey,” I greeted, as he put the gears in motion, and drove up the ramp into the lovely morning sunshine.
To be honest, I even felt too shy to meet his eyes, and we rode in silence for a little while, but it was killing me that I was so nervous I couldn’t even casually glance at him. I truly wanted to speak to him. I didn’t know when we would get a chance like this again, to be alone together and not a prying eye in sight.
We were halfway to the restaurant when I decided to speak to him no matter what, and my first question was going to be why he hadn’t spoken to me. I mean, it wasn’t like we were strangers to each other.
We stopped at a red light and I turned to face him, but before I could open my mouth, he spoke instead. “Your eyes are swollen. You didn’t get enough sleep last night?”
