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My sister just scoffed at that with a shake of her head. “My husband is ripped. You’re a toothpick by comparison.”
Dad’s laugh was a little bit rough as he watched our interaction, eating his grilled chicken with more zeal now that he’d gotten dinner and a show. “She’s got you there, Enzo.”
“We can’t all be weightlifters, Amy,” I grumbled, but took a big bite of my burrito anyway. “But I guess he needs to be strong to pick up your small army of children.”
Amy rolled her eyes. “Five is not a lot. We were trying for a girl.”
“And you got it along with four of the rowdiest boys I’ve ever seen. I swear I thought Leonardo was going to push my stomach straight to my asshole today when he jumped on me while I was asleep.”
“This is so nice,” Dad chimed in cheerfully around a mouthful of rice. “Having you kids home, I mean. I never know if you’re going to love on each other or declare World War III—it keeps life interesting.”
We both shot him an identical, withering look.
“Anyway,” Amy said, standing and pulling her purse up on her shoulder. “On that ridiculously cheesy note, I’ve got to head back. Giulia has ballet and I’ve got to drop the rest of my army off at soccer practice.”
She leaned down and pressed a kiss to our dad’s cheek before reaching out and giving my hair a ruffle. “I’ll see you both later.”
Once she was gone, Dad and I sat and ate in a comfortable silence.
“She’s right you know, you are looking a bit skinny. Are you still worrying about Artie and his eyes?”
Sighing, I put down my half-eaten burrito. “I’m always worrying about Artie—and Leith too. It’s kind of my job to worry about them.”
“And who worries about you?”
I thought about it for a moment.
It was easy to say that Artie and Leith took care of me… but truthfully I rarely ever let them.
“That’s what I thought,” Dad said, pleased by his own deductive skills. “You never let us take care of you either, Son. It used to drive your mom crazy how independent you were when you came back from Italy.”
I did everything for myself the way that I did it for myself and my nonna. When I returned, there had been a couple of weeks where I kept doing things just as I had when I was in Italy. It got to the point where my mom broke down and we got into an argument because I wouldn’t let her wash my underwear.
“You’re certainly emotional today,” I told him, trying to lighten the situation while changing the subject.
But Dad was having none of it. “I don’t know if the heart attack is what’s making me so sentimental, but I wish that I could go back in time and try and figure out a different way to help you. Sending you to my mom’s worked and you came back as a fine young man, but I think it broke all of us in the process. You the most.”
Shaking my head I rested my clenched fists on the top of my knees, not looking at him. “You did what you had to do.”
“We did. But that doesn’t mean we were right to do it,” Dad reached out and put an IV-hooked up hand over mine. “But now you seem to have found something even better than us. Leith and Artie are perfect for you.”
And Ciara, my brain whispered but I shoved that down. My family had no clue how messy things were getting back in Seattle and I didn’t want to say anything until we figured it out for ourselves.
Adding another alpha to the pack required lots of discussion about boundaries and how the new relationship would change the dynamics within the pack. It couldn’t just happen.
“They’re my family,” I said with a shrug. “And so are you. I’m not very far away anymore—just an hour by plane—so when you or Amy are struggling please actually call me. Don’t wait until you’re about to die from a heart attack.”
Getting the phone call from Amy had shaken me to my core and I’d made a silent vow on the plane ride over that I would be a better son to my dad now that we were so close.
“Your sister won’t let me get away with it anymore, I have a feeling she’s going to rule me with the iron fist she inherited from your mother.”
If anyone could bully Antonio Santoro into behaving, it would be my sister.
“Good, you need it. Now, finish your meal before the nurses see and snitch on you to her.”
At that moment my phone began to ring and Leith’s face popped up on the screen.
“I’ve gotta answer this,” I told him, standing up from the uncomfortable hospital chair I’d been posted up in all day and headed for the door, pointing at his still half-eaten plate. “Eat your food.”
