Chapter Nine
Nine
Fishy Plans
Daisy
I wake up with my phone vibrating noisily on the bedside table. Not an alarm. Nick.
I put the device to my ear. My brother can forget about a video call right now.
“What’s up?” I say with a sleepy voice, my eyes closing again.
“Rise and shine, sis.”
I check the time on my wristwatch, and the world comes into focus as the memories from last night occupy the space left by my vanished dream. I’m in my room at Hotel Marchesi. It’s 10:00 a.m. I might miss breakfast.
“Wait.” Nick takes a dramatic pause. “Am I interrupting a night of raging passion?”
I roll my eyes. “You’re not,” I say dryly. “I’m alone.”
“You haven’t slept with Jeremy yet?”
My stomach makes rowdy movements, and it’s not due to the wine menu lingering in my system. “I haven’t slept with Jeremy, no. The project failed.” Now fully alert, I stare at the woody Venetian ceiling.
“I’m sorry, Daisy,” Nick says in a sincere tone. He adores Jeremy, and I’m sure he would have been happy to include him in the family officially.
“I…had a date with someone else yesterday.” As soon as the revelation comes out, I press my eyes tight and cover them with my hand, preparing for Nick’s surprised reaction.
“What?” His voice is as high-pitched as I had expected. “Are you serious?” I can’t tell if he is judging me or not.
“Yes.” I run my hand over my forehead. “I’ve met someone, and I’m confused.”
Nick is silent for a moment. He seems to understand I need to talk seriously, and I’m glad he has the sensitivity to discern when it’s time to joke and tease and when it isn’t. “Who is it?”
It’s my turn to be quiet. How do I tell Nick I’m in love with the concierge?
“His name is Lorenzo.” I begin with the easy bits. “He’s twenty-eight…and he works at the hotel.”
I prepare for the next reaction.
Nick chuckles. “Now you have to tell me everything.”
I sit up, resting my back on the soft headboard, and tell him everything.
“Wow,” Nick says when I’m done, laughing a little but only because that’s who he is—a joyful person who is always laughing, even when the subject is serious.
I’ve always envied how easy life seemed to be for him.
But I grew up and learned to interpret his smiles, their nuances and wide range of meanings.
The joy, the jokes, and the carelessness are not his shield.
They are his way of making the world a tiny bit lighter.
“So, this guy was the reason your romantic plans with Jeremy fell short,” Nick says, serious now.
“Yes…and no.” I sit up straighter. “I mean, Lorenzo is great at his job, and he gave Jeremy and me some excellent opportunities to live something romantic… The problem was us. We have no chemistry, as you pointed out. All we’re ever meant to be is friends, and that’s okay.”
“Let me guess…the guy is dreamy ,” Nick puts on an affected voice. “Totally hot.”
I laugh. “Yes, he’s rather…distracting.”
“Got it. So, was it you who got all sassy over the hot guy, or was the hot guy employing his seductive charm to win you over?”
I grimace. “Please don’t call him that. His name is Lorenzo.”
“Uh…fine. Lorenzo , then,” he says the name in an exaggerated Italian accent, and I roll my eyes at his mockery again.
“It was a bit of both, I guess,” I answer his question, feeling heat rush to my face.
“But it’s just a fling, right? You’re just hooking up?”
He knows I’m not used to that. That I get attached. That I try to turn dates into long-lasting relationships, and when that doesn’t happen, I end up heartbroken.
“I’m afraid I don’t want it to be just a fling,” I whisper.
Nick is silent, and for a second, I think it’s because he didn’t hear me.
But he did.
“Like you said, you’re confused, Daisy, and that’s normal.”
I can sense he’s going to bring up our shared grief or my disappointment over Ryan. But I can’t stand talking about Dad or my ex now.
“I’ve been wondering what it’d be like to stay,” I say the thought out loud and regret it the same instant. Nick loves me, and he’s adventurous. But he is not the person who will tell me to leave it all behind. He knows how much my plans—and home—mean to me.
“You’re not serious, Daisy.” His voice is harsher now. Protective Brother mode is on.
“What if I am?” I’m testing him. I’m not at all certain of what I’m saying or why I’m saying it.
“You can’t just move to Venice.”
That gets me. Anger builds up in my core. “Why can you go to Hawaii? Why do you get a fresh start, and I stay stuck in the past, all alone?”
The words echo in my head so loudly that they make my skull shake. I don’t know where they came from. It couldn’t have been from my mouth. That’s not how I see staying in Los Angeles.
We both stay silent for what seems like a whole minute.
“I’m not forcing you to use your share of the house to buy La Veneziana,” he says, still sounding colder than usual. “Dad didn’t ask you for that either. You’re free to do what you want. Just please don’t do anything because of a guy you met a few days ago.”
Nick’s answer feeds my anger. But I can’t argue with him.
I mean, here I am, telling him over the phone that I’m considering not coming back because I met a random Italian. What do I expect my brother to think?
I exhale, and my eyes fill up with tears.
“I know it sounds so unlike me…” I say through my tight throat.
“It’s just…” I pause, trying to organize my thoughts.
“I’ve never felt this way before, you know?
And not just about a man… I’m a new person somehow.
” I stare at my lap, letting a tear drip onto it.
“I love this city so much, and when I think of the life I could have here… The places I could visit. The food I could taste…” The romantic moments I could live with Lorenzo…
“I understand, Daisy,” Nick says. “I know a couple of people who were transformed by a European trip. One of my good friends moved to Vienna recently.” He pauses, dealing with his own emotions. “I guess I’m just afraid to lose you…”
I swallow, and a pair of tears run down my cheeks. “But you’re going to Hawaii,” I point out. “ You are the one leaving me, Nick. What will I do in LA without you and Dad?”
“I’m not sure I’m going,” he confesses. “It’s scary as hell.”
I nod, knowing exactly what he means. “Should we both stay home then because we’re afraid?” We don’t even have our home anymore…
“In LA, we still have Jeremy,” Nick observes.
“Until he moves to New York for work. He might as well do that now that Alice is out of his life.”
Nick lets out a croaky laugh. “Growing up sucks.”
I smile. “I know.”
His silence and mine merge in a virtual embrace.
I think about my conversation with Chef Carlo Gravano yesterday after I excused myself to go to the bathroom. I poked him on his way to the kitchen. “Can I ask you a question? Is the pressure to retain a star the actual reason why you’re selling the restaurant?”
“I’m indeed tired,” he said with a sigh. “I know what you’re thinking. I worked so hard for this, I succeeded, and now I’m giving up and starting over from scratch?” His lips curved. “It’s not an easy decision, no. But you’re never starting from scratch when you’ve built a reputation.”
“That’s true,” I agreed. “People will go where you go.”
“Exactly.” He put a hand on my shoulder. “Sometimes, we get so stuck on a single idea that we mistake it for the only way to make a dream come true.”
His words hit the target.
“But there’s more than one road to achieving our goals. It’s okay to change your mind along the way. If you grow as a person, why shouldn’t your dreams change too?”
I nodded, grinning back, and he squeezed my shoulder.
“If you hear of anyone interested in buying La Caorlina, give me a call.” He then gave me his business card.
I tucked the card into my pocket and then couldn’t focus on my date with Lorenzo. I wish he knew I wasn’t distant because I didn’t want him, but because I want him so much. And I keep thinking about Carlo Gravano’s words…
“Daisy? Are you still there?”
I blink, awakening from my thoughts. “I’m here,” I say to Nick. “I’m here, away from you, and I’m confused, but I’m the happiest I’ve been in a while.”
I hear his smile on the other side of the planet.
“And I’m here, away from you, but available whenever you need me.”
Even though he can’t see it, I’m sure he knows I’m lowering my head in gratitude.
“I had panna cotta last night. It tasted just like Dad’s. It brought me back…”
He smiles again. “God, I miss that.”
“I’ll make it for you.”
“In your new restaurant, I hope.”
“Yes.” Wherever that may be. I take a deep breath, shaken by my unexpected shift in perspective.
Am I really considering buying a restaurant that is not La Veneziana? Not in LA? A business that is new to me, with no past mistakes to fix, no expectations?
My restaurant. My dream .
The thought sends a shiver through me. My pulse races. It’s a scary idea. But why does it feel so right?
“For once, I don’t know what to expect from tomorrow or even today.” I have nothing planned. That’s why I didn’t need an alarm to wake up.
“For once, you’re living life then.” The grin in Nick’s voice is weirdly comforting this time. It reminds me of Lorenzo and his way of living—in the present. That makes me smile too. I’m finally understanding.
I’m letting Venice change me the way it changed him.
* * *
We crossed the Rialto Bridge the day we arrived, but Ryan kept me so distracted with his loud stories and his need to check every shop that I barely had the chance to look around.
The weather is perfect today—sunny and not too warm, with a delicious breeze—and this time, I’m crossing the bridge on the left side along the pretty railing made of white Istrian stone.
And I’m in the best company.
Lorenzo and I reach the end of the long and wide Ponte di Rialto and enter the San Polo district. The shops along the bridge turn into stalls selling souvenirs, and the market continues all the way to the end of the street.