Love & Gelato(18)

“Mom.”

I felt myself blush a little. Ren was cute, but in that kind of way that you don’t really notice at first. He had deep brown eyes fringed with ridiculously long lashes, and when he smiled he had a little gap between his front teeth. But again, that wasn’t the sort of the thing you told someone you just met.

Odette waved her hand at me. “Well, we’re so glad to have you in town. I’m pretty sure Ren has been having the most boring summer of his life. I told him just this morning that he needs to get out more.”

“Come on, Mom. It’s not like I just sit home all day.”

“All I know is that once a certain ragazza went out of town, you suddenly had no interest in going out.”

“I go out when I feel like it. Mimi has nothing to do with it.”

“Who’s Mimi?” I asked.

“His crush,” Odette said in a stage whisper.

“Mooom,” Ren growled. “I’m not nine.”

A phone started ringing, and Odette began pulling papers and art supplies off the table. “Where in the . . . ? Pronto?”

A little girl appeared in the doorway wearing a pair of ruffled underpants and black dress shoes. “I pooped!”

Odette gave her a double thumbs-up and then walked into the house, speaking on the phone in rapid Italian.

Ren groaned. “Gabriella, that is so embarrassing. Get back in the bathroom. We have company here.”

She ignored him, turning to me instead. “Tu chi sei?”

“She doesn’t speak Italian,” Ren said. “She’s American.”

“Anch’io! Are you Lorenzo’s girlfriend?” she asked.

“No. I just met him when I was out for a walk. My name’s Lina.”

She studied me for a minute. “You’re kind of like a principessa. Maybe like Rapunzel because of your crazy hairs.”

“It’s hair, not hairs, Gabriella,” Ren said. “And it’s not nice to tell someone their hair is crazy.”

“My hairs are crazy,” I confirmed.

“Do you want to see my criceto?” Gabriella ran over and grabbed my hand. “Come now, principessa. You will really like him. His furs are so soft.”

“Sure.”

Ren put his hand on her shoulder. “Carolina, no. And, Gabriella, she doesn’t want to. She has to leave soon.”

“I don’t mind. I like kids.”

“No, seriously, trust me. Going into her room is like stepping into a time warp. Before you know it, you’ll have been playing Barbies for like five hours and you’ll be answering to Princess Sparkle.”

“Non è vero, Lorenzo. You’re so mean!”

Ren answered in Italian, and Gabriella gave me a betrayed look and then ran out of the room, slamming the door behind her.

“What’s a criceto?”

“In English . . . a hamster, I think? Little annoying animal, runs on a wheel?”

“Yep. Hamster. She’s cute.”

“Sometimes she’s cute. Do you have any brothers or sisters?”

“No. But I used to babysit a lot for a family in my apartment building. They had triplet boys who were five.”

“Whoa.”

“Whenever their mom left, she’d say, Just keep them alive. Don’t worry about anything else.”

“So you tied them up or something?”

“No. The first time I babysat I wrestled them, and after that they loved me. Also, I always came over with my pockets full of fruit snacks.” At my mom’s funeral, one of the boys asked where I’d been and his brother said, Her mom is sleeping for a really long time. That’s why she can’t play with us anymore.

My throat tightened at the memory. “I’d better get going. Howard might wonder where I am.”

“Yeah, sure.” We walked back through the living room and Ren stopped at the front door.

“Hey, do you want to go to a party with me tomorrow?”

“Um . . .” I looked away, then quickly bent to tie my shoelace. It’s just a party. You know, the things normal teenagers go to? Losing my mom had somehow made social events feel like a quick jaunt up Mt. Everest. Also, I was doing an alarming amount of self-talk these days.

“I’ll have to ask Howard,” I finally said, straightening back up.

“Okay. I can pick you up on my scooter. Around eight?”

“Maybe. I’ll call you if I can go.” I reached for the doorknob.

“Wait. You need my number.” He grabbed a pen from a nearby table, then cupped my hand in his, writing his number quickly. His breath was warm, and when he finished, he held my hand for just a second longer.

Oh.

He looked up at me and smiled. “Ciao, Carolina. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Maybe.” I stepped out of the house and left without looking back. I was afraid he’d see the sparkly smile plastered across my face.





Chapter 6




THE WHOLE REN-HAND-HOLDING THING HAD launched a teeny butterfly in my stomach, but all it took was two minutes in the car with Howard for the butterfly to fall flat. It was just so awkward.

Howard had these big comb marks in his freshly showered hair, and he’d changed into a pair of slacks and a nicer shirt. I’d missed the memo on dressing up and was still wearing my T-shirt and sneakers.