Page 49 of John + Siena: The Complete Duet

Lucia was not the same.

“John, you don’t have to—”

“Yes, I absolutely do,” John interjected, stopping his father from saying anything more. “Lucia trusts me more than anybody, and I know Renzo, his streets, and his people. I will find them. I will call you when I do.”

John hung up the phone without another word. He quickly set the glass he used in the sink, and wiped down the counter.

Just like that, his mind had shifted.

He had a new task.

Things he had to do or wanted to do were shoved out to let the most important problem at the moment take over. That was just how his brain worked.

He shrugged on his jacket over his still-unbuttoned dress shirt as he stepped in the doorway of Siena’s bedroom. She was still sleeping, and quite soundly.

He should have woke her up.

He should have said goodbye.

He didn’t leave his phone number because he figured he would be back that night, or shit, at the most, a couple of days. An explanation later, and everything would be fine. Siena would understand what had happened.

After the night they had, surely she would know he hadn’t just left her high and dry.

He should have left a note.

He should have … done a lot of things differently.

Problem was, his mind simply didn’t work that way. It jumped from thing to thing—this to that—and he either got back to it, or he didn’t. Siena was the same; she couldn’t be any different.

John didn’t realize, or even consider, that the next almost three weeks of his life would be spent chasing after his runaway sister, and her delinquent boyfriend.

A couple of days, he could have explained.

Three weeks?

John knew better.

He fucked that up.

He should have said goodbye.

Hindsight was always twenty-twenty.