Chapter Thirty-Four
chapter thirty-four
CAIO
“You’re coming, Caio, I won’t take any excuses. And bring Isla with you.” Vanessa’s voice is stern on the other line.
I haven’t been to a D’Angelo family dinner in nearly a month and apparently Vanessa is sick of having an empty chair at the table, even though when I’m in busy periods with work I will skip dinner here and there so there’s often an empty chair at the table.
Really, I just think that Marina let it slip to her ma that Isla and I are…whatever we are, and Vanessa couldn’t wait another day before wanting to see us together.
“I’ll have to check if she’s free,” I say.
“You tell her there will be a lemon panna cotta waiting for her and she’ll cancel any plans she might have.”
I can’t argue with her there.
“Be here at six, we’ll be expecting you.” And with that she ends the call, giving me no wiggle room to negotiate. I guess Isla and I are going to dinner with my family tonight.
I look down at my phone and dial my cousin’s number.
“I am so, so, so, sorry, it just slipped out,” she says as soon as she picks up the phone.
I chuckle beneath my breath, I knew it. “It’s okay. She was going to find out one way or another. Odds on how much of the town knows already?”
“She’s quick with that phone you know. She’s figured out how to call in group chats, so I think it’s safe to say the only person who doesn’t know is Riccardo.”
Riccardo lives down at the dock on a houseboat kind of situation. He doesn’t have a job, he just fishes, swims, takes the boat out and brings it back to the dock. No one really knows how long he’s been here or if he has any family here. No one even knows his last name, he’s just Riccardo. He pretty much just sticks to himself, being the reason why he would be the only one that’s not up with the gossip train in this town.
“I don’t want Isla to feel any pressure. I mean I’m essentially bringing her home to meet the family.”
“Yeah…”
“Maybe we should invite Miles, her brother? Make it a bit more casual?”
I bring my phone away from my ear to check the line is still connected after Marina goes silent. “Marina?”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea. Ma and Papa don’t know him at all,” she says in a completely different tone to seconds before.
“Well, it’s a good chance for them to meet, no?”
“There won’t be space for anyone else, we’ll barely fit around the table with just the five of us, it will be fine Caio, Ma will be fine. I’ve got to go but I’ll see you tonight.” She hangs up the phone.
Well, that was weird, but I guess Marina’s right. We’ll already be shin-to-shin around the dinner table without an extra person there, so hopefully Isla won’t think of it all too seriously. She already knows Vanessa, and Luca is the warmest soul I’ve had the pleasure of knowing. It’ll just be a casual dinner, with a delicious panna cotta for dessert. Maybe I should go for family dinners more often.
I’m fixing my collar in the mirror when the elevator dings, the thing is so loud you can hear it in every room.
I’ve given Isla a keycard for my level so she can stop struggling with the intercom. No matter how much I secretly enjoyed it myself.
I step out of the bedroom to see her waltzing in, her hair is wind thrown from her ride back, and she has paint everywhere. On her fingers, in her hair, she looks so precious. My little artist.
“I need to talk to you about something,” she says, before stopping dead in her tracks when she sees me, I’m surprised her shoes didn’t squeak on the marble beneath her feet.
“And where are you going looking like that?” She looks me up and down, taking in the casual jeans I picked out with a vanilla colored linen shirt.
“Like what?”
“Like,” she puts her hands in front of her, her palms to me as she moves them all around. “ That .” She’s looking at me with her googley eyes that boost my confidence through the roof.
“Dinner with you,” I respond with a chuckle.
She walks up to me wrapping her arms around my neck. “Since when?”
“Since Vanessa called insisting we both attend family dinner tonight.” I wrap my arms around her before she can run away.
Her eyes widen a fraction. “Why am I invited to family dinner?” Her voice is skeptical.
“Cause Marina accidentally told her that we are something.”
She rolls her eyes. “Of course she did.”
“Vanessa said there will be lemon panna cotta?”
“Ooh! Sold,” she presses a kiss to my lips. “When do we leave?” She doesn’t seem as worried as I had originally anticipated, and it somehow eases my concerns and doubles them at the same time.
“Mmm,” I look down at the watch on my wrist. “About half an hour.”
“Caio!” She smacks my arm, pulling out of my arms. “Why didn’t you tell me earlier?”
“I didn’t want to cut your studio time short!”
“But now I look like this,” she gestures to herself, overly dramatic and it’s adorable. “And I only have half an hour to fix it!”
“You look beautiful, sweetheart . ” I still can’t get over how she looks in my clothes. I reach for her waist, but she slides out of reach. She uses all her willpower to hold back the smile tugging at her lips at my compliment.
“You,” she points at me accusingly, shaking her head.
I look back at my watch. “Twenty-nine minutes.” And I don’t hold back my own smile as Isla goes running into my bedroom yelling. “What the hell am I going to wear?”
Isla’s hand is clammy in mine as we stand at the front door of Vanessa and Luca’s home. I ring the doorbell, and not a second later Vanessa swings the bright orange door open.
“Isla, it’s so good to see you!” She wraps her in a hug, throwing me a knowing look over Isla’s shoulder.
“Don’t you look beautiful,” she admires Isla. “Doesn’t she look beautiful Caio?”
Real subtle Vanessa.
“She does indeed.”
Isla has another one of those pretty little sundresses on. I wonder if she knows that they’re my favorite.
Home.
The hotel has always felt like my home since the first night I spent on a cheap mattress on the lobby floor. But now with Isla there it just feels… different .
Better.
I press a kiss to her head and press another to Vanessa’s cheek before I follow them into the house.
“Ah, Caio!” Luca is standing in the kitchen, he’s got a purple floral apron on that I suspect is his wife’s, with a tea towel thrown over his shoulder as he stands at the stove, cooking something that fills the house with that homemade dinner smell.
“Come taste the ravioli for me.”
I walk into the kitchen and try the ravioli he’s cooking up for dinner.
“It’s delicious, Luca.”
“No, what does it need?”
“Uhh, I’m not sure, salt?” I have no clue, cooking has never been my specialty, but it tastes amazing to me.
He tsks his tongue behind his teeth. “You’re useless, Go entertain my wife before she comes in here and tries to take over, go, go.” He shoos me away with the towel over his shoulder.
“So…what have you two been up to lately?” Vanessa is the definition of obvious as I take a seat beside Isla on the couch opposite her, it feels a bit too much like an interrogation for my comfort.
“Oh, nothing really,” Isla looks over to me. “Just working with Marina, going to the beach…just the regular. Speaking of, where is Marina?” Isla’s knee is jiggling up and down as she looks around the small living room for where Marina might be hiding.
I slide my hand over her knee, and she immediately stops her twitching, instead all of her focus homes in on me. A hint of nervousness in her deep eyes that are staring back at me.
I brush my thumb back and forth over her knee, in a soothing motion.
Vanessa hums an approving sound from across the room. “Very nice.” Her eyebrows are raised to her hairline. I ignore her while she surveys us as I thread my fingers through Isla’s, her eyes haven’t left mine.
A clanging comes from the kitchen, the sound of a utensil hitting the floor.
“Luca, what are you doing in there?” Vanessa gets up from her seat, leaving us in the living room as she goes to inspect her husband’s cooking.
Vanessa is without a doubt the best in town at making sweet and delicious goods. She’s an amazing pastry chef and makes the best desserts, but Luca grew up with Italian recipes and learnt to cook from his mother, so he can hold his own in the kitchen. But that doesn’t stop Vanessa from hovering in the kitchen when he’s making a meal.
When I look back to Isla, she has a small smile on her face while she watches them in the kitchen. “You okay, sweetheart?”
“I feel like I’m waiting to find out if I got the job.” She huffs a laugh through her nose.
“Just remember,” I press a reassuring kiss to her lips. “You’ve seen Vanessa swaying on tabletops after one too many margaritas, you have no reason to be nervous.” She laughs at that.
“She’s just being nosy, it’s her favorite hobby. Besides, this,” I look around the small house. There are family photos littering the walls, I even feature in a few of them. Multicolored rugs lay haphazardly over the brick floors, the soft leather couches holding them in place. “This is my family, at least the family who accepted me. This is home to me, and it’s nice, to have you here.” More than nice.
“Were your other girlfriends nervous when you brought them to meet Vanessa?” She asks innocently, no animosity behind her words. Just genuine curiosity that has me needing to right that wrong.
“I’ve never brought any woman here, Isla. Ever. Just you.”
A crinkle forms in between her eyebrows and I press my thumb to it, rubbing her frown away before resting my hand on her cheek. “Don’t you get it yet? There’s only you.”
Her eyes soften, chocolate melting underneath my gaze.
“Sorry, sorry, I know I’m late,” Marina busts through the front door, a bouquet of flowers in her arms.
“Marina…” Vanessa’s accent is thick as she leaves the kitchen at the sound of her daughter’s voice, but the stern look on her face drops as soon as she eyes the flowers.
“For you, Ma.” Marina holds a bouquet out for her. “I know you’ve been working extra hard lately, so I thought these would be a nice little treat.”
“Oh! Grazie, principessa mia.” Vanessa pulls her into a warm hug, kissing her on both cheeks. “Luca, look at the way your daughter treated me. Maybe you should take some notes.”
“I don’t need to buy you flowers. I treat you in other ways, Amore mio. ” He winks.
“Papa!” Marina covers her eyes with her hands as Vanessa blushes.
Isla giggles from beside me as Marina flops down onto the couch across from us. “Well, that was something I did not need to hear,” she says.
“At least you know that they’re still, you know, passionate,” Isla teases, waggling her eyebrows at Marina.
“Ew, stop it right now or I’ll bring up your passion at the dinner table.” She points between the two of us.
That’s the end of that.
“ Ok , buon appetito .” Luca’s timing is impeccable as he calls us all to the circular dining table where Vanessa has created a centerpiece with her new bouquet.
The table is silent for some time as we all eat our meals in peace. The flavors dance in my mouth and I couldn’t concentrate on conversation if I tried, this is too good. Luca is a culinary mastermind.
“This is amazing Mr. D’Angelo,” Isla says.
“Away with the formalities.” Luca waves his hand away in dismissal. “It’s Luca, please.”
“Well, it’s delicious, Luca. Thank you.”
“My pleasure.”
I smile and knock my knee against Isla’s under the table. Marina was right, we are tucked in close, but I can’t complain when my knee is brushing up against Isla’s with every breath I take.
She turns to look at me, and the smile she gives me takes my breath away. Seeing her happy and comfortable in this place is almost as good as seeing her in my own kitchen, making a mess like she owns it.
Any time where Isla effortlessly fits into my life fills my stupid mind with pictures of a future with her.
Pictures of family dinners every week, maybe with a little family of our own. Of course with Marvin meowing in the background. She loves that stupid cat. Pictures of her baking me terrible cupcakes in our kitchen. Pictures that give me too much hope, but ones that I can’t ignore no matter how hard I’ve tried to.
I’m usually good at keeping my cool, but not when it comes to Isla. I don’t know how much longer I can pretend I’m okay with the unknown, because really, it’s tearing me up inside. Tugging me back and forth between wanting to give her my everything, and tell her how I really feel about her, while at the same time, wanting to act like this is all okay. I don’t know how long I can keep it up before I crack.
“Caio, did you hear about Nora’s?” Vanessa asks.
“That’s what I wanted to talk to you about earlier,” Isla says.
“What are we talking about?” I ask, confused. “What’s wrong with Nora?”
“The owners of her studio are selling,” Vanessa says.
My heart sinks at the thought of Nora’s studio being sold out from under her, she loves that place.
“We need to do something, and I actually have an idea.” Isla’s meal is quickly abandoned as she starts explaining. “Nora doesn’t have the money to buy the studio herself, so I was thinking we could host a fundraiser event. I’m sure the town would rally around to help Nora, we could do an auction or something,” she looks around the table as she rambles. “I’m sure the women of Ruby Cove would pay a hefty price for a date with Leo or Rafael? Or a basket of your goodies, Vanessa?”
My heart warms seeing how much she wants to put in to saving the studio, maybe she’s truly starting to see this place as her own.
I place a hand on her knee under the table. “We’ll do it.”
Her eyes shine and she smiles wide. “Really?”
I nod. “We’ll have to be quick though. Will you help me put it together?”
She places her hand over mine. “Please.”
“I’m in,” Marina says. “But you’re gonna have to get those puppy dog eyes on for the boys to agree to auctioning themselves off.”
She smiles mischievously. “I think I can manage that.”