AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Okay, what’s going on?” Luca looks to Romeo. “No.” He shakes his head. They have that weird twin thing going on. They have full-on conversations without ever having to say a word.
“Lorenzo overheard a conversation between Ma and Pops on the plane about her not remembering things,” Romeo explains aloud.
“Ma is fine. I just saw her. She was fine,” Luca repeats.
“We think it’s just starting. I don’t know. Maybe some of the symptoms and signs are there, and they’re just not telling us yet,” I say.
“Like Nan?” Luca asks, and I nod. “No. She can’t. I mean, we can’t. I can’t. No. Just no,” Luca says. “We’ll find a way to fix it. Romeo, you’re the smart one. Use that brain you’re always bragging about and find a fucking cure.”
“I’m not a miracle worker. Fuck, I’m a mayor. I’m not even a doctor, Luc,” Romeo huffs.
“You should have gone to med school,” Luca tells him. “We need to hire people, get them to come up with a new medication or something.” Luca looks around the room. He’s pacing now.
Something clicks as I watch him walk back and forth. I remember the transaction I saw come out of the family trusts a few weeks ago. I dig my laptop out of my bag and log into the account.
“Look at this. Pops made a five million dollar donation to Alzheimer’s research. I saw the transaction but didn’t think anything of it. They’re always donating to some charity or another,” I say, staring at the screen.
“If this is happening, then we need to make sure this is the best fucking month our mother has ever had. If they’re not telling us, it’s because she doesn’t want us to know. So we have to carry on like we don’t know shit,” Matteo says.
“I agree,” I tell him.
“Yep,” the twins say at the same time.
“We also need to make sure the kids don’t cause fucking havoc and get them all to spend as much time with Ma as possible,” Romeo adds.
I don’t cry. I’m not a fucking crier, but right now, the thought of losing my mom… I want to break down and let it out. I won’t though. Instead, I straighten my shoulders and hold it all fucking inside. Like I always do.
ChapterFourteen
Irefuse to believe that anything is wrong with my ma. Call it denial. Call it whatever you want. But I’m not ready to lose her, for her to not be here. My mother is the backbone of this whole fucking family. Without her, we’re all just going to crumble.
Pops might be the boss, but he’s going to be lost without Ma. I don’t think I’ve ever known them to even spend a single night apart. Fuck, he’s going to lose his shit if this is true… How he’s managing to keep it together in front of us all so far is a miracle.
Maybe whatever Lorenzo overheard isn’t what we’re all jumping to conclusions about. It could be totally unrelated and just a huge misunderstanding. But we can’t exactly go up to our parents and say:Hey, so, does Ma have Alzheimer’s?
I walk out to the patio. My mother is sitting on a pool lounger, reading a book and sipping a cocktail. Pops is next to her, his MacBook open on his lap.
“I thought this was a vacation, Pops. You working?” I ask him.
“It’s a working vacation,” he grunts.
“Right… So, Ma, Orlando produced his first song. Wanna hear it?” I ask her. She’s always loved hearing my son sing. He has a great voice, a talent he inherited from his mother.
“When did he record it? I didn’t know he was recording a song. Did I?” she asks me and then looks at Pops with a worried expression on her face.
“No, we didn’t know. Play the song, Luca,” Pops says. Picking up my mother’s hand, he kisses the back of her wrist.
“He didn’t want to tell anyone until it was live. But, well, now it’s out in the world, so everyone is going to hear it,” I say, pulling the song up on my phone and pressing play. As my mom listens to Orlando sing, tears form in her eyes. “Why are you sad?” I ask her.
“It’s his first song, Luca. I’m not sad. I’m happy for him,” she tells me.
“Oh, right. Okay. I thought we could do breakfast tomorrow, at that little café down the road—the one you like. Just the two of us?”
Her face lights up. “Sure, I’d love that.”
“It’s a date.” I smile. “Seven thirty sharp, don’t be late,” I tell her before pushing to my feet and swiping up my phone from the lounger.
“It’s a date,” she repeats. When I walk away, I hear her whisper to Pops, “Make sure I don’t forget breakfast, T.”
