Rooted (Pagano Family #3)
Susan Fanetti
Prologue
Carmen Pagano slammed the door of her Tundra and smoothed her charcoal grey pencil skirt over her hips. Then she checked the side mirror and decided her makeup and dark hair looked fine. Whatever. She would never be comfortable dressed like this. And now she had to walk across acres of grass in stupid high heels. She felt like a lawn aerator.
It had taken her nearly twenty minutes to find any parking at all. Her little sister Rosa’s college commencement ceremony was set to begin soon, and Carmen hated to be late. She should have taken her brother Luca up on his offer to ride with him and his wife. But Carmen liked to have her own mode of transportation. She wanted to be able to go when she was ready.
Finally, she arrived at the expanse of lawn that was set up for the ceremony, and she scanned the rows of seats for her family. Within the crush of proud families, she found a row of mostly empty seats. Luca was sitting one seat in from the outside edge.
Carmen sat next to him, breathless. “Fuck, parking is impossible. And the attendants are *s.”
“Hey to you, too, sis.” Luca handed her a program.
She took it but didn’t look at it. “Where’s Manny?”
“We’ve had seat-saving detail for a while. She got bored and wandered off.” He shrugged. “You know how she is. She’s got her phone, so I’ll reel her in when it’s time.”
Fussing with her snug skirt and white, stiff cotton blouse, Carmen huffed. “Everybody else?” She looked down and saw that each heel on her black, ankle-strap pumps had a little clod of sod attached. Oh, screw it. She should have worn her work boots.
“Carlo and Sabina got a call from the lawyer and went off for some privacy. Pop and Adele are keeping Trey occupied. Joey and John are right there”—he indicated his brothers at the end of the row, also on seat-saving detail—“and Rosa is where she’s supposed to be, I expect: taking group selfies with all her BFFs, crying, and promising to always keep in touch. Now you’re here, and the commencement can commence. ‘Cuz, you know, they were all holding it up for you.”
“You’re a smartass.” Carmen gave him the stinkeye.
He laughed. “That’s news?”
“Nope.” She replayed what Luca had just said. “They got a call from the lawyer? Is that news?” Their elder brother, Carlo, and his wife, Sabina, were trying to adopt a baby. For reasons both tragic and infuriating, Sabina was unable to get pregnant.
Luca shrugged. “I don’t know. Carlo got the call, grabbed Sabina, and they went off. I guess we’ll know soon, though.”
Music began playing from somewhere Carmen couldn’t see. Luca pulled his phone and reeled Manny back to Rosa’s graduation from Brown University. A degree in political science. Little Rosie. Who’d’ve thought?
Carmen looked around and saw their family trickling back toward the seats as well. She returned her father’s wave as he came back with Carlo’s son in one hand, and Adele, their newly-minted stepmother, in the other.
Carlo and Sabina were headed back, too. Carlo finished his call as they came up to the seats. They both looked happy—anxious, but happy.
Luca stood and moved out of the seats to make way for the returning family. He turned in a circle, scanning the area for his wayward wife. Carmen scooted down to sit next to Joey, giving the youngest brother an affectionate, light punch in the arm as a greeting. He smiled, the tubes for his cannula tightening across his cheeks.
Carlo sat on her other side.
“Luca said you were talking to the lawyer.”
He nodded and smiled. “Yeah. I’ll tell you about it after.”
“Good news, though?”
He cocked his head, giving her a cautious look, but he was still smiling. “Positive news. We’ll see.”
The ceremony was beginning, so Carmen only bumped his shoulder in response.
In the middle of the invocation, Manny finally made it back, and she and Luca sat down. Carmen chuckled to herself. That girl would keep Luca on his toes forever.
oOo
Rosa wanted a blowout for her graduation party, and their father had complied. They were in a ballroom at a big Providence hotel. A DJ played house music for about a hundred young, aggressively hip, fresh college graduates. Some of Rosa’s family was there, too, though they had begun to disperse. The Uncles and aunts had attended the quiet family dinner before the bash, handed Rosa thick envelopes, and said their goodbyes.
Carlo and Sabina had gotten news that a pregnant woman in New Jersey wanted to meet with them as soon as possible, so they’d taken Trey and left after the graduation ceremony.
Their father and Adele had taken a room at the hotel for the night, so they could be close in case of trouble but not subjected to the horror that was Rosa’s idea of the perfect party.
Manny and Joey were having a good time, sitting at the family table making viciously cutting remarks about Rosa’s college buddies.
John and his girlfriend, Kristen, who’d shown up for the party, were making out in the back of the ballroom.
It was just Carmen and Luca on chaperone duty. Well, not chaperone, per se. They were sitting in the hotel lobby, the noise of the party muffled behind heavy doors. They had a bottle of Dewar’s and a couple of cut-crystal glasses. And they’d ordered some pepper biscuits from the restaurant.