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Luigi’s face breaks into a smile. “I joke, I joke. The look on your face. Where are you going to school?”
“Bover City University,” I tell him. “Not too far from home.”
“A splendid choice! My niece studies there. Psychology. Very good school. I’ll send a dessert to your table, on the house.”
I blush. “Oh, it’s okay, you don’t have to—”
“Nonsense! I’ll pick it up myself from the bakery across the street. Only the best for the Rossis.”
He scurries off, and I’m left blinking. Even as Tony Gagliardi’s daughter, I never got that kind of treatment. But walking in here now with Alessandro, the boss of the two most important families in Bover City, is different. I canfeelthat everyone in the room knows who we are, and wants us to approve of them.
Playing pool near us are two guys I recognize from the wedding circuit. Gagliardi family associates, I’m pretty sure. They come up to our table and congratulate me, making sure to shake Alessandro’s hand.
“Feel like the boss now?” Dominic smirks, lowering his voice after they leave. “They’re like dogs begging for scraps.”
“Shit, that’s my dad,” says Isabella, ducking.
Isabella’s father is a captain in the Gagliardi family. I turn and see him walking into the bar, along with Gio the Butcher.
“And that’s Giovanni Lombardo,” says Dominic, looking out of the corner of his eye. “Two Gagliardi captains. Let’s see what they do.”
They see us as they enter and immediately walk over to our table.
“Mr. and Mrs. Rossi!” Isabella’s father greets us, smiling a little too broadly. “And in such great company!” He leans down and kisses Isabella on the cheek. “Gio, have you met my daughter, Isabella?”
“A pleasure,” says Lombardo, his own fake warmth slightly more believable. He shakes hands with Alessandro, nods to Dominic, and gives me a kiss on the cheek while I try not to cringe.
I feel awkward, but no one else seems to. Apparently, I’m the only one who cares that the last time we saw each other, Alessandro and Dominic fed Gio the Butcher’s second-in-command to his own piranhas.
The bar owner comes back with a box of cannoncini, flaky Italian pastry horns filled with velvety cream. He congratulates me again as he places the box in front of us.
“Special occasion?” asks Isabella’s father, eyeing the pastries and then his daughter, as though trying to figure out what she’s done to earn a seat at the boss’s table.
“Ava just got accepted to Bover City University,” she tells him, nudging me. “We’re celebrating.”
“Ah! I forgot you two were close. Such a wonderful thing, to stay in touch with our childhood friends. Ava, I hope you have a wonderful time in school.”
“Thanks,” I say uncomfortably. Everyone is being so nice to me now, even more than they were before. I guessboss’s wifetrumpsboss’s daughter.Did my mom get treated like this when my dad was in charge? She probably did.
“Well, don’t let us interrupt,” says Gio, glancing at his companion. “Enjoy your dessert! Congratulations, Ava. I’m sure you’ll have a wonderful time at BCU.”
Both men give Alessandro a deferential nod, then they find seats at the bar.
Isabella taps my foot under the table. “Did you see my dad’s face when he realized I was sitting with his boss?”
***
An hour and a few drinks later, we’re having a good time. Isabella lets loose a bit after her father leaves, making all of us laugh with a story about how she and I used to sneak out of our high school English class.
“And the best part is,” Isabella chokes, “we managed to convince Mrs. Rivera that we had a conflict with an elective on Fridays, so she wouldn’t even mark us absent!”
“I knew you were a pair of delinquents,” chuckles Dominic. “From the first time I saw you hiding in the orchard smoking pot at that wedding, I thought,‘these girls are trouble.’”
“Didn’t do a very good job of staying out of trouble, then,” says Isabella. “Didn’t you take a hit from my joint?”
He shrugs. “Hey, I never said I had a problem with trouble. I love trouble.”
The door to the bar opens and three tall, athletic-looking men enter, all wearing hoodies for the BCU football team. Isabella glances over, then ducks, her face turning red.
