“Nonsense,” Francesca turned to her other son. “Dante, you will drive Kara home to get her things. Alessia will come home with us and check on the children.”
Dante smiled wearily at Kara, but it was also a look that warmed her heart. “Come on, my car is this way.” He led her out of the waiting room and headed to the parking garage, stopping next to a new azure gray Bronco.
The footrest to get inside was as high as her knees. She reached out to grab the handle on the interior of the door to help herself climb up.
“You’re tiny, let me help.” Dante chuckled as he grabbed her under one elbow and hoisted her up. He was around the same height as Angelo. She could only look him in the eye once she was in the front seat.
“I’m notthattiny,” she protested. “I onlylooksmall compared to you and Angelo. I’m average height for a woman.”
He chuckled again.
Once he was inside, she gave him the address of her apartment complex in Englewood. His dark brows lifted.
“You live inthatpart of town?”
She nodded. It wasn’t a good part of town, but it wasn’t like she had a choice. In a big city like this, you took what you could get, especially if you didn’t plan to stay long.
“O—kay…” He drew the word out into two distinct syllables as he started the engine. “I bet Angelo doesn’t like you living in Englewood.”
“He doesn’t,” she answered carefully, knowing exactly how Angelo would act based on her short time knowing him.
“So, how did you and Angelo meet?” Dante asked as he left the hospital’s parking garage and onto the street which was bright with light reflecting on the snow.
“We met at the soup kitchen.”
“So you volunteer there, too?”
“Yes.”
“Angelo has a soft heart,” Dante said, his tone suddenly gentle. “Not like me, Renzo, or Faro. We’re wild, but Angelo? He’s the best of us.” He laughed, then flashed her a charming smile. “I’m glad he’s found someone. I think he’s been lonely for a long time.”
Kara almost gasped. How was that possible? How could a man so kind, gentle, and attractive belonely? Women should have been beating down his door. Kara would have had her life been different. If she could have her way, she’d tuck herself into his warm embrace and never look back.
But she couldn’t. Couldn’t stay anywhere too long. Couldn’t be in a real relationship. She couldn’t ask anyone to give up their life to go on the run with her. It would be wrong ask someone to put their life at risk and take away their future. Other people settled down, but Kara could only move on.
They reached the apartment around 3:30 PM, and Kara told Dante to wait in the car. She didn’t want him to see the inside of her apartment building. If he wasn’t judging her by the part of town she lived in, he’d definitely judge her when he saw she was living in a bare tenement house. And it would raise more questions about her background.
“I don’t think so. Vertucci men never let a lady go to her door alone.”
In another time and place she might have found that statement sweet, gentlemanly, but right now all it did was spike her rising anxiety.
She entered the building and ignored the broken elevator sign, opening the door to the stairs. They had to climb three stories. Dante, though fit, huffed a little as he caught up with her. She unlocked her door and stepped inside. There really was noway to hide the state of her apartment, so she might as well get this over with.
“You can wait the hall or come in if you want.” Refusing him would only seem suspicious.
“Thanks.” Dante followed her inside and closed the door.
With a pang of embarrassment, Kara turned on the lights and revealed a mostly empty apartment. There was one folding chair tucked up against a folding card table which she’d found at Goodwill. The mattress in her bedroom was on a cheap wireframe. An old lamp sat on even older nightstand by her bed with a couple of paperback books next to it. She had a few posters on the walls of places she wanted to go, like Paris and England. She had a stainless steel French press for coffee and her one favorite mug in the kitchen. There was even a little wooden box she kept her favorite teas in.
That was it. The summation of her life in Chicago. She had no photos of herself, no pictures of places she loved hanging on the old fridge. Nothing. Her life wouldn’t allow more than what she had.
She had to be able to carry her possessions out in a backpack and a rolling suitcase that she could fit on a bus. The furniture was always left behind when she moved on.
She snuck a glance at Dante from the corner of her eye, checking for his reaction and knowing it wouldn’t be good. Even though she hadn’t seen Angelo’s home, his clothing had been classic, masculine and expensive looking. If Angelo’s restaurant could donate food to the soup kitchen, then he had to have a nice home with all those spare bedrooms for his family. And here she was with her dingy little apartment, barren of any trace of someone living there except for the basic necessities.
His brother Dante was no different, he wore an expensive looking watch, and a new Bronco wasn’t cheap. She couldn’t help but wonder what Dante would tell Angelo or his familyabout her? The poor girl dating their rich son? Was she after his money? They’d probably start to wonder. But then again… the Vertucci’s seemed like kind people.
“So… Kara, what do you do for a living?” Dante asked a little too casually. It was obvious he was trying to understand why her home basically had nothing in it.
