Chapter 7
It’s been three days with Emilio gone, which I thought would have allowed me to get bored of replaying different scenarios in my mind with him. But no. All I could think about was Emilio, which was frustrating. How many times can you masturbate to the thought of the same man?
Pulling up to my job, I look up at the sign.
DeCarlo Sites. It was my brother’s company, which I was the officer manager.
Although working wasn’t a necessity, it helped pass the time.
Luca and Emilio weren’t always in the office; it was saved for legitimate business meetings.
They would conduct everything else at the lounge, where you’d mostly find them.
After a boring day, I leave the office to pick Antonio up from school.
“Hey, B,” Antonio popped his head into the car. “Can we take Stacey home?”
I smile, “Sure.”
Boys always had it easier. Antonio having a girlfriend before he was even a teenager was completely fine; when I was his age, if a boy even tried to speak to me, he would get threatened.
Antonio opens the back door to let his girlfriend in first, then slides in beside her.
Watching them hold hands was cute, but then I wondered if they were doing other things.
“So, how is school?” I asked them.
“AP classes suck,” Antonio replied. “How am I supposed to keep up with soccer practice at school and the travel team while keeping a good average?”
“I’m sure you’ll manage.”
“Ant is on varsity,” Stacey smiled. “He should just step down from AP classes if soccer is his main focus.”
I was impressed with my nephew, although not surprised; Antonio was good at soccer, maybe even better than Luca was at his age. “Your father will be proud. Not sure he’d make you drop AP classes.”
Looking in the rearview mirror, Stacey rolled her eyes. She was stuck, but I tried to be nice for Antonio’s sake.
“I know,” Antonio replied, “But maybe if my favorite aunt would talk to him?”
I laugh, “Now I’m your favorite? You didn’t say that when Rita bought you those limited edition sneakers.”
Antonio smirked; he looked like Luca, with sandy brown hair and green eyes. “You know the others get jealous if I say it out loud. Plus, you and I both know your dad’s favorite sister.” He was a smooth talker, just like his father, knowing exactly what to say and how to say it.
“I’ll see what I can do.”
Antonio and Stacey carried on their conversation in the backseat.
“OMG,” Stacey gushed, “Brit is having people over this weekend. Wanna go?”
“Michela has a dance competition. I told her I’d go.”
I couldn’t help but listen to their little quarrel. Antonio and Michela grew up together like siblings. It was clear Stacey viewed her as a threat even though Michela was older than they were and had no interest in Antonio in that way and vice versa.
“Seriously?” Stacey huffed.
“We can go after.”
Antonio was like his father—he didn’t like being told what to do and was unapologetic about his decisions.
After we dropped Stacey home, we headed to my mother's for dinner.
Antonio joined his cousins while I sat in the kitchen with my sisters as my mother cooked.
It was like old times, before Rita and Isabella were married when Marco was alive, and Luca was the family's angel.
I remember when Luca came home to tell us he was drafted to play soccer in Europe.
Mother cooked his favorite dish as she always did for each child to celebrate their accomplishment.
“You know, when I was your age, I was married with my first kid,” Rita told me. “When are you going to start your own family?”
“If your brother Luca can stop scaring off men!” I reply.
“Luca was nothing compared to Marco,” Isabella chimed in. “Remember, he would third wheel every date!”
“Okay, maybe you guys had it worse,” I laugh.
“Bethany, why don’t you let Luca set you up with someone? He has so many connections,” my mother smiled warmly.
“I don’t know if getting married is for me.”
The three of them looked at me as though I had ten heads. “What?!” they all said at once.
I shrug my shoulder, “What’s so bad about that?”
“You’re beautiful and smart,” Rita said, “Wouldn’t you want to pass those on to your future children?”
Isabella spewed with jealously, “Beth and Luca were the lucky ones getting those green eyes.”
I stuck my tongue out at her. She was always envious of that.
“All my children are beautiful,” my mother cut in. “But Rita is right; you should settle down.”
“How about this? I’ll marry when Luca does!”
The three of them shook their heads.
“So never,” Isabella replies. “You know after Claire he swore off marriage.”
Thinking of his deceased spouse, Claire, made me angry.
She was selfish, always wanting more out of Luca than he could offer.
She despised him for not loving her the same way she loved him, so she went on a suicide mission.
Everyone plays it off as though she passed from an illness like cancer.
But she had more of a mental illness. Luca found her locked in a car with their two children as the engine was on in the closed garage.
Antonio was the only one who made it out alive.
Claire and their daughter, Lilianna, who was only a month old, didn’t survive.
“You would too if you were married to Claire,” Rita blurts out.
“Rita!” my mother shouted.
“It’s true.”
“He wouldn’t have married her if it wasn’t arranged,” Isabella added. “Too bad about Sandra.”
This made the room go silent. No one mentions the name Sandra, especially around Luca. She was his first love and only love. He found her body floating in one of Chicago’s fountains. When it came to love, Luca didn’t have much luck.
“Mood kill,” I said to Isabella.
“I still have hope for him,” Rita voiced, “And I have hope for you too, Bethany.”