At her mention of food, I sniffed the air and nearly moaned at the aromas floating on it. My mother’s cooking was such an integral part of coming home that I hadn’t even stopped to think about it before.
Now that I had, I was suddenly starving for the lasagna I knew was in the oven. The richness of melted cheese and baking meat gave it away. Homemade lasagna was a thing of beauty to me, especially when it was my mother’s.
“You two set the table,” she ordered as she turned her back on us again. “The food will be ready in a minute. There’s a bottle of Prosecco in the fridge. I will need a big glass if you’re going to insist on acting like children.”
Aldo roared with laughter, shoving his shoulder against mine before he took off after her. “I’ll get the drinks. You set the table.”
I grumbled, but I had lost that round fair and square. Mom’s dining table was a wooden antique that had been passed down from her grandmother. Pockmarks and scratches marred the surface but gave it so much character that it almost felt like it was another member of our family.
I covered it with a starched white tablecloth because my mother was of the opinion that it was barbaric to eat without one. Then I added everything else. Just as soon as I added a bottle of extra virgin olive oil, Mom came out of the kitchen carrying a board with golden bread on it in one hand and a bowl of salad in the other.
I reached for both and she nodded in thanks before heading back to the kitchen. Aldo came back with a glass of the wine Mom had asked for and a beer for each of us. We took our seats, and I cut slices of the fresh bread while we waited for her.
Once Mom placed the lasagna in the center of the table, she motioned to us as she sat down. “Tuck in, boys. I don’t want you going hungry. You’re both much too thin already.”
“We’re not thin. We’re in shape.” Aldo scoffed but pushed his chair back and gestured to his abdomen. “This is what gets the girls, Mama. If you ever want us to find out about that thing you mentioned earlier about babies, we can’t get fat.”
Mom leveled a glare at him, then bent over and, as she had promised, retrieved the sandal. Aldo laughed and tried ducking, but a smacking sound told me she had connected with his bicep after all.
He continued laughing, but Mom ignored him.
“Women of substance care about what’s on the inside, not the outside.” She let the sandal drop to the floor and picked up her silverware like nothing had happened. “Perhaps that’s why neither of you have settled down. You’re not socializing with the right kind of women. I can help you, you know. There’s a lovely group of young women at the church who—”
Aldo covered his face with his hands while I groaned loudly. “Not this again, Mama. Please. We’re fine. We don’t need your help.”
“But—”
Aldo interrupted her, turning to me. “Tell us about China. Did you close your deal?”
“I did,” I said, taking his cue and launching into an unnecessarily detailed description of the country, the food, and the business I’d done there.
Mom listened, but I knew our attempt to redirect hadn’t fooled her. Her eyes were sharp and alert on mine as she listened, though. She wasn’t involved in my business at all, but she always showed her interest and intellect when I spoke about it.
Letting the topic of us meeting the church girls go—for now—she listened and asked me questions while we ate. Aldo and I both got a few more smacks of the sandal before the end of dinner, but they never hurt and were a part of every family dinner we’d ever had.
Aldo left the table to refill our drinks as my phone chimed with an email. Mom gave me a look filled with disapproval. She hated it when we had our phones present while having a meal together, but I couldn’t help it.
Respecting her wishes while running a company was a fine balancing act sometimes. I unlocked my phone and only glanced down to see the email was from Edward. They had arrived in Florence and were looking forward to seeing me.
I gave Mom an apologetic smile and set my phone back down. “My new business partners just let me know they’re in town. I have to show them a good time tomorrow. Got any ideas?”
Chapter 4
Addy
Early afternoon sunlight warmed my feet as it crept in through the open windows. I was lying on our couch in the living room, my laptop on my legs as I scrolled through job-seeking websites.
Soft footsteps padding into the room alerted me to the fact that my roommate had finally woken up. I popped my head up over the couch to give her a wave.
“Good afternoon, sunshine. I was just starting to wonder if I needed to make an explosion go off next to your head.”
She lifted a hand to shield her blue eyes from the light and flipped me off with the other. “Hilarious. I only got to bed two hours before dawn. Do you really blame me for sleeping in?”
I shrugged as I sat up and swung my legs to the side. “I was getting bored by myself. Being unemployed is lonely.”
“You’ve been unemployed for two days,” she pointed out as she pulled her long, tangled blonde hair into a bun and fastened it with a band from around her wrist. “How’s the job hunt going?”
“Not well.” I blew out a breath and set my laptop down on the coffee table in front of me. “I’m applying for everything I can, but I haven’t heard back yet.”
She made a sympathetic noise in the back of her throat as she inclined her head toward
