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Twenty-Four
“I’m exhausted.” I pulled my eyelashes off, contemplating whether it was worth doing my entire night routine.
Luca pulled his Waterpik from his mouth and straightened. “No one said we had to stay until the reception ended.”
“But I was having fun.” I gently wiped off my eyeliner, tossing the cotton rounds into the trash can. “And if you leave early, you miss that shift in the party when all the grandmas are gone, and suddenly everyone’s shit-faced and dry-humping on the dance floor.”
“Things really got out of hand.” Luca laughed and put toothpaste on his electric toothbrush. “I hate to say it, but the Chronises know how to have a good time.”
“Right?” I did a half-assed job with a makeup wipe and grabbed my toothbrush. “I think Tootsie and Zoe will be happy.”
Luca nodded, the buzz of his toothbrush echoing through the room. As I brushed, I watched Luca carefully spit, then rinse the sink. He wiped down his side of the counter, leaving the hand towel out for me to do the same when I was done.
“I’m going to go give Ryan a little extra food so he lets us sleep in tomorrow. Do you need anything from downstairs?”
“A glass of water? I need to take my vitamin and anti-nausea pill.” I put my toothbrush in my mouth and turned it on, and a little toothpaste dribbled out the corner of my mouth
Luca kissed my forehead, tactfully avoiding the whirling mess. “You got it.”
By the time he came back upstairs, I was sitting in bed with the pills in hand. “You’re a saint.” I took my pills and finished the rest of the water. “Did you get a chance to talk to your mom?”
Luca took the empty glass and set it on a coaster on the side table. “Yeah. She’s going to stay in Italy for another week.” He pulled back the comforter on his side of the bed and aggressively organized his pillows. “If I could bring my father back to life and strangle him myself, I would.” He sat facing me with his forehead scrunched up. “Mom’s a fucking mess, and there’s nothing any of us can do. Aunt Gina’s dead, Dad’s dead, Lorenzo’s dead. Anyone that could give her any answers is dead or keeping their mouths shut.”
“I can’t imagine.”
Luca sighed and laid his head in my lap. I ran my fingers through his hair, and he hummed.
“It’s obvious Lorenzo was conceived before my parents were married, but who knows how long the affair went on for.”
“Your mom said Dante stepped out on her a couple of times in their marriage, but with her sister? There’s no coming back from that.”
Luca’s body tensed, and he looked up at me with serious eyes.
“Baby?” I scratched his scalp.
“You know I would never do that to you, right?”
Giving his hair a tug, I smiled down at him. “I know.”
“I mean it. I’m nothing like my dad and brother.” He reached up, running his thumb along my jaw.
“No, you’re not. You love like Rosa. With your whole heart and beyond reason.”
Luca cupped the back of my neck and pulled me down for a kiss, folding me in an awkward position.
“Ouch,” I mumbled against his lips.
He laughed and rolled off my legs. “Sorry.”
I slid down, trying to get comfortable. “You know what I need? One of those gigantic pillow things. A pillow between the knees isn’t cutting it anymore.”
Without a word, Luca jumped up and left the room.
“Luca?”
A minute later, he returned carrying a U-shaped pillow that was as long as he was tall. “Adriana told me she got one of these at the end of her first trimester.”
“It’s fucking huge.”
