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We sit in the waiting area. I take a sip of my coffee. “No, but she’s dosed up to her eyeballs. She’s sleeping, not in a coma or anything. They think it could be days until she’s lucid again.”
“Fuck,” Luca mutters. “You can take all the time you need.”
“I can work,” I tell him gruffly, wondering if Carter went back on his word.
Luca shakes his head slowly. “You don’t need to. Things have settled down. Finally, this city has chilled the hell out.”
“Still—”
“You know we’ve got you, Dante? You don’t need?—”
“Got me,” I repeat, nodding slowly, staring at him in the way people don’t like. “What do you mean by that?”
“It means you’re in the Family, Dante. Work or not, we’ve got you covered.”
“I earn the care for Ma,” I tell him. “I earn my keep. Nobody’sgotme, Luca.”
Luca narrows his eyes. “Okay, Dante. Fair enough.”
Goddamn it. I’m not thinking straight. I’m acting like a kid throwing a tantrum. It’s my head splitting. It’s thinking of Mia. Of Ma.
“Work keeps me busy, less thinking.”
“Why is that a good thing?”
“To think less?” I smirk. “You’reasking me that?”
Luca grins. “You’re making jokes now?”
“You know what it’s like, knowing how messed up the world is, knowing there are bad people out there. Knowing you could make it right. Knowing, maybe, you’d feel… something.”
Luca looks at me closely, saying nothing. I wonder if he really does understand. Or if, to him, this is one step too far. Luca is no stranger to darkness, but he’s always had a reason for it. He’s never enjoyed it. Yet, with me, it’s like letting the darkness out.
“That’s not what we do, though,” Luca says. “It’s a business, brother. Relax.”
He smiles, just like he’s been since I’ve known him. Luca was always easygoing. Then he had a phase of being grim and moody for almost a year until he met his Ruby, and he was back to his usual self. That’s the difference. I could never be like that.
“Relax,” I repeat, shaking my head.
“I know. Hell. None of this can be easy.”
“I just want her to be okay. Carter thinks it’s time I put her in a home. Mom’s been pushing her nurses away. I think, sometimes, she wants to prove a point. She wants to force me to put her in a home because she knows I’d never do it.” I grit my teeth. “She thinks I’m sacrificing my whole life so she can live half of one.”
“I’m sorry,” Luca says quietly. “For what it’s worth, Dad told me what he thought about Mom back when she cared for him when he had his stroke. Trapped in his own body, he called it.”
“Yeah?”
“He said he was grateful, but he wished she’d rest more and see her friends more often. He didn’t like being the reason she stopped living her life.”
I run a hand through my hair, thinking of Mia.I don’t have a life, I almost say, but that would be going too far.
Carter approaches. A few nurses look at him, tilting their heads, and I wonder if that’s why he works here. Maybe Doc is a lady’s man.
“Is it Ma?” I say, standing.
Carter winces, glancing at Luca. Goddamn it. It’s about the tests, my head. Carter quickly says, “She may have woken up. Please come with me, Dante. Sorry, Luca, but…”
“Of course, of course,” Luca says, waving a hand.
