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“He does—make me happy, that is.” Stasia smiled brightly as though to confirm her words. It wasn’t a lie to keep the charade going. It was the truth.
“I’m sorry to intrude—” his grandfather took on a more serious tone as he turned back to Roberto with a direct stare “—but I wanted to discuss those files with you. I assume since you have time for sightseeing that you’ve completed the project.”
Roberto’s body tensed. His grip on Stasia’s hand tightened. His grandfather was calling him out for not spending every moment working and it was her fault. She was the one who’d lured him out for a day of leisurely strolls, delicious food and good times beneath the Italian sun.
The tension coursing between the two men was palpable. Stasia’s mind raced for something—for anything—that would break the rising tempers.
“It’s my fault,” she uttered. Both men turned to her and she knew she had to keep going. “I asked Roberto to go sightseeing today. If you’re angry with anyone, it should be me—”
“It’s not her fault.” Roberto gave her a stern look as though telling her to back off—that this was his fight. “I should have stayed and worked today.”
Not one to be warned off, she said, “But I promised him that I would help him—”
“Help him?” His grandfather’s gray brow arched. “Is that true, Roberto? Do you need help?”
Stasia inwardly groaned. “That isn’t what I meant—”
“Stasia, stop.” Roberto released her hand. “You don’t owe my grandfather any explanations.”
Immediately her lips pressed together in a firm line, holding back all the words she now wanted to say to Roberto. She’d been trying to help him. If he didn’t want her help, she didn’t know what she was doing here.
Roberto straightened his shoulders. “You didn’t say how I was to complete your project. In fact, I don’t even have to work on this thing for you.”
Now she could see why Roberto had opted to work with her brother. Both Roberto and his grandfather had iron wills. Neither wanted to back down.
“Are you saying you’re quitting?” his grandfather asked.
There was a moment of silence as though Roberto was weighing his options. “I plan to work on your reports the rest of the evening. And before you ask again, yes, Stasia is assisting me.”
“Those are confidential reports.”
“And I trust her explicitly.” He turned to her. “Would you mind giving us a minute alone?”
Stasia nodded before walking away. She hoped the two men would make peace with each other. Everyone needed family—whether it was by blood or by choice.
* * *
Roberto’s back teeth ground together.
Instead of his grandfather being grateful for the help, he could only criticize the way he’d gone about accomplishing it. Roberto remembered exactly why he’d quit working for his grandfather all those years ago.
Once Stasia was out of earshot, Roberto turned to his grandfather. “Don’t ever do that again.”
“Do what?” And then his grandfather’s eyes widened in understanding. “You really do care about her. Your grandmother said it was real. I should have trusted her instincts. She’s pretty good at spotting these things.”
“Not when it came to my parents,” Roberto muttered under his breath.
“That was different.”
Roberto hadn’t meant for his grandfather to hear him, but now that he had, Roberto had some questions. “How was it different? My parents can hardly stand to be in the room together.”
“What you don’t know is that your grandmother and I vehemently opposed their marriage. But the harder line we took, the more insistent your parents were about marrying.”
Having a very strained relationship with both parents, he would never broach this subject with either of them. “So why don’t they get divorced?”
His grandfather sighed. “That’s a question I’ve asked myself many times. And the only thing I can figure out is that they truly love each other.”
“No.” Roberto shook his head. “I’ve seen them. They don’t touch. They hardly talk to each other.”
