I almost spill my milk everywhere as I spin to look up at Kent. “Shut up!” I whisper angrily, glancing back at the door. “They’ll hear you –“ “They?” Kent asks, raising an eyebrow and looking at Daniel’s door. “Come on!” I hiss, throwing my shoulder against his side, trying to herd him towards
Kent grabs the cookies from my hand and tosses them on the bed, taking a step closer to me. “Trust me, Fay,” he murmurs, his eyes on my mouth again. “This will be nothing like Girl Scouts.” I groan then, tossing my head back, letting him see that none of this is sexy. It’s all just so draining.
“Come on,” I say, pulling on Daniel’s sleeve and tugging him towards the back garden. “Let’s talk somewhere quiet.” Daniel anxiously follows me out the back door, looking behind us to see if anyone’s followed before pulling the door shut. I sit down at the little table and wait for him to join me,
“What,” Daniel huffs, laughing at my apparent gall. “Are you seriously going to come at me for bringing my boyfriend into my bedroom after you were out all day on a date with Ivan, our family’s enemy? Are we going to get into accusations of cheating here, Fay? Because I’m not sure you stand on solid
The door to Kent’s office is wide open when Daniel and I arrive, so we step in, still holding hands. Daniel pushes it closed behind us and I spend a little longer than necessary looking at the dark wood of the closed door, remembering what had happened there only a few hours ago. When I turn to lo
Slowly, Kent nods, studying me. “Yes, Fay. One million dollars a year, and the purchase of your childhood home with the deed immediately signed over to your adoptive father. Plus, the purchase and gift of a beach house, in your name, so you can spend your spare time there with your dad, your sister.
Kent can’t help enjoying the way his stomach twists when he sees Fay like that, frozen in the chair before him, her mouth slightly agape, her sapphire eyes wide with shock. A curl of her unruly red hair has fallen lose of its messy ponytail and into her face. He presses his hands harder against the
Half an hour later, I’m pounding up the front steps to my childhood home and throwing open the screen door. I twist the doorknob and push on the wooden door behind it, expecting it to fall open with its familiar creak, but I bump against it when it fails to open. Tears start to slide down my cheeks
My dad greets him with such genuine joy and excitement that it makes my heart swell with joy. They talk for a few minutes about Dominic’s day before dad gives him a little nudge back towards the gate where Kent and I are waiting. Dominic gives dad a kiss before running ahead again. My dad waves to
“Papa!” Dominic shouts, startling me out of my reverie as he drops my hand and darts down the road. I look up, a huge smile breaking out on my face again as I see Kent on the sidewalk just ahead. His back is to us as he speaks companionably with the butcher, a heavy bag of his purchases already hung
As I walk down the street towards the little Italian kindergarten, the whispers start around me, as they always do. I listen to all of them, a big German Shepherd padding quietly at my heels. “Is that her?” “Yes, that’s the one – I heard she was her husband’s mistress before he married her – tha
Both Kent and I laugh, but Don Bianci – across the baptismal font from us – snaps his eyes up, perhaps not liking the joke as much as we do. But I just ignore it, because dad’s right, frankly – and it’s too happy a day to care. After the final blessing everyone applauds Dominic – he likes that, bl
“Well, it didn’t seem to affect your first very badly,” Ivan says with a shrug, peering around Kent to where Daniel is laughing with an arm around Jerome’s shoulders. “So…maybe keep it up.” I smirk, squeezing Ivan’s hand once more before standing and moving to Kent’s side, tucking myself against h
“Hey, gorgeous,” Ivan says, his mouth turned up in a smirk as I cross the churchyard, beaming at him. “Look who’s talking,” I say, laughing and reaching for him when I come close enough. Ivan wraps me in a hug, dropping a kiss to my cheek as I hold Dominic a bit to the side so he doesn’t get squis
He laughs, smiling at me genuinely. “Do I make you nervous?” he asks, blunt. I laugh, unable to help it. “Has no one bothered to tell you, in all these years, that you’re a little terrifying, Don Bianci?” He grins and shakes his head at me. “Well, considering what you accomplished, young lady, I
Two months later, we’re all gathered together again. And it is only with frustration that I see Gio and Janeen standing so close together that their arms nearly brush, even though they’re still not together. I roll my eyes, dismissing the problem for a moment as I move my eyes down to Dominic and
It's an incredible night. Kent didn’t lie, not at all, about the food either. I’m shocked by the mountains of dishes that continue to follow each other, one after another, long into the night. After a few hours of it I just mournfully watch the waiters go by because I couldn’t eat another bite if I