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I glance back down at my wife’s medical files. I can’t figure out what’s going on with her, but I fucking hate that she’s scared. I just want to make everything better for her, and until I know what I’m dealing with, I can’t. I’m also fucking petrified of losing her. I remember how quickly Holly’s mom deteriorated. I saw the devastation on my wife’s face when her own mother didn’t know who she was. I don’t ever want to look at Holly and have her stare back at me like I’m a stranger.
I shake my head. She doesn’t have it. I know that, but now that she’s put the thought into my mind, I can’t help but wonder if it’s a matter ofwhenand notifshe will meet the same fate.
I pick up the phone and call Neo. “What’s up, boss?” he answers.
I haven’t been Neo’s boss for years now. The fact that he still calls me that makes me laugh. He knows it pisses me off. I should be the one calling himboss, considering he took over the Donatello side of things and oversees all the mafia families. Which technically means he’s everyone’s boss.
“Where are you?” I ask him.
“Home.”
“Meet me for a drink,” I say.
“Okay,” he replies, and then I disconnect the call. I don’t need to tell him where to go. We’ve been meeting up at the same bar since Helena closed down her café.
I pick up my keys and wallet and head out of my office. I walk through the house and find Holly in the library. It’s her favorite room in the whole estate, and this estate has a lot of fucking rooms. “Dolcezza, I’m heading out to meet Neo. Won’t be long,” I tell her, leaning down and kissing her forehead.
“Okay, have fun. Not the kind that makes you return to me covered in blood, though,” she says while giving me a glare that tells me she’s serious.
“I’ll do my best,” I say with a half smirk.
* * *
“Why doyou look like someone murdered your cat?” Neo’s deep voice greets me, his body filling the seat next to mine at the bar.
“I don’t have a cat,” I deadpan.
“It’s a figure of speech, T. What’s going on?”
“I think something’s wrong with Holly,” I admit aloud for the first time.
“Like what kind of something?” he asks, concern marring his features.
“I don’t know. She thinks she’s developing the same thing her mother had. I don’t see it, but she went to the doctor, Neo, and then tried to hide her appointments from me.”
“She seemed fine the other day when I was around,” he says. “Is that what this wholelet’s go to Italy for a monththing is about?”
“She’s scared she’s going to forget everyone.”
“Well, youarepretty forgettable,” he counters with a grin. “What do the doctors say?”
“That she’s fine. That nothing’s wrong with her.” I pick up my whiskey, staring out over the bar top as I swirl the contents around the glass.
“Okay, so let’s go with that then.” He shrugs before pushing back in his seat, like it really is that easy.
“She still thinks she’s forgetting things. She told me her brain’s foggy and she has this constant feeling that she’s missing something,” I tell him.
“Have you called Reilly? Sure Holly’s not just picking up on whatever Reilly is putting out? They do have that weird twin thing going on. We see it all the time with Luca and Romeo,” Neo reminds me.
As he says the words, a lightbulb goes off in my head. Why the fuck didn’t I think of that? It has to be something to do with Reilly. And then that feeling in the pit of my stomach hits me all at once. You know the one where your stomach drops?
Yeah, that fucking feeling.
Fuck. If it’s her twin sister, if my wife has to watch her twin sister fade like she did her mother, well, I’m not sure she could handle that. Which means I couldn’t handle it either. Because I fear that instead of watching Reilly slowly succumb to a disease that eats away at her mind, I’ll be watching it happen to both of them.
“I can’t lose her, Neo.”
“T, you’re not losing her. Even if she does develop Alzheimer’s, it’s not like it’s going to happen overnight. And there will be signs. You know that woman better than anything else. You’d know if something were going on with her.”
