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“I’ll think of a way for you to apologize to me.”
I drove away smiling, thinking about his words. If he meant it as a threat, it didn’t work. I was actually contemplating scratching the damn car now.
It took me some time to find Chiara in the busy streets of downtown Palermo. The end of the summer always brought the biggest wave of tourists on this corner of Italian heaven and the city became a little crowded. It was a good thing. Tourists were good for business –allbusiness – because tourists came here looking for good food and nice stores, but they also looked for drugs, booze, and women. This city had a market for everyone and my husband and brothers were running it.
Chiara was easy to spot, because she was dressed in a beautiful white skirt suit and her caramel skin was glowing under the sun. She was waiting for me in front of an elegant restaurant.
“You’re late.” She accused me, before I could even say hello.
“Blame it on your cousin.”
“Oh, I see. He made you oblige your marital duties.”
“Cristo, Chiara.”
She noticed I didn’t bother to deny it and laughed, taking my hand and leading me inside the restaurant. We didn’t have a reservation, but as soon as the name Fiori was thrown around, themaître d'settled us at his best table.
Chiara ordered a chilled bottle of Abruzzo rosé and I settled for a lemonade. She was done with half of the bottle before the appetizers were served.
“You didn’t drive here, did you?” I pointed my fork at the rapidly emptying bottle, before starting to play with my Caprese.
“No, of course not. Pietro sent a driver.” She nodded towards the street. “He’s around here somewhere.”
“So are Salvatore’s men. He said they won’t bother us, but we are being watched.”
“After what happened to you in Milano, he will be overprotective for years. It’s going to drive you crazy.”
I giggled. “I know, but he’s the man I married. Crazy and possessive.”
“Yes.” She smiled, but there was bitterness in it. “Your brother was like that.”
Goliath was mentioned a couple of times before, but I was usually the one who mentioned him.
“Yes, he is… he can be intense.”
“He can be insane! I couldn’t walk down the street without him getting sick with jealousy.”
“Well, if I remember correctly, you had no problem putting him in his place.”
This time when she smiled, it radiated though the room.
“We kept each other on our toes.” That was one way to put it. They kept each other on their toes so much, Chiara might have done more ballet than I did. “No one understood Goliath and I. You get that, don’t you? Like no one understands how you and Salvatore made it so many years when the entire world told you to stay the hell away from each other.”
“I… we didn’t fight the way you and Goliath did.”
“That’s what people didn’t understand. Our fight was not harmful. It was… fuel. We thrived because we knew we could scream, and break furniture, and say horrible things, but neither of us would walk away.” She scoffed. “You know the only time we didn’t fight was when we broke up?”
“I didn’t know that.” Goliath never talked about it. One day he came home without Chiara and he became even more closed off than he was before. None of us dared to ask him for the details, or maybe Gaspino did because he had the advantage of being his twin, but he never shared with the rest of us.
“He came to me to say it was over and we were both… so calm. That’s how I knew it was over.”
“I wish you two would have made it. You made my brother happy.”
“Yes.”Me too. I waited for those words to be said, but she chose silence instead.
I kept looking at her, but I wasn’t sure what I was expecting to see. Something just didn’t feel right about her. Maybe I was just looking for problems where there weren’t any. Salvatore was close with his cousin, he would have known if something was not right.
Out of nowhere, she clapped her hands and looked at me. “We should do something.”
