AllFreeNovel
Share Us
6
Valentina
Isit at the curbside table of the café across the street from Mazzola Bakery. I have to pop over there to pick up bread for Sunday dinner with my parents. I’m meeting Dom here though because I’m almost positive he has Sunday dinner as well. Might as well get this annulment paperwork dealt with before we have to see our families.
The waitress sets down my coffee, and I’m enjoying it while scrolling through my phone, so I don’t notice Dom approaching. Instead, I overhear the conversation between two women a few tables over, alerting me to his presence.
“That’s Dom Mancini,” one says.
I’m tempted to look over and make sure I don’t recognize them, but I continue sipping my coffee instead.
“He’s the last single one, right?” her friend asks.
I’m curious now. Someone is tracking the Mancinis? I get that our little borough can seem small, but there’re a lot of Italian men who are available, come on.
“Yeah, thank goodness. There’s always been something about Dom. He seems like that quiet, commanding type. At least outside of the bedroom.” The woman practically howls with laughter.
“You do like that type.”
A part of me wants to rip the annulment papers out of my bag and say he’s mine. But I’ve held on to Dom way longer than I should have.
“Good morning,” he says, dropping his gym bag on the concrete. He slides into the wrought-iron chair across from me. He’s freshly showered and dressed in track shorts and a T-shirt because it’s Sunday and he usually plays basketball with his brothers on Sunday mornings. Except he’s been picking up games with some old buddies because his brothers have limited their games to once a month now that they’re involved. I shouldn’t know, but I do.
“Hey,” I say, peeking over at the women.
They’re so busy eating up Dom, they don’t even notice me.
“You have something on your face,” I say, referring to his newly grown beard.
He rubs it with his palm. “You like?”
I crinkle my nose. “Not especially.”
Lie. That’s a total lie. Dom with a beard is a whole new level of sexy.
The waitress comes over, and Dom orders a black coffee. I glance at my chocolate croissant and feel guilty. I didn’t work out this morning. I woke up late because Ryder is with Max, then I laid in bed until I had just enough time to get ready and come here. Meanwhile Dom has already sprinted across a basketball court a million times and now he’s going to just have coffee.
“Feed me a bite, wifey?” His eyes zero in on the croissant. He knows exactly where my mind was. Sometimes it’s scary and sometimes it’s nice how well he can read me. Right now, it’s nice, because I need all the humor I can get.
I pretend to look around the bottom of my chair. “Where’s my ball and chain?”
He exaggerates his stare from my sandals, past my shorts, and up my T-shirt. “Damn, I knew I forgot something.”
I slide over the papers before I get distracted by our usual banter. “Here’s the annulment, but…” I glance at the women who were talking about him, but they’re not staring. “Keep it on the down-low, because the women over there know you.”
He glances over.
“Don’t look,” I whisper-shout.
He shrugs, turning back. “I don’t know them.”
“Well, they know you. Or of you.”
“Sweet. You telling me I’m a celebrity around here?”
“Only in Carroll Gardens. Don’t think too highly of yourself.”
The waitress brings over his coffee, and he twirls the cup so he can pick it up with his left hand. When he brings it to his lips, his smirk is so wide, my heart hurts. It’s too rare that I see it on his handsome face.
