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Actually I hadn’t heard that, because Melanie hadn’t said a word. But then again, neither had I. I hadn’t told her about the gossip in the kitchen or that Gio and I had already clashed on the topic.
“Sure,” I told my brother. “I knew that. But I’m not planning a staff meeting to examine the details.”
He made a face and exhaled slowly, looking at the ground. “I gave you a hard time, and I still think you deserved it, but I also think she might be good for you.” He looked up with an earnest expression. “No more secrets, okay, Dom?”
I thought about Donna’s comments about the past and her startling question about Steven. All this time I had no idea she’d kept in touch with him. But of course she wouldn’t have cut all ties to her first grandson, not even if he had helped destroy the family business.
Gio hadn’t been in the room for that conversation. Telling him now would just open up old wounds at a time when we needed to be a team more than ever.
“No more secrets,” I agreed and opened the driver’s side door. “Espo 2 is only ten minutes away from here, so I’ll stop by this afternoon to check on Donna.”
“Good.” Gio peered at his phone. “Tara’s on her way right now. She’ll let us know if there’s anything to worry about.” He looked up and smiled. “I expect Donna Esposito will be treated like a queen. You know Tara.”
I chuckled at that, and he waved as he departed. I watched him as he walked to his car. Only when he started pulling out of the parking space did I climb all the way into the driver’s seat of my truck.
I was relieved that the doctor seemed optimistic about Donna’s recovery chances, and I certainly breathed easier than I had when I walked through the hospital doors earlier this morning. Yet I still felt like there was a thunderstorm hovering directly overhead. My grandmother’s offhand mention of Steven and Beth had rattled me, but I knew that wasn’t the only source of this deep disquiet. No, there’d been something else, something about my grandmother’s words that had struck a strangely ominous note in my mind at the time.
As I turned the ignition, I was still bothered. Yet for the life of me, I couldn’t remember why.
