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“Thank you for having me.” I follow her into the house, through a walkway, and into a large kitchen with a center island that opens up to a large family room, a long wooden dining table off to the right.
“Lena, I’m so glad you came.” Luci gets up from the couch, where she’s sitting next to Dom, and runs across the room. I place the wine bottles down on the counter and hug Luci when she reaches me.
“Hi, Luce, I’m so happy you’re here,” I whisper into her ear.
As I’m separating from her, I see Stella standing with Massimo’s boys in the far corner. She’s glaring at me despite the boys talking to her. I wish Massimo had told me she’d be here because I probably wouldn’t have come. I could kill him for putting me on the spot like this, but I need to own up to my mistakes, which is probably why he didn’t say anything. I haven’t had the chance to talk to her to apologize, to try to make amends. This isn’t really the place for that to happen, but I also don’t want it to be weird for anyone. I’ll have to speak to her at some point.
Massimo sidles up to me. “Hi, babe,” he says, kissing me on the cheek, letting his warm lips linger. “Thank you for coming.”
“Hi,” I say. I remove my coat and scarf, handing them to Massimo, which he takes and puts in the hallway together with my pockabook.
“Lena, good to see you again,” Dom says, kissing me hello.
“Likewise, Dom. Love looks good on you,” I respond.
“Seriously, Lena!” Luci exclaims, swatting my arm.
“What? It does,” I tease.
“Lena, red or white?” asks Anna Maria from across the room, where she’s holding a bottle of each in her hand.
“Red, please. Thank you.”
“Lena, you look fucking great,” Paulie exclaims, hugging me.
“Good to see you too, Paulie. Congrats on the wedding, the house. All of it. I’m so happy for you.”
“It’s great to have you back. Maybe now Massimo will stop being such an asshole,” Paulie says, and laughs while patting Massimo on the back. “Hey, kids,” yells Paulie, “come say hello.” At that, four little people come running up to him, two of which are Massimo’s boys. “This is my son Antonio and my daughter Alessia. This is our friend Lena.”
“Hi,” they both say in unison, and each kisses me before skipping back to where they were just playing.
“And these are my guys, Lucio and Leandro,” Massimo chimes in, running his hands through Lucio’s thick hair.
“Daddy, is this your friend we saw at the store?” Lucio asks.
“Yes, buddy, great memory.”
“Hi, boys. It’s nice to see you again.” I squat down to their level, and they each come and kiss me before scurrying back to the other side where they were playing with Paulie’s kids.
I stand and turn to Massimo, who hands me my wine glass. “You should’ve told me Stella was gonna be here,” I whisper and sip at my wine.
“Nah, then you wouldn’t have come. You need to squash that and make things right.”
“You don’t say!” I roll my eyes and walk away, crossing the room toward Stella, who’s in the corner with the kids.
“Hi, Stella.”
“Hi, Lena.” Her arms are crossed.
“Can we go to the other room for a few minutes? I owe you an apology and would like to talk in private if that’s okay.” Without responding, she stands and leaves the room. I follow. We’re walking through the hallway I just came through and into the front living room, where there’s a formal sitting area.
We sit on the couch, and I look into Stella’s eyes. “I’m sorry. I know those words may not mean a lot right now, may not do a lot to take the sting out of what I did. But I am. I never meant to hurt you.”
“We were friends. You were gonna be my sister. You didn’t just leave Massimo. You abandoned all of us. We were all left behind to clean up your fucking mess.”
“I know I caused a lot of damage, wounded all of you.”
“You don’t know shit! You have no idea what it was like, and Massimo will never tell you. But I will. He could barely get out of bed on some days. He cut himself off from all of his friends, barely ate, and was drinking a lot! I was the one who put him back together,” she says, pointing to her chest, tears streaming down her cheeks. “Our mother and me, may she rest in peace. When I saw you were back, and he just let you back in, I was furious. I couldn’t believe he was speaking to you!”
