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“Hey, you guys! I’ve missed you.”
“We missed you too,Zia.” Victoria said to me. She was the sweetest thing in the world, literally an angel, compared to her troublemaking brother. “My Zia.” Her small arms hugged me tighter. The nickname was given to me back when they were too little to say my full name and I loved that it stuck.
“Emi did you miss me too?”
The boy, who was the spitting image of my brother, just smaller, shrugged. “Not really.” My mouth dropped. “Hey, don’t get mad. I’ve been busy.”
“You’re six, Emiliano.”
“Papa got me a new videogame.” He explained.
“Well, I’ve missed you and now we’re going on a trip together. Isn’t that fun?”
“Yay!” They both cheered and I took their hands in mine, guiding them to their parents.
“Come on, Becca, let’s go. I didn’t wake up at the crack of dawn to watch you two make out.”
“Shut up, Grazia.” My brother said, but didn’t take his eyes off his wife. God, he was so in love, it almost turned him into a crazy man. “You two take care and call if you need me.”
“We’re going to my mother’s, Gio. I won’t need you. Have fun with your brothers.”
“Will do.”
He walked us to the stairs of the plane and the flight attendant helped Rebecca get in, while I took the kids to their seats. They had a table prepared in advance with Legos, games, and coloring books to keep them entertained. My dad had the plane kid-ready ever since we first took a trip to Prague with them, and they spent the entire time poking at his face and climbing on his shoulders to kill the time.
The flight was short and peaceful. Rebecca and I had breakfast and chatted over coffee – and by that, I mean we gossiped about everything and everyone – and before we knew it, we were landing.
Her parents lived outside of Como, in one of the small towns along theVia Reginacalled Moltrasio. It was one of the many towns alongside the lake shore where a small community of financially potent people owned some very impressive villas. It was only natural that Rebecca’s father would decide to live his retirement years here, rubbing elbows with some of his very rich friends, after all, he was in top ten most rich people in Europe. There was a rumor that he wanted to get into politics and run for president, of course, before his daughter decided to run away and get married with a man from a familyallegedlytied to organized crime. Like any good father he tried to stop it, but he changed his mind when Giovani walked into his office with an Ak-47 and made it very clear that Becca would be his wife. Say whatever you want, but men from Palermo just had a way of making romantic grand gestures with a gun in their hands.
Rebecca’s parents were excellent hosts. They had a private room ready for me and after I took a quick shower, I changed into a white bathing suit, ready to go to the pool. Sure, we had a pool back home and the sea was only minutes away, but I could never get enough water, so I was excited. When I was on my way out, I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror and stopped. I bought this bathing suit on a shopping spree Pina and I went on last month. It was immaculate white with golden metallic accents and it made my breasts look amazing. My cheeks turned red thinking of the things Salvatore would say if he’d see me in it. He always had such an intense way of talking about my body, with flames in his eyes and hunger in his voice. It made me feel the most beautiful woman in the world. I owed most of my confidence to him and the way he was always so honest about how I made him feel.
Becca was waiting for me already and she preferred to sit in the sun while I went to play an epic game of tag in the water with Emiliano and Victoria. I won. I grew up with seven brothers who never let me win just because I was a girl and the youngest, so I wasn’t going to do that for their kids.
By dinner time, everyone was pleasantly tired, but the kids wanted to go for a boat ride, so Becca’s parents took them, leaving the two of us to enjoy dessert on their beautiful gazebo by the lake.
“I’m so full.” I sighed, patting my stomach.
“My dad’s chef is the best. You have no idea how many times I’ve tried to bribe him to come and work for me.”
“I can see why. That creamy tomato rigatoni might have been the best thing I’ve put in my mouth.”
“He sundries the tomatoes himself. I’m telling you, the man is a genius. Oh, look,” she pointed at the man who served our food, who was coming with the dessert, “wait until you taste his espresso panna cotta.”
“I don’t think I can.”
“Trust me, you need this. It’s my favorite thing ever.” She winked. “Tastes better than my husband.”
“Ugh, Becca!” I half laughed, half moaned. “That’s disgusting.”
“I know, but you’re my friend too. We should be able to talk about boys.”
“Not when your boy is my brother.” I leaned over and tasted the panna cotta. Damn she was right, it was good. Amazingly good.
“Fine, let’s talk about your boys.” She wiggled her eyebrows. “Anyone in the picture?”
“Did Giovani put you up to this?”
“No.” She wanted to say more, but was cut off by the server who came to us with a bottle in his hands.
