Chapter 28
28
Elise followed Angel into a gourmet kitchen where Angel poured her a glass of limeade made from lemons and limes grown on the property. The other woman chatted about her home in New York and Boston like she and Elise were old friends, although Angel was vague on the details of her upbringing.
Elise tried not to stare, but Angel was super beautiful, with lush blond hair, big green eyes, and cheekbones that looked like they’d been brought to life by a master sculptor. She moved gracefully around the kitchen, her lean figure visible under the sheer coverup she’d thrown over her black swimsuit.
They carried their limeade back out to the pool along with a plate of crispy almond biscotti and Angel called out to the little girl swimming in the pool.
“Stella, come meet our guest. You can practice your English.” The girl heaved herself obediently from the pool and stopped, dripping water from her red bathing suit, in front of her mother. “Elise, this is my daughter Stella. Stella, this is Ms. Berenger.”
Elise laughed. “Please call me Elise.”
“Can I, Mama?” Stella asked, the slightest hint of an Italian accent in her words.
“You may call Elise whatever she prefers to be called, my darling.”
“It’s nice to meet you,” Stella said.
She was almost a clone of Angel — same blond hair, same green eyes. It was only the way she stood that was different. There was something confident and bold in her posture, a quality that might not have come from Angel, who seemed like someone Elise might have met at community college, except for the ultra-gorgeous thing.
“It’s nice meeting you too,” Elise said. “That was a beautiful dive a few minutes ago.”
Stella’s face lit up. “You saw?”
Elise nodded. “I wish I’d brought my bathing suit. I think you could give me a few pointers.”
Stella grinned. “I’ll show you again.”
She bolted back to the deep end of the pool.
Angel sighed. “Sorry. She’s a bit of an attention hog.”
Elise laughed. “She’s perfect.”
Angel smiled at her. “I think so.”
“Are you watching?” Stella called.
“We’re watching!” Angel said.
She arced back into the pool, hardly making a splash.
“That was amazing,” Elise said when her head emerged from the water. She looked at Angel. “You might have a future Olympian on your hands.”
“Don’t tell Nico. He’ll have a private coach out here by dinner.”
Elise laughed. “How long have you been married, if you don’t mind my asking?”
She was being nosy, but Angel made it easy to forget she was sitting in the private compound of one of the world’s most notorious mob bosses.
“Not at all,” Angel said. “Let’s see… we got married in Bali almost eight years ago.”
“Wow, Bali,” Elise said. Another surprise. “That must have been amazing.”
Angel’s eyes clouded with memory before they cleared. “It was. It was… small. Just us and my brother David, which was perfect.”
“Did Nico always live in Rome? Or did you decide to move here together?” Elise asked. Surprise passed over Angel’s features and Elise hurried to fix her mistake. “I’m so sorry. I’m asking too many questions.”
Angel shook her head. “It’s refreshing actually. I just forgot not everyone knows everything about us. We moved here together. Getting out of the states was the only way we could really start over.”
Elise didn’t want to push further, although the cryptic nature of Angel’s answer certainly made it tempting.
“What about you?” Angel took a sip of her limeade. “I assume you’re with Finn, since I know Ronan’s married.”
Elise nodded. “Ronan’s married to my sister. That’s how I met Finn.”
Angel lifted an eyebrow, a smile playing over her lips. “Is it serious?”
Elise might have protested about the personal nature of the question, but she’d just dug through Angel’s past without thinking twice. Besides, it was kind of nice to talk to a woman who wasn’t a member of the Murphy family, a woman who didn’t know her or Finn at all.
“I think so,” Elise said. “Finn’s a nomad. He hadn’t been home for years until last Fall. We’re going to travel for awhile when this is all over.”
Elise had no idea if Angel knew what this was, but it was the easiest way to explain her relationship to Finn.
“You’ll love it,” Angel said. “Nico and I lived in Bali for a couple of years after Stella was born. I miss it sometimes. We were so off the grid.”
Elise smiled. “Off the grid sounds pretty nice about now.”
“Modern life can be a bit much sometimes can’t it?” Angel asked.
Elise nodded. It would have been easy to dismiss Angel’s comment as trite. After all, Angel Vitale had money and power, was lounging by a pool that could have been ripped from a magazine of Italy’s Rich and Famous, the air scented with Rome’s basil and orange trees.
But Elise had a feeling Angel had had her share of too much . In fact, she was starting to believe everyone had.
She thought about the people in her life.
The Murphys and their money, the loss of both their mother and their sister.
Alexa, beautiful and successful, but unable to have children.
Kate Walsh, one of Forbes’ Forty under Forty, rich and powerful beyond Elise’s imagination, something that probably hadn’t made up for the fact that she’d walked away from Declan for six years, had raised their son alone, that her father had been murdered by a family friend.
And Julia, amazing, strong, lovely Julia, with her gorgeous protective husband and enough money that she never had to worry about paying the bills again. Julia, who’d spent the first twenty-five years of her life taking care of everybody but herself, who with Elise had watched their gramps die on the floor of the only home they’d ever known.
Everyone out there, literally everyone, had dealt with or was dealing with something. The thought of it made Elise feel less alone. If everyone else was surviving their baggage, if they went on living and loving and laughing and taking chances, she could too.
“I apologize if I hit a nerve,” Angel said, shaking Elise from her thoughts. “I’ve been without female company for too long I think.”
Elise shook her head. “I was just thinking about how deceiving appearances can be.”
Angel looked at her. “How so?”
“You’re different than I expected,” Elise confessed. “It made me think about how easy it is to dismiss people and their experiences, to assume everyone else is living a perfect life, when really, we’re all carrying something on our backs.”
“Maybe life wouldn’t be too much if we could remember that,” Angel said softly.
Elise met her eyes. “I think I’m going to try from now on. For everyone else and for myself.”
Angel smiled and Elise felt a moment of camaraderie move between them. “Me too.”