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“Yeah.” I looked down at my coffee cup, almost like I was seeking relief in the last of the black liquid at the bottom. “We nearly killed Emma.” It was a bald statement of fact, spoken flatly with no emotion.
Lucy gasped. “No!”
“Yes. We were speeding along the back roads, driving like the fucking morons we were, totally wasted on my mom’s homemade grappa. Emma was coming the other way in her car. Jake had to swerve to miss her. That’s why he hit the tree.”
I didn’t feel like I deserved one ounce of the sympathy I saw swimming in her gorgeous eyes. “You were just kids, Dante. Wild and stupid, for sure. But you didn’t mean any harm.”
“What we meant and what happened are two different things, though, aren’t they? Jake could have killed Emma and damn near killed himself. And me? I walked away without a scratch. I paid zero price.”
“Doesn’t sound like it, talking to you now.”
I smiled bitterly. “Yeah… Maybe you’re right.”
“What happened after that?”
“Once we knew for sure that Jake was gonna make it, I went and saw your dad.”
“That was a smart move.”
My smile came a little more naturally this time. “It really was. I felt like the road I was heading down was a one-way street with a bad ending, that there was no way I was strong enough to stop myself. So I asked your dad what I should do. He grilled me for over an hour, asking me what I thought I was good at, what I hated, what I was afraid of. Honestly, it was harder than the process for joining the air force.”
“It was worth it, though?”
“Sure was. He’d seen a recruitment ad a few days before and figured the air force would give me everything I needed. He was right. I owe him my life.” It wasn’t a lie. “I’m pretty sure I’d be dead if he hadn’t done what he did.”
“Well, I’m glad he did it, then.”
“Me too. He’s an amazing man.”
“He’s pretty special.” Turning to get the server’s attention, Lucy indicated that we wanted our coffees topped up.
Once she’d been and gone, I was put back under the Lucy Cooper microscope. I couldn’t even say I hated it, which was weird, considering I’d never told anyone, ever, what I’d just told her casually over breakfast in a Seattle diner, with the rain pelting against the window.
CHAPTER5
Lucy
Ipicked up my coffee mug that the server had refilled for me and breathed in deeply, closing my eyes for a moment. One of my favorite things about drinking coffee was that first smell of a freshly-poured cup. Plus, it gave me time to gather my thoughts. There was so much I wanted to ask Dante, but I didn’t want to push it and go too far. “So, we’ve established that my dad is amazing,” I said lightly. “What about yours? I don’t think I ever remember seeing him in Esperance.”
“He’s…not amazing. I used to think he was, but you know, you grow up and learn a thing or two.”
“I’m sorry to hear that.”
“Yeah, well, it is what it is.”
I’d been so young, barely more than a child and completely wrapped up in Richard when Dante had lived in Esperance. I had no idea how troubled he’d been, but I could see it now, and all it did was fill me with even more questions.
“And your mom? She seemed pretty sweet.” I remembered Giovanna Moretti as a quiet, self-effacing sort of woman, who was always nice to me. Now I thought about it from a more adult perspective, I think “worn down” would have been a good way to describe her.
“Mom…loved dad.”
Well, that really wasn’t saying much. “What doesthatmean?”
There was that shrug again, like he was dismissing my question. Not me, but my question. “Just that. Stef says our mom loved Dad so much, it left no room for anything else. Certainly not for us.”
“That sounds pretty shit.”
“It is what it is.” That again. It was obviously his go-to line and it made me sad. “We can’t all have Bruce and Ellen Cooper as parents. I mean, just look at what they did for Gabe and Jake, taking them in after their mom died. That can’t have been easy.”
