Chapter Fourteen
I don’t know if this is a good idea,” Jake said as Sage drove into the parking lot of her family’s restaurant. La Dolce Vita had been as much her home as the apartment beside it.
She backed into a parking space. “It was either come here or they’d bring dinner to us, and trust me, we wouldn’t get rid of them for hours. This way, we grab something to eat, and we have an excuse to leave. We have to lock up after the cleaners are done anyway.”
“All right, but don’t tell them I let you spend the day helping me at Alice’s.”
“You didn’t let me help, Jake. I’m a thirty-year-old woman who does what she wants, when she wants.”
“I know that, and you know that, but your grandmother is another story. I’m already in her bad book because your autonomous self decided to stay at the farm with me.”
She laughed. “Don’t worry, I’ll protect you from Carmen.”
“I don’t need your protection,” he said as he got out of the car and joined her on the walkway.
“I just—” At the sound of a woman yelling in rapid-fire Italian, he broke off and leaned back, looking at the side of the restaurant where the kitchen windows were open, wincing when the yelling was followed by the crashing of pans. “Is that your grandmother?”
She nodded. “Don’t ask me what she’s yelling about.
Other than swear words and the restaurant’s menu, I don’t speak Italian, but she’s always yelling in the kitchen.
My aunt and my mother are the same. Half the time, I don’t think they realize they’re yelling.
It’s just their thing. When they cook together, tempers flare, and words and dishes fly. ”
“Has anyone ever called the cops?”
“They used to, but then Bruno, my grandmother’s fiancé, suggested they put a warning on the menu.”
“I take it back. Maybe I do need your protection,” Jake said as he opened the restaurant door for her, the smells of garlic, tomato sauce, and fresh-baked bread greeting them.
“If the food tastes half as good as it smells in here, the women in your family can yell at me all they want. It’ll totally be worth it. ”
She inhaled deeply and smiled. “The smells of my childhood.”
As soon as the words were out of her mouth, she felt guilty for saying them so soon after the altercation with Jake’s mother.
Sage could only imagine what his childhood had been like.
But it wasn’t as if she could explain the guilty look he’d no doubt noticed on her face without making everything worse, so instead, she said, “You and Alice must have come here to eat, didn’t you? ”
“Are you kidding me? You worked here. You would have dumped a bowl of pasta on my head.”
“I wasn’t that bad.” She grimaced. “Was I?”
“You were the worst. You made me feel about this small.” He held his hand to his knee.
Now it was her turn to feel small. “I’m sorry.
I wish I could take back every mean thing I said to you.
I was jealous of your relationship with Alice.
I admired her so much, and you know how great everyone in my family is—they really are, even with the yelling—but there were six of us, all women, and that meant drama and not always getting a lot of one-on-one attention, and Alice was—well, you know, she was so calm and even-tempered and…
” She trailed off at the expression on Jake’s face. “What?”
He motioned for her to follow as he stepped back onto the walkway, letting the restaurant door close behind them. “I was teasing you. You never made me feel small. We both gave as good as we got. We were hormonal teenagers, and”—he shrugged—“I had a crush on you.”
“You did?”
“Oh come on, you had to know that I did.”
“No! I thought you hated me. You completely ignored me at school and had a new girlfriend every other month.” To this day, she could name every one of them. They were always the most popular girls at school.
“You were too good for me. I didn’t think I had a chance with you, and Alice basically told me hands off.”
“Don’t say that. I wasn’t too good for you, and you stood more than a chance with me. I had a crush on you too.”
He shook his head with a laugh. “You don’t have to say that to make me feel better.
” The amusement faded from his voice, and he stuffed his hands in his jeans pockets.
“I saw your face when you made the comment about your childhood. It’s one of the reasons I didn’t want you to see or hear what you did today.
I don’t want your sympathy, Sage. I don’t want you to feel guilty about how good you had it compared with me. ”
“Me, sympathetic? I think you’re confusing me with my sister. But I’m curious. Just how big a crush did you have on me?” she asked, not only because she wanted to know but because she thought lightening the mood before Jake had to face her family might be a good idea.
Jake opened the restaurant door, but just as it looked like he’d respond, a handsome older man with silver hair rushed over, greeting Sage as if she’d just returned from war.
“ Bella! ” Bruno wrapped his arms around her, lifting her off her feet.
He’d been her surrogate grandfather long before Carmen had let him put a ring on her finger.
“It feels like you haven’t been home in forever.
We’ve missed you.” He set her on her feet and patted her cheek.
Then his eyes narrowed and his jaw clenched, no doubt in response to her black eye. His gaze slid to Jake.
“Sir, I had nothing to do with her black eye.”
“Were you with her when she got popped?”
“Bruno,” Sage said. “He wasn’t there. You remember Jake, don’t you?
He lives in San Diego now. He’s Alice’s…
son.” She ignored the look Jake gave her.
She knew it was exactly how both he and Alice had felt, and she thought it was about time he heard the words out loud, especially after today.
“He left Sunshine Bay to join the military when he was eighteen. He was special forces,” she added for Jake’s benefit.
Bruno had a deep regard for those who served in the military.
He nodded, looking at Jake with new respect. “Thank you for your service, and my condolences on Alice’s passing. She was a good woman.”
“Thank you, sir. She was one of the best.”
“Who gave you the shiner?” he asked Jake.
“I did.” She didn’t want Jake to have to admit his mother punched him.
But noting Bruno’s lowered brow, she realized she might have made matters worse.
Bruno had probably thought of several reasons why she’d punch Jake, none of them good.
“It was an accident. I hit him with a buck—hammer,” she corrected, thinking a bucket probably wouldn’t have given him a black eye.
Jake bowed his head.
“A hammer! You’re lucky you didn’t take his eye out or break his skull.” Bruno frowned. “But what were you doing swinging a hammer? You’re supposed to be taking it easy.”
Several people sitting at the tables toward the front of the restaurant called out their greetings to Sage, reminding Bruno they had an audience and customers waiting, and no doubt saving Jake from a lecture.
“We’ll talk about this later. Everyone’s waiting for you at the family table,” Bruno said.
“I’m winning over your family left and right, aren’t I?” Jake said, then reached for her hand. “Hold up a sec. What did he mean by everyone is waiting? I thought we were having dinner with your mother and grandmother.”
“Shake a leg, babe,” Willow called out. “We’re all starved, and Nonna won’t serve the food until you’re seated.”
Jake’s gaze shot to where her sister sat with nearly their entire extended family at the back table.
“It’ll be fine. You’ve met Flynn.” Sage nodded to where Flynn sat beside his father at the end of the table. “His dad, Amos, is great, and so is my uncle James. He’s seated across from Willow and her fiancé, Noah, who is super nice too,” she said.
“So it’s just the Rosetti women I have to watch out for. And Bruno.”
She held back a laugh. “Pretty much.”
Introductions were made, and everyone said their hellos as she and Jake sat at the table, commenting on her shiner and his.
Jake must have wanted to avoid another repeat of what happened with Bruno, because he told the group he’d been fixing one of the doorknobs when Max pushed the door open, and the knob hit him in the eye.
It would have been believable if she hadn’t decided to give her new, improved version of her previous story at the same time and said she’d accidentally hit him with a bucket.
Since their stories basically ran over each other, she had no idea what her family heard, but they were looking at them as if something fishy was going on.
Jake must have thought the same thing and opened his mouth.
She was positive he was going to tell the truth, and there was no way she wanted him to have to say his mother punched him. “Crazy, isn’t it? The poor guy got hit in the eye twice in one day. Okay, so where’s the food? We’re starving, and we only have an hour.”
“What do you mean, an hour? This is a celebration,” her grandmother said, setting down a beautifully arranged antipasto platter of smoked meats, hard cheeses, marinated peppers, artichokes, and sun-dried tomatoes.
Sage’s mother followed behind, depositing a bowl of bruschetta and a basket of toasted bread on the table, while her aunt Eva placed a platter piled high with cherry tomatoes, fresh basil leaves, and mozzarella balls threaded on skewers.
“We have to—” Sage began.
Jake cut her off. “We’re here for however long dinner lasts, Ms. Rosetti.” He lowered his hand onto Sage’s knee and gave it a warning squeeze.
“There’s no way you’d tell her I’m going back to work tomorrow,” she said under her breath.
“Try me,” he said out of the side of his mouth.
Carmen’s eyes narrowed at them, and they both smiled. They must not have been very convincing, though, because several more pairs of eyes narrowed at them.
“So, what are we celebrating?” Sage asked in the hope of distracting their audience.