Page 28 of One Breath After Another

A part of her wanted to have a breakdown right then and there. Her fragile mental state could never be trusted to handle something like this. Another part of her felt a sick sort of glee to know one of her monsters—one of her biggest demons—was dead. The rest of her felt nothing at all, but that wasn’t unusual.

An old friend, really.

Penny decided to ask, “Do you think God forgave him for what he did to me?”

Naz considered that. “I don’t know.”

“Well, I never will.”

“I’m sure he died knowing that.”

Good.

It’s what he deserved.

5.

Luca

ARRIVING late to a family dinner wasn’t anything unusual for Luca, lately. Running like a crazy man for Naz made it hard to be on time, not that anyone complained when he slid into his usual chair at his mother’s dining room table long after the food had been served.

Katya didn’t seem to mind when she beamed at him from her end of the table. Shit, there was a first time for everything. “I’ll grab you a plate, Luca.”

He knew better than to tell her to stay where she was—he was a grown man and was capable of fixing his own plate, but that wouldn’t matter to Katya. Guests that came for dinner at her home did very little but talk and eat.

Still, he tried.

“I can get it in a minute, Ma,” he told her.

Katya raised a brow. “I will. You sit.”

Right.

As he expected.

Katya left her chair and had to pass his to exit the dining room into the kitchen. On her way by, she patted the top of his head like one might do to a puppy. Except it didn’t bother him all that much. The fondness in his mother’s action was familiar and comforting in a way a lot of things weren’t for him. He might very well be a grown man, but he still adored his mom to the ends of the earth and back.

Even if sometimes, she drove him crazy.

Luca tried rejoining the conversation happening at the table. Or rather, get caught up on what Roz and Naz were chatting about with Penny and his father. Zeke, to his benefit, was only occasionally jumping in with something to say while Luca’s sister and Naz were doing the bulk of the work throughout the conversation with Penny.

He hadn’t seen her in a month, but she didn’t look ... any different, he supposed. In her case, he wasn’t sure if that was a good or bad thing, all things considered. She was still wearing a sweater that was at least five sizes too big but hey, it wasn’t black. It also wasn’t any color that would make her stand out either. The flat gray sweater with a logo on the front was a step up from her usual black, though. He had to give her that. She was still using her hair as a curtain between herself and anyone else that she didn’t want to converse with.

That just happened to be his father at the moment. Not that Zeke seemed very concerned with Penny’s attempt to distance herself from him.

For a brief second, Penny’s gaze lifted to find Luca sitting across from her at the table. A welcoming smile stretched his mouth; it was the only way he could seem encouraging when it was obvious she was starting to get uncomfortable.

The girl barely left the house. He was positive she hadn’t sat at his parents’ dinner table before now. Naz admitted to him the week before that trying to get Penny to do anything that involved other people was like pulling teeth.

In some ways, he understood that—her. He didn’t always want to engage, either. That didn’t change the fact he still had to and so he did. They all had to do shit they didn’t want to. It was a part of life.

But ...

Her life hadn’t been like theirs, either. Maybe it wasn’t fair of him to assume that she should behave the same way the rest of them did just because it’s what everyone else did.

Katya returned to the dining room with Luca’s plate in hand. She placed the ravioli casserole mess in front of him with a smile.

“Thanks. Ma.”