Page 46 of The Boss

I’m in my sister’s kitchen. She texted me saying she needed my help with something, and I have no clue what it is.

I’m nervous she’s going to interrogate me as to why I haven’t figured out how to bring her husband home.

I rock on my heels as she walks into the kitchen with a box.

“Ness, let me help you with that.” I grab the box from her. “What’s this?”

“Some things for the nursery. Could you take them upstairs?”

“Yeah,” I reply.

I turn and walk through the first floor and walk up the stairs. After all these months, my sister is still as glowing and as positive as she can be.

“Which room is it?” I ask.

“The second on the left,” she replies, pointing.

Walking into the room, the walls are freshly painted in a light green.

“I see why you asked me to come over,” I say, looking around the room.

She snorts. “Fine, you caught me. But no, I wanted to spend time with you. These months have been hard. Hard on everyone, especially you.” Sadness overcomes her. “Gino, you’re going to be an uncle, and I wanted to talk to you without anyone around. And the conversations we’ve had recently have all been related to how my husband can’t be found and how sorry you are. So this conversation is going to have ground rules. No mafia talk, no ‘I’m sorrys’, and for the love of God, no conversations about Lorenzo. Agreed?” She sticks her hand out for me to shake.

I huff a laugh and shake her hand.

“Okay, Ness, what do you want to talk about?”I ask.

“First off, I want all the information on you and Juliet. Can I say I was right? Cause I was right. How did you start dating?” Each sentence rushes out quicker than the last.

I could spill the whole secret right here, but I can't because she looks so eager for something good, so I give some of the truth.

“So after Dad’s funeral—” I start.

She cuts me off, yelling. “Are you kidding? You two have been together for that long, and no one knew?”

“No, we, uhm, slept together that night,” I reveal to her, looking down.

“Holy shit,” she exhales, then she starts laughing. And not a giggle; she full-on cackles.

“What’s so funny?” I ask.

“Nothing, just that I was right. You two were in love when I first met you?” she says, trying to hold back her laugh now.

“Well, I’ve been in love with her longer than that,” I whisper.

“Gino, how long have you been in love with her?” she asks flatly, like she knows the answer.

“Since the moment I met her,” I reply, looking right into her eyes.

“You’re down so bad, aren’t you?” She stares at me, giving me her best ‘caring sister’ expression, but I can see it in her eyes that she wants to make a joke out of it.

“Yes.”

“Gino, does she know that?” she asks.

“Probably not.” If my sister only knew.

She rolls her eyes. “Has anyone ever told you that you’re very bad at communication?”