“I’m sorry, boys,” I apologized, “But I agreed to meet up with my wife for lunch. She’ll be expecting me soon.”
“Bring her here!” Julian exclaimed so loudly that I jumped. “You guys can have lunch here! My mom works in the kitchen, and she makes the best Italian food in all of Miami. Seriously, you won’t find any better.”
I smiled at how enthusiastically he was making his case. I couldn’t really see a reason why we couldn’t come have lunch here.
“Yeah.” Tanner nodded. “Come on, the food here is actually super good. You can’t just leave us hanging about what happened after that!”
“All right, all right,” I chuckled. They seemed so eager that I didn’t have the heart to turn them down. “I’ll go get my wife and see how she feels about having lunch here.”
I couldn’t imagine it being a problem, but it would be rude to agree without asking her first. I was certain she would say yes, though. After all, she was just as familiar with the mafia as I was, and she might even be able to offer a different perspective than mine. I bet the kids would get a kick out of that.
“Awesome,” Julian beamed before turning to his friends. “See? I told you this place used to be a mafia den. I can’t believe someone got shanked right here.”
I shook my head and bade my goodbyes before leaving to meet up with my wife. As I walked back down the streets of Miami, I wondered which story I should tell them next. It might be simpler to just go chronologically, in which case the one about the hijacked airplane might be the best one to tell them.
I smiled as I thought about the unexpected turn the day had taken. I’d never liked talking about my past, but for some reason, I hadn’t minded this time. In a way, it felt kind of liberating being able to hash it all out and explain how everything really went down. I found myself already looking forward to coming back and continuing to tell the kids my story.
Author’s Note
Hey, if you got here, I just want you to know that you’re A-number-one in my eyes! I wrote this book for someone like you, and if you want another one, it is very important that you leave a review.
You see, the more reviews a book gets, the more others want to read it, and the more likely it is there will be a sequel to it. After all, I’m only human, and you have no idea how far a simple “your book was great!” goes to brighten my day.
Thank you, and hope you enjoyed An Offer You Can’t Refuse!
