Page 54 of Effortless

“Fine,” Tom said.

“Tell me more about this … Camilla.”

He shot his father a look. “Why?”

Tommas smiled softly. “I have a feeling I need to know. Not to mention, I’m curious. Go on, son, tell me.”

“She’s …”

“Hmm?”

“Different.”

“Different,” his father echoed.

“Amazing,” Tom added. “Probably a little too wild for her own good. She’s got this way about her. She’s like nothing else I’ve ever come up against.”

“Sounds like you consider her a challenge.”

Tom fixed the cufflink on his suit, and laughed with a nod. “She is. Every bit of her is a challenge, Dad.”

“And you don’t know how to back down from one of those, do you?”

“You taught me not to.”

“One of my best traits,” his father replied. “What else can you tell me?”

Lots of things.

Nothing.

“I’m considering heading back to New York as soon as I can,” Tom admitted. “But things are busy here—thanks for that—and I can’t really afford to leave the crew to themselves when every other day, there’s some kind of issue popping up. I’m the only one handling them.”

“To see her, you mean?”

“Who else would I go back for?”

“You have friends there.”

“Fine, then, yes. I would go back for Camilla.”

Tommas nodded. “I see.”

“That’s it? You see?”

“Oh, son, the rest is not for me to figure out. That’s your job, Tommaso.”

Tom quieted for a long while before he said, “I like her.”

“I can tell.”

“Not sure what to do about it.”

“Well … I suppose that’s something else for you to figure out, too, Tommaso. That’s life, son. It has a way of keeping things interesting for us all.”

Wasn’t that the fucking truth?

CHAPTER EIGHT