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“We are doing something. We’re having dinner.”
“Something else, Grazia. Where did you park your car?”
“Down the street?”
“Come on, let’s go.” She took another swig of the wine bottle and got up. “We can lose the guards in this crowd.”
“W-why? Chiara, what do you want to do?”
“We can go to the shopping district and find a salon and get our hair done.”
I laughed it off. “We can do that with the guards.”
“Where’s the fun in that? Let’s be free for a couple of hours.”
“Chiara, Salvatore will get mad.”
“Yes, and you’ll have a lot of fun making him forgive you. Don’t you want to take some time off? From all the drama? From thefamiglia.”
Mafia takes no days off. Giovani told me that a couple of years ago when I asked him if I could go away with some friends from school for my birthday. Birthdays were big in the Caputo family, with parties, aunts and uncles coming from all over the country, and all the friends of thefamigliagathering for the celebration, but I didn’t want that. I’d asked my brother is we could skip it for once; if my birthday could be about me and not about the Caputos putting on a show for the world. It wasn’t possible because the mafia takes no days off. It’s that simple.
After everything that had happened, yes, I wanted to just be for some time. A few moments where I wasn’t someone’s wife, or someone’s disgraced daughter, where I could be like one of the tourists marching down Palermo.
“An hour can’t hurt.” I gave in. I don’t know why, but her impulsivity was contagious. “When Salvatore finds out, I’m putting all the blame on you.”
“Do it, I’m not afraid of him.”
I left some bills behind on the table and we snuck out with another group of people. When we got to the car, I scanned the street quickly to see if there were any eyes on us, but couldn’t see anyone.
“I think we’re in the clear.”
“Let’s go, let’s go!”
I pressed the gas pedal all the way to the floor and the car launched like a bullet through the traffic.
“Where to now?”
“There’s a nice salon on the other side of the plaza. That’s what we need, gossip, some champagne, and a manicure.”
“Fine.”
Chiara let her head back and laughed. I don’t know why we were thinking this was such a big deal. We could have simply called Salvatore, let him know where we were going and give him peace of mind. Something about doing whatever the hell I wanted felt empowering and I followed Chiara’s lead. I relaxed in the driver’s seat and let go. This hour was for me, to have fun with a friend and gather my thoughts.
We drove around just for the fun of it for a while before Chiara started giving me actual directions to get to the salon she wanted.
“They serve good champagne here.” Chiara pointed at the doors with pictures of beautiful women plastered on the glass doors.
I chuckled and shook my head before putting the car in park. “I’m driving.”
“Oh, come on, you could have a glass. It’s not like any carabinieri would dare to stop one of Salvatore’s cars.”
“I’m still going to pass, darling.”
“Fine, stay boring.”
She got out of the car, disappointed at my lack of recklessness.
“Hey,” I called over the hood of the car. “I went rogue with you, didn’t I?”
