Page 75 of Winter With You

46

MOLLY’S DINER, LOWER MANHATTAN

It was the next day and Luca stopped outside the diner and looked through the misty windows at the people inside. He spotted Steffi straight away, tucked into a booth near the jukebox, dressed in black combat trousers and a ripped jumper like she could lead an invasion. He swallowed. She was all grown up, yet they were still going through the same type of shit they’d been going through since they were kids. And his sister was still biting her nails.

Luca headed for the door, stepping out of the icy cold and into the humid atmosphere of this almost full eatery. As he approached the booth, Steffi stood.

‘What happened to Errol?’

‘You’ve seen him?’ Luca asked. When in doubt, answer a question with a question.

‘Yes, I’ve seen him. He looks like someone ran him over in a Buick and I’m sure he’s lying to me about what happened.’

She looked anxious. He’d seen that look many times before too. ‘Steffi, sit down. Have you ordered coffee?’

‘Yes, I’ve ordered coffee, but tell me what’s going on.’ She retook her seat just as the waiter brought a coffee pot and filled up two large mugs.

Luca slipped off his coat and waited for them to be alone with only the café chatter and the muted murmurings of Bing Crosby singing about a white Christmas. ‘Errol’s OK. I called him before I got here. He’s going back to the emporium today.’

‘And that tells me nothing about what happened.’ Steffi put her hands around the mug, pulling it towards her.

‘I don’t know what happened,’ Luca admitted. It was the truth. He suspected, but he didn’t know. Not 100 per cent. And what Ronnie had said to him, admittedly under duress, was still ringing in his ears.

‘But you know something,’ Steffi said. ‘I can see it in your eyes.’

‘I think…’ He stopped talking. What was he going to say to his little sister? That he thought their father had ordered someone to hurt Errol? He should. Steffi wasn’t completely oblivious, she just liked to pretend sometimes.

‘You think what?’ she asked.

He cut to the chase. ‘I’m going to see Dad.’

Steffi inhaled sharp. ‘What? But you said⁠—’

‘I know what I said but, you know, maybe I need some kind of closure.’

‘Oh.’ Steffi looked crestfallen.

‘What?’ Luca asked.

‘I don’t know, I just thought that if you ever decided to see him it would be because you…’

‘Because I what?’

‘Because you… wanted a relationship with him again.’

Luca felt his jaw tense and he reached for his coffee mug, his fingers toying with the handle. ‘Steffi, that’s a big ask.’

‘Is it? Because he’s still our father. What else are we meant to do but love him?’

This black and white thinking when it came to the family was so at odds with the badass non-conforming persona Steffi liked to portray in the rest of her life it was hard to swallow. If it was anyone else guilty of the crimes Babbo had committed, Steffi would be leading the petition for the electric chair.

‘I really don’t think love works that way, Steffi,’ Luca stated.

‘How does it work then? Because I can’t switch off how I feel about a person just because they have done things I don’t agree with or understand.’

‘But, also, you can’t love someone just because you share DNA,’ Luca countered.

‘So you don’t love Dad? And I’m not allowed to love him either?’