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Beautiful, but noisy.
Taking a deep breath, I leaned into the kitchen.
“Oh, gross,” Valley, my sister, grumbled when she looked at me from where she was perched, sitting on my counter a few feet away from my mother who was at my range, flipping something in a pan.
“Nino, were you raised by animals? Turn that water off,” my mother snapped at me, waving a spatula at me.
“Ma, what are you doing here?” I asked.
“Is that any way to greet your mother who hauled her butt out of bed and across town to cook for her firstborn son?” she asked. “Something I wouldn’t need to be doing for you if you would find yourself a good woman to settle down with, I might add.”
Oh, she was in that kind of mood then, was she?
“I’ll be back,” I said.
I went ahead and took some extra time getting myself together. To avoid my mother’s lecture about getting married and giving her grandbabies, sure. But also because I was going to be visiting Savannah again, and I wanted to look good. Whether or not that made any sort of logical sense when she was in the fucking hospital with a couple of new holes punched in her.
When I made my way back down, I caught a snippet of conversation about Valley’s new job at some prestigious private school. A place so fancy that it only had a four-day school week, which was why she was in my kitchen, drinking my coffee, on a weekday morning.
“There you are, oh, you look so handsome,” my mother said, giving me a fond smile. “Don’t you have a kiss for your mother?” she asked, arching her cheek up toward me. And I was quick to plant a kiss there.
“How are you, Ma?” I asked, grabbing a mug, and pouring myself a cup of coffee.
“Funny you ask,” she said and my eyes closed as I let out an exhale, knowing that tone. It was never good for me. “I was doing just wonderfully. Planning the birthday menu for your brother, August. When I was informed that my son, my firstborn child, was involved in a shooting.”
Christ.
Yeah.
That was a misstep for sure.
I’d been so distracted with thoughts of Savannah that I’d totally forgotten to update my mother personally.
Big mistake.
Huge.
“Ma…”
“No, you don’t get toMame like I’m the unreasonable one. You were shot at.”
“I was shoved to the ground by the woman who took two bullets meant for me,” I told her, watching as her face fell. “I’ve been trying to find ways to thank her,” I explained. “I was… distracted. I’m sorry.”
“How is she?” my mom asked, pressing a hand to her heart.
Giulia Grassi could go from hard-ass to soft-hearted in a blink. I figure it had to do with marrying into a mafia Family and then raising five sons who grew up to join the Family as well.
“She’s okay. Looks pale. I’m going to check on her again today after a meeting with Luca,” I told her.
“She saved your life?” my mom asked, hand downright clutching her heart then.
“She did. She saw the gun, and she shoved me to the ground.”
“What does she like? Lasagne? Baked ziti? Manicotti? What can I make her?” she asked. My mom, like all the moms in the family, showed their love with food.
“I don’t know, but I can ask.”
“Yes, ask. I will have all the aunts ready to do a meal train. We need her address too.”
