20. Scarlett
I was working in the back office doing paperwork when Alessandra walked in.
“Your father is here to see you. Wants to know if you’re free for lunch?”
“Oh, tell him I’ll be right there.” I finished up my work then closed my laptop before I walked to the lobby. He was there, dressed nicely and looking handsome as ever, just with a slight bruise on his face. “Hey, Dad.”
“Hey, sweetheart. Would you like to have lunch?”
I had a lot of work to do, but that didn’t seem important anymore. “Sure. Where do you want to go?”
He gestured to the tables behind him. “Where else?”
“We don’t have to eat here, Dad.”
“I love it.”
My eyes narrowed.
“Honestly.”
“Well, it would be quicker than going somewhere else.” I grabbed two menus from the hostess stand, and we walked to a table together. Lunchtime was much slower than dinnertime, so we condensed our menu during the day to just the more popular lunch items, like salads, sandwiches, and soups.
He pulled out the chair for me and sat across from me, straightening his collared shirt the way he always did. He opened the menu and looked, and it seemed to take him only a second to decide what he wanted.
“Let me guess…the Caesar?”
He smirked. “I’d like to try those focaccia croutons.”
“They’re house-made.”
“Yes, I saw that on the menu.”
The waiter came over, took our drink order and, since we were ready for lunch, also took our food order. A moment later, he returned with our wine and let us enjoy it.
My father stared at his wine for a while before he looked at me, visibly awkward for some reason.
“What is it?”
He gave a shrug. “This is nice, is all.”
“It is nice.”
“I’m grateful we get to have this.” He gave me a soft smile, his affection written all over his face.
“Me too.” He didn’t deserve my forgiveness, but he’d earned it through tragedy, tragedy that put everything in perspective. If he hadn’t stormed those doors in time, my husband would have died…and I probably would have died too. “So, you’re seeing Hannah?”
Instead of skirting the question or avoiding it altogether, he answered it head on. “Yes. There’s always been this…energy…between us. There were times when I felt like she was trying to make something happen, but I avoided those compromising situations. Mixing business and pleasure is never a good idea, so it wasn’t an option. But now…” He gave a shrug. “It is an option.”
“And it does work sometimes…like it did with Axel and me.”
“Yes, you’re right about that.”
“So you like her?”
He didn’t seem uncomfortable with the questions, maybe because he was just thrilled that we were having a conversation at all. “I do. She’s always been so good to me and knows me so well. And she’s very beautiful…”
“She’s got one hell of an ass on her.”
My dad smirked then darted his eyes away, deeply embarrassed by that comment.
“I’m happy for you.”
“You are?” he asked. “I know she’s a bit younger than me…”
“A bit?” I asked with a laugh.
“Okay, more than a bit. But it works. And I’m glad that you’re supportive of this relationship.”
“I just want you to be happy, Dad. You deserve to have someone, and I’ve noticed the way Hannah has looked at you for years. It’s not like you were a creep that came on to her. I think she’d been into you for a long time.”
“Perhaps.”
“Does she want a family?”
“I imagine so.”
“And how do you feel about that? You’re still young enough.”
He released a sarcastic chuckle. “I don’t know about that.”
“You were fist-fighting a guy fifteen years younger than you.”
“When your life is on the line, you’d be surprised at what you can do. But the lack of sleep and the diapers and the baby shit everywhere… I don’t know. And besides, I have you, and I’m really not interested in having another child. I have the daughter I’ve always wanted. I’ve loved every stage of being your father, but this is the one I’m enjoying the most, because I get to be your friend.”
“It is nice.”
“So, no more children for me.”
“Well, then I guess Hannah won’t be around long.”
“I don’t know. She’s never told me whether she wants children. Perhaps she doesn’t. If she wants to be with me, perhaps she knows that dating an older man means a child-free life makes more sense. We’ll see,” he said with a shrug. “And what about you?”
“We want children.”
“It’s a long and exhausting journey, but when you reach the top and see the view…it’s all worth it.”
I smiled. “Axel kinda wants them now, but I’m not ready yet.”
“What’s the rush?”
“I don’t know. He’s just excited by the idea.”
“You have time, sweetheart. Enjoy your husband and your freedom, because once you have kids, it’ll be gone forever.” He reached for his wineglass and took a drink. “I lost a lot of friends and opportunities, having you so young. Would I change anything? No. But it does alter things.”
“So…do you really know nothing about my mother?”
The question made him tighten in discomfort. His eyes immediately dropped to his wineglass. “Why do you ask?”
“I’m just curious.”
“If I could use my resources to exonerate Axel, I don’t see why I can’t use them to track her down…if that’s what you want.” He swirled his wineglass and took a drink.
“Do you think she regrets her decision?” I asked. “Now that she’s older? Now that she probably does have children?”
“I can’t speak for her. But if she could see you now, she would definitely know she missed out on something special.” His eyes lifted from the wine, and he gave me a soft smile.
I smiled back. “Thanks, Dad.”
I walked into my old apartment, finding Axel on the couch in nothing but his sweatpants. While our home was being renovated and cleansed of bullet holes, we’d decided it was easiest to stay here. Aldo remained to oversee the project while we focused on the restaurant.
Axel turned off the TV and came toward me, a mountain with his height and muscles. “How was work?”
“The restaurant is doing well.”
“I know it is.” He smirked before he kissed me. “But I still like hearing you say it.”
“Way to give it a rest.”
“I’ll never give it a rest.” He looked down at the bag of takeout food I had in my hand. “You got something for me?” Now he wore a full grin, just as excited for food as he was for sex.
I set it on the counter. “I thought you might be hungry.”
“Baby, you know me so well.” His hand moved around my waist, and of course, his hand crept down to my ass and gave it a hard squeeze. He kissed my temple before he pulled away and took the container out of the bag.
“My father stopped by. We had lunch.”
“Nice.” He grabbed a fork from the drawer then sat on the couch to eat straight out of the container. “How’s he doing?”
“Good. Told me he and Hannah are officially a thing.”
“Like he hasn’t been boning her for years.”
“He said he hadn’t.”
“Sure.” He took a big bite and chewed.
“Anyway, it was nice. Nice to talk to him like a friend.”
He watched me as he ate, hanging on to my words like they were fascinating.
“A part of me feels stupid for letting it go, but…I don’t know.”
“You’re happy, right?”
“Yes.”
“Then it doesn’t matter,” he said. “If he pulls something again, that’s a different story. But I know he won’t.” He continued to eat, devouring the half-moon raviolis in a butter-cream sauce.
“So, did Theo ever catch Draven?”
“Don’t worry about it,” he said. “You don’t need to waste your time thinking about that stuff.”
“So, that’s a no.”
“Like I said, don’t worry about it.”
“He tried to kill my husband and my brother-in-law?—”
“Who hasn’t?” he asked with a smirk. “I really don’t want you to worry your pretty little head over this. Theo knows what he’s doing.”
After something so traumatic, it was hard to ever let it go, but it was a waste of life to spend it worrying about death.
“Did you make this?” he asked. “It’s better than what the chefs make.”
“You can tell?” I asked in slight surprise.
“Definitely,” he said. “I can always tell the difference because I can taste the love.”
“That’s sweet.”
He finished the contents and closed the box before he set it aside. “So, I have something to tell you.” He moved from his seat to sit beside me.
“This sounds like good news.”
“Oh, it is,” he said. “I booked us a two-week honeymoon to Santorini.”
That sounded divine…but two weeks? “That’s kinda a long time.”
Both of his eyebrows rose. “Sex with me for two weeks sounds like a long time?”
“I only meant with the restaurant. We just opened it.”
“Alessandra has it covered.”
“I—I don’t know…” I felt irresponsible walking away from a brand-new business so quickly. “Maybe a week?—”
“Baby, it’ll be fine. You think the place is going to burn down?”
“I just know that the quality of restaurants diminishes when the owner isn’t around.”
“So, your plan was to never take a vacation?”
“I didn’t say that. Just not right now?—”
“We’re going,” he said. “Period.”
I rolled my eyes. “You can’t just tell me what to do?—”
“Well, I just did. So pack your shit because we’re leaving tomorrow.”
I rolled my eyes, but truth be told, I couldn’t be that angry. Looking out at the Mediterranean Sea with my gorgeous husband beside me…that sounded pretty great. Romantic dinners, late nights between the sheets, shower sex—it all sounded great. “Well, if we’re leaving tomorrow, I better start packing.”
He grinned. “That’s my baby.”