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Naomi packed everything away in her briefcase and stood, pulling her suit jacket down. “Thank you for your time. No, don’t get up,” she held up her hand as Lucy moved to get up. “I’ll see myself out.”
The front door closed behind her with an efficient click, leaving the only sound in the house the running of Stef’s shower.
“Fuck,” Lucy breathed, finally turning to look at me. “We shouldn’t have done this, Dante. I should have just gotten a second mortgage, or borrowed from my parents, or something. Anything but this.”
“I’m sure it’ll be fine,” I lied. “It’s not just about the coverage, Lucy, it’s about getting you the best medical care possible. And that’s at Kingsley.” Rubbing her back, I said, “Don’t worry about it for now. We’ll spend a bit of time getting our story straight so that the next time she comes over, we’re better prepared.”
“Okay.”
For now, I would just do what I always did. Not think about the future, or the consequences of my actions.
CHAPTER26
Lucy
The snowy landscape flew by, sparkling prettily in the winter sunlight. Inside the car, the silence was heavy. Yesterday had been fucking awful. I’d fucked it up so badly with Naomi, and now there was a real chance Dante would lose his job, his career, everything he’d spent more than a decade working for. Because of me. Because of a baby he didn’t even want. Underneath all the turmoil and stress, that was the prevailing thought. This was a lot of effort for someone who didn’t even want the baby. But I didn’t say that to him.
Once Naomi left, we’d treated each other with such stifling politeness that when Stef asked Dante if he wanted to head to Lacey’s for a game of pool, I was, frankly, grateful to see the back of him. I felt so bad for him, and the tension between us was making me feel sick.
I’d buried myself in work for the rest of the day, eating dinner with Dante and Stef and heading straight back into the office after we all cleaned up the kitchen. At bedtime, it was just as agonizing as the rest of the day had been. I’d kept so close to my side of the bed I was in danger of falling out. Dante had done the same thing, leaving a space in the middle of the bed big enough for a whole extra person. I’d lain there trying to go to sleep, wanting desperately to roll over into his arms, just to have him hold me and tell me it was all going to be okay. Now we were heading to Raleigh, with Stef in the back seat maintaining the same heavy silence as us. Fun times for all of us, I guess.
“Can I ask you something?” I said, when the quiet finally got too much. Neither of them replied, but I asked it anyway. “Why don’t you spend Christmas with your parents?”
Stef snorted. “Yeah, that’s a great question.”
“Stefania,” Dante said warningly.
“What?”
“There’s no need to be like that.”
“I don’t see why not. Just answer the question already.”
Dante blew out a breath, glancing in the rearview mirror at his sister before flicking me a look. I was sorry I’d asked. “Mom couldn’t see us for Christmas this year because Dad made plans to take her on some romantic weekend getaway.”
I frowned. “They were going to spend Christmas together without you guys?”
“Yeah.”
“I don’t get it.”
“There’s nothing to get,” Stef said. “Mom is obsessively in love with Dad, to the exclusion of literally anything and everyone else, including us. He says jump, she says how high, then jumps twice as high as he says.”
“Oh.” My parents were madly in love, of course, but I couldn’t imagine them choosing to spend Christmas day without us. They lived for family gatherings, big and small, and I’d always felt like we were the center of their world. I tried to remember Angelo Moretti and failed. Although I racked my brain, I honestly couldn’t remember ever seeing him in Esperance. “What about your dad, then? Does he love your mom?”
Another snort from Stef. “Oh, sure. When it suits him.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Just what I said. He comes and goes as he pleases, sometimes for years at a time. When he’s gone, Mom sinks into a black depression. When he comes back, it’s like the sun has come out. She doesn’t give a fuck about anyone but him. And Dante.”
“Oh, so she does love Dante?”
“Only in as much as he is Dad’s perfect mini-me.”
“Really?” That didn’t seem to mesh with what I knew about Dante.
“In her eyes, yes.”
