Chapter 25
25
PIA
I’d originally planned on heading down right from work, but by four o’clock I was getting restless. So instead, I packed up my things and left. There was no sign of Mason, or Beck, but the reception room looked amazing. I couldn’t wait to see all of the renovations when they were completed.
If I was still at Heritage Hill.
After taking a shower and changing into jeans and a cream sweater, something occurred to me. Before heading out, I grabbed my phone and texted Mason.
Am home, about to leave.
I noticed. Thought maybe you changed your mind.
Nope. But… should I bring anything?
Such as?
I almost chickened out. Said something like, “A bottle of wine.” But I didn’t come to Cedar Falls to sit by the wayside and let things happen to me. I came here to prove I could be the master of my own destiny. The captain of my own ship.
Okay, enough cheesy analogies.
An overnight bag.
I held my breath as I watched the text bubbles, and finally Mason’s message came through.
Abso-fucking-lutely.
Smiling, I tossed some things in a bag and headed back through town. Since I had never gotten to grab wine yesterday, seeing Mason with Beck’s aunt derailing my plans, I popped into Casa Di Vino, glad to see Emilio was there.
“ Buongiorno , Emilio,” I said, walking into the shop.
“ Buongiorno , Pia Russo,” he said, waving enthusiastically. “ Come stai? ”
“ Molto bene, grazie ,” I said.
“What can I get for you?”
“Just a bottle of red for a special occasion. You pick.”
“Ahh, special occasion?” he asked suggestively, heading out from behind the register toward the red wine aisle.
Damn. I shouldn’t have said that. I didn’t want to lie but I also didn’t want to make a big deal of Mason and me. Since there really was no Mason and me, yet. Would I like there to be? That was a dangerous question given our circumstances, and one best left unasked.
“Just dinner with the boss,” I said. “Celebrating the progress at Heritage Hill.”
At least it was mostly true. And we could be celebrating since we’d gotten a lot done in a short time. I’d been on fire all day, finalizing long-term plans that I knew would turn Heritage Hill around.
“How about this one,” he asked, pulling a wine off the shelf. “Il Tempo Ritrovato, a red blend. It’s one of my favorites.”
I took the bottle from him. “ Tempo is time. I don’t know ritrovato .”
“Time rediscovered. It’s a three-year-old vintage that is…” He pressed his fingers to his lips in a chef’s kiss.
“I’ll take it.”
“How is the boss?” Emilio asked, ringing me out.
“Doing well, all things considered,” I said, paying for the wine.
“I’m glad to hear it. His father’s death was such a shock to everyone. Thomas was always running around town, fit as a fiddle.”
I didn’t know his dad was a runner. “It’s terrible,” I agreed. “I’m not sure what’s worse. Knowing someone you love is going to pass or having it happen so suddenly, there is no time for goodbyes.”
Emilio sighed. “Well, Mason would know better than anyone. He lost his mother, as I’m sure you know, to a long battle with cancer. Although he was still young and might not remember it.”
“He remembers,” I said quietly. “At least some of it.”
The sadness in Emilio’s eyes was so unlike him. “She was a beautiful woman, Margaret Bennett. Inside and out. Thomas never recovered from her loss.”
I cocked my head to the side. “No?” I asked, trying to keep it casual sounding but wanting to know more too.
“No.” Emilio shook his head. “Never remarried.”
That I knew.
“Carried a torch for her until the day he died.” Sighing, he seemed to snap out of the melancholy mood. “Poor kid. Losing two parents so young.”
And without siblings, too. I wondered if his mom was too sick to have another? I supposed it didn’t matter, but the thought of losing my mom and dad, and not having my sisters to help cope or to be there with me…
“What about extended family?” I asked, realizing he didn’t talk of aunts and uncles or cousins.
“You’ll have to ask him, but I think his mother was an only child as well. His father had one brother who I met at the funeral. Lives in California, I think.”
Poor kid indeed. No wonder he was so close with Beck, Parker and Cole. They were, for all intents and purposes, like his brothers.
“Well.” I held up the wine. “Thanks for your help with this.”
“Anytime, Signorina Pia. I hope you enjoy it, and your celebration.”
I was pretty certain I would. “ Grazie . Ciao , Emilio,” I said, leaving the store.
“ Ciao ciao ,” he said, waving.
As I made my way down to the inn—the few blocks’ walk away from the main square and toward the lake was one I could do in my sleep now—I was amazed at how quickly I’d acclimated to Cedar Falls. I’d always heard the east coast and west coast were so different, and while this town was much smaller than where I grew up, it wasn’t foreign at all. The people had been welcoming—with the exception of Mason—and I could absolutely see myself settling here.
Maybe it was making a friend on that first day. Or little things like Emilio’s Italian that reminded me of my family. Or likely, my boss. The one that had kicked me to the curb on that first day but had since become much more. I didn’t know where things would go with him, but I did know two things for certain. One, that Heritage Hill was going to become an award-winning inn, and Richard Sterling and his good ol’ boys club could shove it.
And two… it was going to be an interesting night.