Three Little Wishes

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Don’t mind us. We’re just leaving,” Cami said to the couple on the hammock under the elm trees. Noah was reading a book with an arm around Willow, who was snuggled up against him reading something on her iPhone.

It was the happiest and most relaxed Cami had seen them in almost a week. If Cami hadn’t overheard them talking to Riley earlier that morning when they’d gotten home, she would’ve flipped the hammock over. But she’d learned Flynn was Willow’s father, not Will, and that had sent her tiptoeing back to her room. She didn’t want them to know she’d overheard them or to catch her crying her eyes out because she’d deprived Willow of her father and Flynn of his daughter.

Neither Flynn nor Willow deserved what she’d done to them, even if it had been unintentional on her part. She had a feeling they’d be hard-pressed to believe her after the lies she’d told. Especially if they found out about the heinous act she’d committed.

That was one truth she was desperate to keep to herself, despite Gail and Hugh pressing her to confess the part she’d played in Will’s death. They both believed she couldn’t heal without unburdening her soul. But as much as she trusted that they had her best interests at heart, she couldn’t do it. She’d lose her family all over again. She’d lose Noah and Riley too.

It was going to be bad enough when she revealed she no longer had amnesia. No one would pull any punches then. Despite that, she had to do it. She couldn’t pretend she was seventeen forever, and she couldn’t try to assuage Gia’s fears or make amends to her family until she came out as herself.

She just wanted one more happy day, pretending to be a family with Willow, Riley, and Noah. She’d miraculously recover her memory tomorrow. Gail had bought her a reprieve from the press, releasing last year’s photos of her in Italy. She’d hidden out there after Jeff’s affair. Someone would eventually put it together. But for now, it was working. There were just a few die-hard paparazzi remaining in Sunshine Bay.

Noah and Willow turned their heads. “Where are you going again?” Willow asked.

Riley closed the door, giving goodbye kisses to Lucky through the screen. The kid seriously loved that dog.

“To La Dolce Vita. We told you like three times already,” Riley said. “We’re making you a special dinner to celebrate”—she glanced under her lashes at Cami—“uh, the good news that Channel 5 isn’t closing.”

It was wonderful news, and Cami couldn’t be happier for her daughter. But she knew that wasn’t what Riley wanted to celebrate. She wanted to celebrate Noah and Willow’s good news that they were free to be in a relationship. Cami knew Riley hoped that the couple would marry one day soon.

The Rosettis didn’t have a great track record when it came to love and marriage, but if anyone could beat the Rosetti curse, it was her daughter and Noah. Although Cami’s sister Eva and her niece Lila appeared to have beaten it too. Maybe it was just Cami who was cursed, her and Gia.

“Oh right,” Willow said, then worried her bottom lip between her teeth.

Cami knew exactly what she was worried about but she couldn’t tell her daughter they’d be careful of the paparazzi or not to worry because Cami was tracking their whereabouts online.

A few of them were hanging out at the airport while the rest were keeping an eye on Eva’s house, where her sisters and mother regularly filmed their Instagram and TikTok videos. Cami didn’t put it past them to be covertly staking out La Dolce Vita, although her mother had done a great job scaring them away.

Cami would’ve just as soon made a special dinner for Willow and Noah at the beach house, but she figured the couple wanted time alone, and Cami had missed spending time with her mother. If she got lucky, and she figured she deserved some good luck for a change, Gia would make herself scarce.

“It’s okay, Willow,” Riley said. “I know about the video from Last Call going viral and that there are photographers trying to get pics of me to sell to the tabloids.”

Cami wanted to kiss her. No one had connected Riley in the video to heiress Riley Bennett. The kid was so damn smart. But seventeen-year-old Cami… “They do?” she asked, making big eyes. “That’s da bomb!”

“It’s not da bomb,” Riley said. “They’re calling the video Poor Little Rich Girl Goes Wild!”

Cami pressed her lips together while casting a covert glance at Noah and Willow, whose shoulders were shaking in an effort to contain their laughter. Willow clapped a hand over her mouth, which Cami also pretended not to see. She put her hands on her hips. “So? Your face will be plastered like everywhere. You’ll get discovered!”

“I don’t want to get discovered.”

“I do!”

“Too bad. We’re going in disguise.” Riley held up hats, wigs, and sunglasses. “And if you don’t promise to wear them and promise not to do anything stupid to draw the photographers’ attention, we’re not going to La Dolce Vita. Got it?”

“You sound just like my mother!”

“Thank you,” Riley said primly.

“It wasn’t a compliment,” Cami muttered, while inside she was killing herself laughing.

“Well, um, it sounds like you’ve…” Willow burst out laughing, burying her face in Noah’s chest.

“What’s wrong with her?” Cami asked, fighting back a smile.

“She’s punchy. She didn’t get much sleep last night,” Noah said.

“Well, maybe she should go back to bed,” Cami said in a snotty voice.

“Great idea,” Willow said, her voice muffled in Noah’s chest.

“Okay. Drive careful, Cami. We’ll see you at five,” Noah said, not doing a very good job of disguising the fact that he couldn’t wait for them to leave. “Keep an eye on Cami, Tink.”

“I’m seventeen!”

“Going on twelve,” Riley muttered, sending her brother and Willow into fits of laughter. “I’m not kidding about the disguise, Cami,” Riley said as they walked to the station wagon. “We have to be careful. Billy saw the video online, and he lost his mind. I was across the room from Noah, and I could hear him yelling.”

Okay, Cami hadn’t known Riley had been outted. She must’ve missed that on social. “Oh no! Why didn’t you tell me?”

“You already felt bad enough. And you had to put up with Noah giving you the silent treatment. Besides, it was my idea to go to Last Call, and you never told Noah or Willow.”

“Of course I wouldn’t tell them. You’re my bestie.” She slung her arm around Riley’s shoulders. “Don’t worry. I’m not going to do anything to get you into any more trouble. We’re going to have so much fun cooking with my mother.”

They were having fun with her mother until her sister walked into the kitchen, leaned over, and sniffed the pot on the stove. “The sauce is missing something,” she said to their mother, ignoring Cami completely.

Cami wanted to tell her to get over herself but Gia had every right to be upset with her. But she wasn’t about to let her ruin Riley’s day.

“Nothing’s missing. Riley made the sauce exactly how we always do,” Cami said. Her sister was great with kids—great with everyone, really. She’d never intentionally hurt someone’s feelings. Other than Cami’s, obviously.

Standing at the far counter kneading the pizza dough, Riley turned. She had flour in her hair and on her nose and cheeks. She’d looked adorably flustered when they were trying to figure out how she’d managed to ruin her first two batches.

“Did I do something wrong to the sauce?” Riley asked, and Cami wanted to whack her sister with her casted arm.

Gia got an oh crap look on her face.

“I’m sure it’s perfect. I’ll just give it a taste,” Gia said, smiling at Riley as she picked up a wooden spoon. “Cami never puts in enough salt.”

“Don’t listen to her, Riley. My mother, Eva, and I make the best sauce. Gia, not so much. Isn’t that right, Ma?” she said when Carmen walked into the kitchen.

The wooden spoon stalled halfway to Gia’s lips, and she turned her head, pinning Cami with a pissed-off stare.

There were a lot of reasons Cami should be sucking up to her sister right now, but fighting with her desire to make things right with Gia, there was something else. Cami was jealous of her sister’s relationship with Willow, even if she had no right to be. So instead of kissing her sister’s culo, Cami wiggled her shoulders, making the snotty duck face she used to make when she was trying to get a rise out of Gia. Her sister had hated it.

Still does, Cami thought with a grin when Gia shoved the wooden spoon in her mouth instead of telling her to go F herself like she used to.

“What are you talking about?” Carmen asked, walking over to Riley.

“Gia thinks I made a mistake with the sauce,” Riley confided.

Carmen gave Gia a what’s wrong with you? look before waving off her daughter’s remark. “You didn’t make a mistake. You made the sauce exactly like my Cami does, and she makes it almost as good as me.” She pinched off a piece of dough, testing the elasticity. She nodded. “Better, much better. But maybe one more try, eh?” Carmen said, smiling at Riley.

Riley groaned. “I’m never going to get the hang of it. Maybe you should do it,” she said hopefully to Carmen. “Willow and Noah are going to be here in an hour.”

“Willow and Noah are coming?” Gia asked.

The green-eyed monster raised its head. “Yeah. Who did you think we were cooking for? Riley, Willow, Noah, and I are having a special family dinner to celebrate Willow’s big news.”

She’d taken it too far. She could tell by the look in her sister’s eyes. Cami resisted the urge to smack herself with her casted arm and walked over to Riley. “I know what you’re missing!” she crowed like a teenager hopped up on a high instead of filled with shame. “The secret ingredient. Love!”

Behind her, she heard what sounded like her sister slamming the wooden spoon on the stove and braced herself for what was to come. She deserved whatever her sister dished out. She just hoped she said it in Italian so Riley wouldn’t understand.

Carmen got to Gia first, removing her from the kitchen before all hell broke loose. It wasn’t the first time her mother had had to intervene with her daughters. The Rosettis fought as hard as they loved.

She heard her mother and sister yelling at each other in Italian. Carmen was defending Cami, and her sister wasn’t happy. She shared just how unhappy she was by reminding their mother what a piece of work Cami was. Gia didn’t want her spending time with Willow, and when Cami got her memory back, her sister intended to share that with her daughter. There was no room in their lives for Cami now, no matter how much Carmen wanted it. Cami clenched her teeth. Her sister might be able to keep her from her daughter, but no way in hell was she keeping Cami from her mother.

“I think Gia’s mad. You shouldn’t have said it like that, Cami. You made it sound like it was just us.”

“I want it just to be us.” One night, that was all she wanted. “Maybe we should bring dinner home.”

“There’s not going to be a dinner if I don’t get this right,” Riley said, and Cami reminded herself that today was about the girl she’d come to care about having fun.

She tested the dough. “My mother is the pizza queen and won’t settle for anything but perfection. But nothing in life is perfect. This dough is pretty damn close, though. And way better than Gia ever made,” she added with a grin.

“You really don’t like your sister, do you?”

“I love her.” She cleared her throat. “We’re just different, that’s all.” She patted the dough. “Okay, you’ll have to do the work and shape the pies,” she said, holding up her casted arm. “We’ll do the fun part together.”

“You mean like putting the toppings on them?”

“No, the best part, throwing the pies!”

“You’re a pro,” Cami said fifteen minutes later when Riley’s pie did a perfect spin in the air on her first try. “Where’s your phone?” Noah had caved and bought her one the day before.

“Over there.” Riley pointed at the opposite counter.

“Go get it, and put on ‘That’s Amore’ by Dean Martin.”

“Dean who?”

“Never mind who, just put it on,” she said, awkwardly tossing her pie in the air. She couldn’t wait to get her cast removed.

Riley laughed when the pie landed on Cami’s head. “We can’t use that one now,” she said.

“Why? My hair’s clean, and it was on there like for two seconds. Did you find the song?”

Riley pressed Play, and Cami closed her eyes as the memories of singing the song in the kitchen with her mother and sisters washed over her. She opened them to see Riley staring at her. “Are you crying?”

“No! I got flour in my eyes.” She wiped at them. “Now let’s sing and throw some pies.”

They were laughing and singing when another voice joined in and Carmen swiped Cami’s pie in the air and showed Riley why she was the pizza queen.

“You’re a show-off,” Cami said to her mother after Carmen finished dressing her pie in half the time it took Cami and Riley. She hugged her. “But I love you even if you made me look bad.”

Her mother leaned back and patted her cheek. “I love you too, cara.”

Cami’s eyes filled with tears, and she buried her face in her mother’s shoulder. “I missed you,” she whispered.

“Willow and Noah are on their way,” Gia said as she walked into the kitchen. She smiled at Riley. “Let’s get the pies in the oven.”

Cami wondered if Willow had called her mother or if Gia had called her daughter. She wondered what they’d said about her, about the celebratory dinner Cami had planned for just the four of them. It would never be just the four of them.

While the pies were in the oven, Cami and Riley made the Caesar salad.

“Why don’t you bring it out to the table?” Gia said to Riley. “You can help my mother set the family table.”

Riley’s gaze moved from Gia to Cami. “Okay,” she said, glancing over her shoulder as she walked away.

Cami nodded and smiled, letting Riley know she wouldn’t fight with her sister and ruin the dinner. She glanced at Gia, who was leaning against the counter with her arms crossed.

Cami held up her hands. “I’m not fighting with you.”

“No, what you’re going to do is listen to me. I’m sick and tired of everyone tiptoeing around you because you have amnesia. All you’ve done since you’ve come back here is cause problems between me and my family. Be nice to her, be patient with her, she thinks she’s seventeen. Well, you’re not! You’re a forty-seven-year-old woman who nearly destroyed this family once, and I’m not letting you do it again.”

“I know I’m forty-seven. I got my memory back, and do you know why I didn’t tell anyone, Gia? I didn’t tell them because I knew you’d do exactly what you’re doing now, try to get rid of me. And the only way I thought I’d have a chance to make amends to my family is to be the Cami they once loved. I want that, I need that, and I…” She trailed off, unable to say she deserved it. “I won’t let you stop me from repairing my relationship with Ma, Eva, my nieces, or my daughter.”

Gia glanced away and then a determined look came over her face. “Your daughter,” she said. “That’s rich.”

“I loved her. You know I did. I didn’t want to leave her. But I had no choice.”

“Just like you had no choice but to kidnap her? To steal her from us? She was four years old, and you stole her from the only family she knew. You traumatized her, and you traumatized us.”

“All I wanted was to spend some time with her but you wouldn’t let me. You treated me like a stranger. You acted as if I was going to hurt her. You wouldn’t even let me take her to the beach. You had to go with me.”

“Because she didn’t know you! I was trying to protect her, protect you.”

“You threatened me. You said you’d call the police. But she was my daughter!” Cami shook off the memories of Willow crying for her mother, refusing to eat. “I brought her back.”

“Yeah, three weeks later.”

“I signed the papers. I gave you custody, and did as you demanded. I stayed away from her, from you, Ma, and Eva. For twenty-five years, I stayed away.”

“You make it sound like you were a doting mother, but you abandoned her when she was four months old. You wanted to be a star. Well, you got your wish, Cami. So just leave us all the hell alone.”

“No. You’re wrong. I left her because I couldn’t look at her without being reminded of Will. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw him in that car. I still do.”

“Cami—”

“It was my fault, Gia. I was with Will the night he died. The only reason he was on the road that night was because of me. He was tired. He didn’t want to drive, but I begged him to.”

“Cami, stop. You have to st—”

“I promised I’d stay awake and make sure he didn’t fall asleep at the wheel, but I didn’t keep my promise. I’m the reason he died, Gia. The boy I believed was Willow’s father died because of me. And I didn’t stay with him. I left him there, bleeding out on the side of—”

Someone gasped, and she turned her head. Riley stood staring at her with tears streaming down her pale face. Noah stood behind his sister, his hands resting on her shoulders, the expression on his face stone cold. Willow stood beside him sobbing into her hand.

Cami turned her horrified gaze on her sister. “You knew. You knew they were there all along.”

“I just wanted them to hear and see for themselves who you really are.” She shook her head. “But Cami, I didn’t know. I didn’t know about Will. I tried to stop you.”