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“Holy shit, girl, you’re strippin’.”
“Yeah. I’m stripping. And I’m having the time of my life.” Well, the stripping wasn’t giving her the time of her life. Nick was. But she’d already talked enough about Nick.
Vanessa demanded all the details on Izzie’s secret life, not sounding the least judgmental, and asking a bunch of questions. “That sounds like fun. You know, I’ve thought about taking a strip-dance exercise class they offer at my health club, but there’s a waiting list.”
“You’re joking.”
“No, honey, I’m not. It is the hottest thing going-there’s a three-month long list to get in this class and everybody I know is putting their name on it. If you come back, you need to teach me how and maybe I’ll retire and we can start a school somewhere. Teach housewives how to shake their booties.”
Izzie laughed softly at that silly idea. Then she thought of the word Vanessa had used. If. “What do you mean, if I come back? Why wouldn’t I come back?”
Vanessa grew very quiet, as if working out what to say. Knowing her friend was street-wise in a way Izzie never had been, she very much wanted to hear it. Anything Vanessa put this much thought into had to be worth hearing.
Finally, her friend murmured, “Why would you come back here when the life you really want is there?”
“You think I want to be a baker for the rest of my life?” Izzie protested, shocked that her friend would even suggest it.
“I don’t know whether you want to be a baker or a stripper. A pizza-delivery gal or a ballerina. All I know is that whatever you end up wanting to do, it’ll be tied up with that man you’ve loved for half your life.”
Izzie’s jaw dropped. She flinched so hard the phone fell onto her lap. Scrambling to get it, she heard Vanessa’s words echoing in her head. Especially because they’d come so quickly-mere minutes-after Izzie had been tearing herself apart to try to figure out just what she felt for Nick.
She really shouldn’t have had to think about it so hard. She knew what she felt for Nick. It was the same thing she’d always felt for him, only deeper now, adult. Sensual. Mature.
Forever.
Vanessa was right. She loved him. Part of her knew she should resent that, since it had been what she’d feared-and why she’d thrown up walls between them when he’d first pursued her. But she already knew she didn’t regret it. How could she regret feeling so emotionally alive for the first time in years?
“You still there?” her friend asked when Izzie finally brought the phone back up to her ear.
“I’m still here.”
Vanessa chuckled. Then, in a very low voice, she added, “I better be in the wedding.”
Then all Izzie heard was the dial tone.
“HEY, LITTLE BROTHER, when are you gonna come talk to the business lawyer with me and Pop?”
Nick stared at Tony, who’d followed him out the front door of Santori’s Friday afternoon. He’d been planning to head up the block to Natale’s. He had a real taste for cannoli. The fresh kind that could only be found in Izzie’s kitchen.
Or in Izzie. But that was another kind of decadent dessert altogether.
“I dunno, Tony, I really haven’t thought about it.”
His brother frowned. “I don’t get it. I thought it was all set. You know how much Pop wants to retire completely.”
“Bullshit.”
Chuckling, his brother nodded in agreement. “Okay. We know he won’t ever get outta that kitchen until they pry his wooden spoon out of his hand for his own funeral. But I know he’s hoping to get you settled.”
Get Nick settled. It sounded so archaic. And constricting.
“If you’re worried about coming in as a financial partner rather than just a working one, I am sure willing to let you buy in with some of that money you said you saved while you were in the service.”
Honestly, that had been one of Nick’s big concerns. He didn’t want anyone covering his way, he liked to pay his fair share. And if he were seriously considering going into business with Tony, he would absolutely insist on those terms. He did have the money, he did have the desire to get involved in a successful business and help it grow.
But that business was not a pizzeria. He knew it in his heart. He just hadn’t figured out how to tell the family that yet. “I haven’t made any decisions.”
Tony met his stare, obviously trying to figure out what was going on in Nick’s head. Nick thought about how best to put into words that he didn’t want the life his family had mapped out for him. But before either of them could say anything, Nick spotted Izzie walking up the street, coming up behind Tony. Considering his big brother was a mountain of a man, she probably hadn’t even seen Nick yet.
