Chapter 34
Allegra
“CASS, HANG ON a minute. Matteo was going to help me move something downstairs right before you called.” I covered the phone to speak to him.
“I’m sorry. Mr. Ellington’s wife did something, and I need to get an injunction filed before court closes in New York today.
I should be done in fifteen minutes. We can move the armoire tonight, if you want. I know you need to work.”
“I’m waiting for the guys to come back from dumping the bins anyway.” He shrugged. “Why don’t I go down and figure out what I need, a carrello or something. I don’t know how you say it in Inglese.” He mimed, pushing something with his hands.
“A dolly?”
He pointed to me. “Yes, that is it.”
I smiled. “I’ll be down as soon as I’m off.”
He sniffed. “What smells so good in here?”
“I made you something. No peeking on your way down. It needs to cool.”
Cass and I worked on the wording I wanted for the injunction for the next twenty minutes.
“I’ll get it filed by the end of the day,” she said once we’d finished. “And I know Matteo’s waiting for you, but I’m dying to know how things went with your sister this week.”
“It went better than I could’ve imagined. I really like her.” I chuckled. “Probably because we’re so much alike. She’s a workaholic who has trust issues with men, too.”
“You mean you used to be so much alike. New-and-improved Allegra seems pretty happily unemployed, and I’m pretty sure the man currently waiting for you downstairs has proven he can be trusted.”
I sighed. “Yeah, he has. Last night, after he fell asleep, I imagined what our children might look like, and I didn’t even have to get up to get the calamine lotion.”
“I really liked him, Allegra. So did Ryan. You two just seem to fit. Have you talked about long-term plans together yet?”
“No, but I can’t see a future without him anymore, and I want to get to know my sister better, so I feel like being in Italy at least part time is inevitable. We just need to figure out what that looks like.”
“What a difference a few months makes, huh?”
“I know.” I whooshed out a breath. “Okay, I need to run and help move an antique armoire I sold. The woman who bought it is coming later today, and she told me it was my responsibility to get it outside. I’m not sure if that’s true or not, but she was pushy, so I’m doing it.”
“Good luck. Call me over the weekend.”
“I will.”
After I hung up, I poured a glass of milk, grabbed some cookies from the cooling rack, and went downstairs to Matteo.
“I found a recipe in my grandmother’s recipe box that I think you’re going to love,” I said as I opened the door to the antique shop. “Chocolate chip cookies.”
I’d expected him to be thrilled, grab a handful, and shovel them into his mouth, but instead, Matteo looked up at me with a deeply troubled face.
The corners of his mouth tugged downward, and his jaw was set tight.
I was so focused on his expression that I didn’t even notice what he was holding. The box with the tea set.
“Where did you get these?” he said.
“Oh. You found the set. I was hoping to find the last one before I gave those to you. I’ve been collecting them.”
“What the hell for?”
I was taken aback by the anger in his voice.
“My grandmother had been collecting them. She mentioned the set in one of her letters, and I thought they were pretty, so I’ve picked up a few more pieces people had been holding for her.
I had no idea they were painted by Isabella until the other day.
I guess…my grandmother had been collecting them for you? Maybe as a gift?”
Matteo shook his head. “I don’t think so.”
“No? Why not?”
“Because Sophia wouldn’t stab me in the heart.”
“Stab you in the—What are you talking about?”
Matteo picked up one of the photos that came with each teacup and turned it over, revealing the writing on the back. “Because all these beautiful places she painted—places where she fell in love six years ago when we were still married—she didn’t visit with me.”
***
I didn’t hear from Matteo all day. Normally, he’d text when he was done working and we’d figure out our plan for the evening—who was cooking, what we’d eat, whose place we were sleeping at. But it was going on seven and still nothing. I’d been anxious all day about what happened with the tea set.
I really hoped he understood that I’d had no idea the pain it would cause him.
I thought maybe he’d want something beautiful his ex-wife had made.
A piece of her. Some memories from a happy chapter in their life.
When I found out the story belonged to someone else, I apologized over and over.
Before he left, he’d said it wasn’t my fault, but it certainly felt like it was, and I hadn’t been able to think about anything else since.
The only small mercy was that it had distracted me from the call I had in a few minutes—the video meeting with the partner at Aronson, Kepner, and Sloane. I was busy in the kitchen trying to figure out how best to angle the camera when there was a knock at my door.
I opened to find Matteo standing there in jeans and a worn navy sweater, his hands shoved into his front pockets. His eyes dropped, taking in my charcoal suit—at least the top half of it, because I had sweatpants on my bottom half.
I smiled. “I have a video call in a few minutes. I’m cheating since they won’t see my pants.”
“Ah. That explains it.”
“I had to dust it off. I’m not even sure why I brought it.”
He smiled faintly. “Another call about the case you’re working on?”
I hesitated, and a couple of seconds passed as I debated nodding and letting the little white lie pass like nothing. But I didn’t want to do that to him again.
“No,” I said quietly. “It’s with a law firm in New York. They’re interested in hiring me.”
I watched it hit him, just a flicker that passed on his face. “I didn’t know you’d decided to go back.” His voice was even.
“I haven’t.” I shook my head. “I…haven’t figured out what I’m doing yet. But they reached out, and I figured why not hear what they have to say?”
He nodded once and started to turn away. “I hope it goes well for you.”
“Matteo…”
He turned back. “It’s okay.”
But it wasn’t. He turned and walked halfway down the path before I found my voice. “Whose place tonight?”
He stopped but didn’t look back. “I think I’m going to stay by myself tonight.”