When It Falls Apart (The D'Angelos, #1)(21)

Mari paused, lifted her glass of wine to her lips. “Some decisions in life are felt and spontaneous. And they are perfectly right. You’d do well to remember that. Your father proposed to me on such a moment. Picking flowers in a field.” Her smile turned wistful, and her eyes glazed over in memory.

Luca hesitated to say more before she continued.

“He handed me that pathetic display of flowers and dropped to his knee. We were children.” Mari caught Luca’s gaze for a second. “In life, you’ll have moments when you know you’re doing the right thing. For me, this is one of those times. Let’s eat.”

The need to argue more was hot on his lips.

Dishes passed between them in silence. The only one who seemed unfazed was Franny, who was nearly done with her dinner, whereas the rest of them hadn’t begun.

“Mama . . .”

Mari ignored Luca and said, “The new waiter seems to be catching on quickly, don’t you think?”

And just like that, the conversation about the tenant was dismissed.

Or swept under the carpet, as the case was.

Later, after Franny was tucked into bed and all was quiet on the floors below, Luca walked up the stairwell to the top floor and into the guest room of their family home.

“You’re late.” Gio had already beat him to it.

Luca took the seat opposite his brother, his arms spread on the sides of the chair. “What the hell is she thinking?” His eyes traveled around the space that had always been their sanctuary. As children, they’d used it to escape the chaos of the restaurant and grown-ups. As teenagers, they’d entertained their friends. As adults, they’d invited family and friends for long stays without them getting underfoot.

“I knew I should have moved up here at the beginning of the year,” Gio said on a hard sigh.

“No one could have seen this coming.”

Gio shook his head, reached for the beer he had on the coffee table. “There’s more in the fridge.”

Luca waved him off.

“Maybe this is a good thing.”

“Excuse me?” Luca said.

Gio shook his head. “I don’t know. A sign. For me. Where am I supposed to entertain a woman, Luca? My mother’s home? This has always been the space.”

Luca hadn’t even thought of that.

Gio’s sexual wings had been snipped with his mother’s actions.

“What are you thinking?” Luca asked, knowing exactly what his brother was going to say.

“I need to be on my own. It’s time.”

If there was something Luca understood more than anything, it was the desire to shift gears. But the one time he’d tried that, it backfired. Raising Franny with his mother and sister close at hand to give her what she needed from strong women was important. The last thing his daughter needed was a jaded father being the only influence in her life.

“What? No argument?”

Luca lifted himself from the chair and decided on that beer after all. “No argument. A request.”

“What’s that?”

“Help at the restaurant until we can find more staff.” Luca cracked open the bottle, took a drink.

“Of course, Luca. I’m talking about getting my own place, not removing myself from this family.” Gio spread his arms wide. “Even if I found a wife, this space wouldn’t do for us for long. Not with the babies I want to have.”

“Find the wife. Then move into my floor. Franny and I can take this one.”

Gio laughed. “Have you forgotten the tenant? And this is one bedroom. Franny will be a moody teenage girl before you know it.”

The thought made Luca nauseous. “You’re right. Find the farmhouse in Tuscany and we’ll all move in with you.”

“You’re joking, but when I make the trip, I might just stay.”

Luca narrowed his eyes. “There are wineries right here. Temecula is thirty miles.”

“And three times as expensive.”

Gio had been threatening to go into the wine business since he was old enough to drink the stuff, which at their table was ten, despite what the American laws said. Watered down, of course. Eventually he educated himself and became a certified sommelier. He was working on his advanced certificate when the world shut down. The course he wanted to continue was in Italy, and that was where he was going to immerse himself. He’d put the trip off, but the time was coming and Luca knew his brother was ready to fly away.

“I will support whatever you decide, but truly hope you follow your dreams here. Keep a foot in Italy if you must. But keep your legs here.”

Gio grinned. “I love you, too, brother.”

Once again, they looked around the top-floor apartment and sighed.

“What the hell was Mama thinking?”



Brooke greeted her father at the door of the nursing home with a smile.

He’d lost thirty pounds and aged twenty years.

Despite the wheelchair, he was smiling.

“You ready to blow this scene?” she asked him with a chuckle.

“L-let’s get the h-hell outta here.” His stutter was a constant since the stroke and had worsened with this illness. When he wasn’t stuttering, he was pausing, searching for the words he wanted to use.

The nurse had a clipboard with papers for Brooke to sign. “Since you’re transporting him and not an ambulance, we need you to sign these waivers.”