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11
Portofino, 2000
I went to pick her up at five p.m. sharp. We had a forty-minute drive in front of us. Romina was not pleased – at all – when she was informed that she was not invited on the field trip. She cried a little and it broke my fucking heart, but I made it all better when I promised her Max could stay at her place until we got back.
I parked the Lincoln in front of the bakery and frowned when I saw the La Dolce Vita neon sign still blipping. She was still open? I specifically asked her to take some time off to get herself ready. Not for me. I was happy to see her with a messy bun and wearing nothing but my shirt, but I wanted her to spoil herself since she was refusing to let me do it. I was free to bring heaven on earth for Romina, but whatever I wanted to offer Salvatrice, she was shutting it down. That was ending tonight.
I pushed through the door and found Salva and Francesca at one of the tables. Mrs. Carrara was nursing a glass of wine, white this time, although I understood that red was her poison, but I didn’t care about that at the moment. I was more concerned with the fistful of pills Salvatrice just swallowed.
“Amore, are you ok?”
They both turned their heads in my direction.
“Yeah, I…yes. Why? The pills? Oh, that’s just…”
“Vitamins.” Francesca finished her sentence. “You know, Mr. Stefani, after having a child, women lose all kinds of crap from their bodies. We need reinforcements. Kids are beautiful, but they suck the life out of you. Literally.”
“I see. Speaking of children, Mrs. Carrara, I hope you will take very good care of mine until we're back.” I smiled her way, but there was a certain coolness in my voice. I wasn’t Francesca’s biggest fan and since we weren’t even on a first name basis, I was pretty sure it worked both ways.
“Since I’ll be looking after Romina and my son at the same time, I assure you everything will be alright.” Was she implying that if her son wasn’t there, she wouldn’t give a fuck about Romina’s safety? I had no idea what Salvatrice told this woman, except the fact that I was Romina’s biological father, but trust me, the last thing Francesca Carrara wanted was to get into a war with me. I was a fucking lethal weapon. I would never hurt a woman, not unless she was an informant, but I could make her life hell in so many different ways. I was about to tell her that when Salva got up from the chair and stepped in front of me.
“Everything will be fine. Are you ready to go, brown eyes?”
I took her in for a long second. The midi dress she had on was tied at her midsection like a robe, and I loved that because it would make it so much easier for me to take it off. It was light, floating around her body like a sea of shimmering bright red fabric and the color made her skin sparkle. I think I heard Catherinelle once calling it coral. Whatever it was called, it looked gorgeous on her.
“Yes. Mrs. Carrara, I brought you a little helper; he’s in my car.”
“A helper?” She sounded utterly offended. Too bad.
All three of us stepped out of the shop and I opened the backdoor of my car to let Maximus out. He came and sat next to my leg with his prideful chest out.
“Maximus, meet Francesca Carrara. Mrs. Carrera, this is Maximus, my dog. He is a very well-behaved, well-trained, three-year-old Doberman.”
“Really? Salvatrice, I love you and I love Remy and spending time with her, but do I really have to watch this monstrous dog?” What did she call my boy?
“Fran, listen,” Salva said with a shy smile on her face, “Max is very gentle, he won’t hurt the kids, and he won’t make any trouble for you. I promise. Do me this favor just this once, please?”
“God, fine, I’ll watch the damn dog.”
Ok, that was enough.
“Mrs. Carrara, you’ve got it all wrong. You don’t have to watch over Max, he’s here to watch over you. Plus, I promised Romina she would get to spend the night with her best friend.”
Francesca laughed a little too high-pitched for my taste.
“Her best friend is my son Sammy.”
“That’s not what she told me. I bet you have an adorable son though.” I went to the shop’s door, opened it, and snapped my fingers to get the dog’s attention, “Maximus, go find Romina.” He disappeared sniffing for her around.
“He won’t bite me, won’t he?”
“Max, no? He only attacks on command – my command – but you should be careful. He gets agitated when someone drinks too much around him.”
She gaped at me, her eyes wide with shock while I helped Salva into the passenger seat before jumping behind the wheel.
Salvatrice gave me a side look and crossed her arms.
“You really had to say that last part about the drinking?”
