“Smart ass.” I laugh. “I’ve been busy.”
“The only valid reason for that excuse would be if you’ve been busy doing unspeakable things in a barn somewhere with a hot ranch hand.”
If you only knew.
“Hello? Are you still there, Carina?”
“I am.”
“Must be a bad connection. I said––”
“I heard what you said, Mani.”
“Let’s get on a video chat.”
“Okay.”
My phone rings a split second later. I tap the screen and I’m looking at her beautiful face. From the background, I can tell she’s at her place.
I gasp. “Holy shit, you’re so tanned.”
“Have you not been following me on social media?”
“Like I said, I’ve been busy.”
“Let me get back to that,” she says, narrowing her gaze. “About my absolutely fabulous tan… the Bahamas was a dream. I didn’t do much other than enjoy the weather, the beach, the food, and island cocktails. You got to love a good all-inclusive. Things have been so hectic at the company, I was too exhausted to consider a beach fling with a sexy stranger.”
“I don’t believe a word you just said.”
“You know your life has hit rock bottom––or your priorities are screwed up––when you’re surrounded by fit men wearing nothing more than swim trunks, but you go to bed soon after the evening entertainment.” That’s so unlike her.
“Wow. Your dad has been working you hard.”
“He has,” she lets out a heavy sigh. “When I told him I wanted to learn the business from the ground up, I didn’t expect he would take it literally. In the month before I left for the Bahamas, I was in Italy twice to check up on vendors. Be careful what you wish for…”
“I still don’t know how you survived the jetlag.”
“Neither do I,” she says. “In any case, I desperately needed those ten days of holiday. Since my best friend is in small town USA, I had to take my cousin with me. It wasn’t the same, but it was still worth it.”
“You look well rested.”
“I am and I’m ready to get back into the swing of things.”
Veronica and I have been best friends since she moved into the neighborhood when we were both ten years old. Her natural dark-blonde hair and green eyes don’t give much of a clue to her ethnic background. Her mom is Swiss and her father is Italian American.
Alex Mancini owns a company that imports stone and ceramic tiles from Italy. Some of the biggest development companies and interior designers use their material. Along with her three older brothers, Mani works in the family business.
“So why haven’t you been in touch?”
Someone is a little bossy.“We’ve been in touch. We’ve been texting back and forth.”
“We talk all the time, but in the last two weeks it’s been radio silence.”
“Reminder, I was working long days at the Fort Worth locations.”
“That was last week.”
“I’ve been really busy since I got back to Summerville.”
