Page 53 of Effortless

“Well?” his father asked.

Tom blinked, and realized he hadn’t heard a word his father said. “What?”

“That probably answers my question, then. I asked if you planned on seeing her again, or whatever.”

“Likely,” Tom said.

His father leaned back in the office chair, and steepled his fingers. “Would you consider it serious?”

Tom laughed darkly. “Not at all.”

“Yet, you just implied you intend to see the young woman again, and you’re still in contact.”

“Isn’t that what friends do?”

“Friends don’t typically get romantically involved, Tommaso.”

Fair enough.

“It’s complicated.”

His father chuckled. “Complicated women are usually not worth the effort, son.”

“That’s your opinion.”

Tommas sobered, and eyed his son again. “Unless, of course, a man loves that woman. Do you? Is that what it is?”

“Do I what?”

“Love the woman. Camilla, I mean. Do you love her?”

“Kind of crazy to love someone when you barely know them, isn’t it?”

His father waved that statement off. “I loved Abriella damn near instantly. Something about her just … called to something in me. Sounds strange, I know, but it’s true. I didn’t realize until later that I did love her, and I had loved her from the beginning. Nonetheless, it’s possible, and it happens. In those cases, you usually learn the reasons why you love them as you go along. It’s the souls that call the hearts together, Tommaso.”

“You sound like a walking Hallmark card.”

“I sound like a father talking to his son, thank you.”

“I didn’t really come to visit to talk about this.”

Mostly, he just wanted to get onto a new conversation because the things his father said made a hell of a lot of sense. Tom just didn’t know how to deal with it all at the moment.

How could he?

He was in Chicago.

Camilla was in New York.

“Would you rather argue about petty things I won’t budge on?” his father asked.

Tom scowled. “Not particularly.”

“Make sure you visit more often now that you’re back home and settled in. I should not have to pass messages through my brother-in-law to get you over here, Tommaso. Do not let it happen again.”

Damn.

His father was not messing around at all. Really, he didn’t mind. His father’s straightforward approach to almost everything was one of the things Tom appreciated the most about the man. That, and how he loved and cared for his family.