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“Red Hook is a big enough neighborhood they won’t be able to find you,” Joni assured me with her signature careless optimism.
She was the only person I knew who always genuinely believed things would work out no matter what.
I wished I felt as self-assured.
“Don’t answer the door if you don’t know who it is.” I swiped my keys from the counter and got ready to gather Sofia from upstairs. “Put your mug in the dishwasher when you’re done. Are you heading home tonight or planning to stay here again?”
“Um…I might stay another night if that’s okay. My friend Charlie wants to try this club downtown, and your place is closer. But I’ll probably go back tomorrow. No offense, Frankie. Nonna’s a snoop, but she’s a way better cook than you.”
She held up her coffee mug as if to demonstrate.
I smirked but took zero offense. Even my coffee was weak. After six weeks of living without the benefits of Xavier’s cookingorMatthew’s, I was getting pretty sick of my mediocre kitchen skills myself. Sofia was nearly in full mutiny.
“No worries,” I told her. “I’m tempted to move back myself just for that.”
“You should. It’s lonely there without anyone else.”
I smiled. By “anyone else,” Joni clearly meant Marie, even if she didn’t want to admit to missing her sister/nemesis.
“Want me to pick up Sofia after PT?” she asked. “Then you don’t have to rush her over after school, and you could meet Xavier wherever.”
I brightened. “That would be great if you could get the kiddo. I’ll bring home a pizza so we don’t
have to eat grilled cheese.”
“Nah, we’ll pick up something so you can have a few minutes to yourself,” she replied.
I smiled. It was unlike Joni to be that thoughtful. Maybe she was growing up a little after all.
“Maybe freshen up?” she continued. “Or get fresh with your big sexy Englishman?”
Maybe not.
Joni winked, and I reddened. She couldn’t know that the last two weeks had only made my libido go evenmorenuts, particularly since the morning sickness was starting to subside. It didn’t help that since seeing him in Italy, a wet Xavier emerging from the Mediterranean had appeared in my dreams almost nightly to do extremely dirty things to me on that dock. The idea that I was going to see him in person in a matter of hours wasn’t exactly helping.
“It’s not like that anymore,” I insisted.
“If you say so. But you kind of look like a lollipop right now. Your cheeks are so pink.”
I tossed a balled-up paper towel at her, grinning at Joni’s infectious laughter. “Good luck at PT, you brat. I’ll see you tonight.”
“Good luck at, I don’t know, life,” Joni called as I walked out of the kitchen to find Sofia. “It’ll all be fine!”
I only wished I could believe her.
SIX
After dropping off Sofia, I arrived at P.S. 058—otherwise known as Carroll Elementary—to find a covey of photographers outside the front entrance. The volunteer crossing guards were working a little harder than usual to clear the road for early arrivals. Dolores, a fifth-grade mom and head of the PTA, did not look pleased.
“Shoot,” I muttered, stopping a full block away and ducking behind a big hydrangea bush.
They hadn’t spotted me. Yet. But it was pretty obvious whom they were looking for.
“I’d take the back entrance if I were you.”
I turned to find Adam Klein standing behind me.
My stomach dropped another inch.
