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Tad had let his pain blind him to Tony’s peace offerings over the years. Neither of them were good with words.
“Tony, I’m sorry.”
His uncle looked horrified. “Taddeo, you have nothing to be—”
“Not about the accident. I can’t carry that weight anymore, but I am sorry about how it hardened me. About how I let it take over and used it to push people away. Especially you.”
Tony’s lips turned up in the barest smile. “We are always here for you, Taddeo. This family doesn’t always tell each other these things but there is no shortage of love.” He patted Tad’s arm awkwardly.
Tad’s throat was too thick with emotion to respond. A few moments passed. The Kit Kat still teetered on the edge.
“Now that we are on better terms,” Tony continued after a minute spent staring at the vending machine, “I feel I can ask you this.”
“Shoot,” Tad croaked.
“Do you have a dollar to spare? It seems I will have to pay again for this chocolate bar.”
Good one, Tony.Tad felt as though an elephant had taken a step off his chest and oxygen was now rushing to make his anemic blood strong. Filling in all those transparent gaps, making him solid again.
“There you are,” he heard Lili’s soft voice behind him.
“How is she?” Tony barked.
“She’s okay. It was Braxton Hicks contractions but they wanted to be sure, hence the delay. She’s already asking for her chocolate fountains binder. Shane’s trying to decide how much rope he’s going to need to keep her on bed rest.”
Tad sighed. The women in this family tended to have this effect, even the ones who were related by marriage.
“Grazie de Dio.” Tony grasped Tad’s arm in a friendly way, his relief palpable, then gave him the eyebrow. “Now you must take care of this business with Julietta.”
Merda,that didn’t take long.
Lili folded her arms and stared at him, using less of the DeLuca stink eye and more… Christ Almighty, was that compassion?
“You okay? You didn’t answer any of my calls or texts. Or the door.”
“Yeah, I’m fine. I just needed some time.”
“You know I love you, right?” She sniffed, as if that could somehow temper the sudden bout of schmaltz. “I don’t tell you but you’ve always been there for me. In high school when I had it rough, and then again with all that online stuff when I met Jack, you’ve always been like a brother. I don’t think you realize how much I care about you. How much we all do.”
“Where the hell is this coming from?” he snapped, instantly regretting it because he knew everyone was feeling raw.
She stroked his forearm, easing him out of his ill humor. “We need to tell each other these things more. Maybe Jack’s sensitivity is rubbing off me.”
He laughed nervously. Lili often joked that Jack, for all his stiff upper lip Britishness, was more Italian than the entire DeLuca clan put together. But that wasn’t strictly true. Vivi had been emotional, and Tad used to be like that as well. These days, he felt like a walking open wound and a certain green-eyed girl was the only one with the right-sized suture kit.
“I love you, too,” he said gruffly.
“Then you’re probably not going to like what I have to say next.” She peered up at him, her shining blue eyes determined.Nice turnaround, cuz.“You’re, in my husband’s vernacular, acting like a total arse. I know you love her.”
“Language, Liliana,” Tony warned.
“Sorry, Dad.”
“Did you guys have a freaking intervention without me?”
Her brow furrowed. “What?”
“Nothing.” Tad split his gaze between them and inhaled deeply. “I messed up with Jules. Things got hard and I messed up.”
