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I matched Tessie’s pace out the door and into the town car.
When she settled into her seat and clipped her seatbelt, she turned to me. “I like Ari. She doesn’t talk to me like I’m a kid.”
“Just be careful, kiddo. She’s a De Luca.”
If I were being honest, I didn’t mind Ariana’s friendship with Tessie. My problem here wasn’t with Ariana.
It was with the fact that there would be a time, probably soon, when Tessie would leave for California or Ariana would stop working at L’Osuritá, and the closer the two got to each other, the bigger the heartbreak for Tessie.
And that was the last thing I wanted.
Tessie met my eyes. “She’s not one of those De Lucas.”
“So?”
She shrugged. “Well, I like her anyway.”
She looked out the window for the rest of the ride home.
Chapter
Fourteen
Sometimes having courage means the hardest tasks fall onto your shoulders, and those leave the biggest scars.
C.J. REDWINE
ARIANA DE LUCA
“I’m serious. I’ve got nothing on the Romanos. Nothing.”
It disappointed me to admit it, but it was the truth. My only saving grace was that it was Jenn in front of me and not Wilks or Simmons.
Plus, what did she expect?
It hadn’t exactly been long.
She didn’t have to look so appalled.
She shrugged, placed her pen and notepad down, leaned back on her chair, and kicked her legs up onto her coffee table.
“Fair enough. It hasn’t been that long anyway.” Her intelligent eyes studied me, her usually intense scrutiny far more manageable after my exposure to Bastiano Romano. “So, how are you?”
“Fine.”
“Anyone giving you any trouble?”
Bastian’s face instantly popped into my mind, and I forced myself not to flinch.
“Nothing I can’t handle.”
In fact, Bastian had been remarkably absent during the rest of my week-long training period. He hadn’t even finished my training. Dana had, and it had been awkward and uncomfortable, to say the least.
Bastian and I had a few run ins, sure, but it was only because I’d been appalled by the amount of waste his restaurant produced and talking to him while serving his dinner couldn’t be helped.
Today was the last day of training before my first official shift tomorrow, and as far as I knew, Bastian wouldn’t be involved.
There were already whispers around the staff that he was spending more time than usual on the bar side of L’Oscurità, whispers they somehow attributed to me, though I suspected the timing of my hiring and his increased presence was a coincidence and nothing more.
