Chapter 54
Fifty-Four
Mark
At noon Monday, Nonno and I enter the eighth-floor conference room of a building in the business district.
Nonno shakes hands with several acquaintances, and I give Zoe and her colleagues a polite smile.
There aren’t as many bidders as I expected, but it’s still enough to remind me that this is my real life, not the fun bubble I lived in all week.
That’s well and popped.
Mr. Gallo asks for our sealed envelopes, then sits in his leather chair at the head of the long table.
“My team and I will look over your proposals now, so if you want to stay for the results, we’ll have an answer soon.” He makes eye contact with each of us but stops to give me a long, serious look before moving on.
Not sure what that was, but ten bucks it has something do with Lexington. It’s the same look I gave myself in the mirror this morning. Disappointment. Gloom. Despair. Regret.
Planning to destroy the pavilion must be on everyone’s blueprints. It would never pass inspection. It’s not a true, historical structure. No one knew it was in Reena Brooke’s painting. The guilt choking me is irrational, but that doesn’t make it go away.
We file out the door, down the hall, and into the reception area. Nonno strikes up a conversation with one of the other company owners he’s known for ages. Instead of taking a spot on one of the modern couches or chairs, I stand by the glass wall overlooking the Tiber River.
Zoe joins me. “You and Lexi seem really good together.”
Salt. Wound.
I try to smile but my phone rings, saving me. Except it’s Luca. “Excuse me.” I step away and answer.
“Has Lexi left yet? We didn’t get to say goodbye. I liked her.”
Of course. He’s not calling to ask about how the bid situation is going, he’s calling to pry into my love life, which wouldn’t be private even if it existed.
I step down the hall, but now I’m almost outside the conference room.
I back up a few steps, halfway between Mr. Gallo’s airspace and the group in the lobby.
I press the phone close. “I guess. I’m not sure what time her flight was.”
“She texted Mariella, thanking her for her friendship this week. Said to pass along her thanks to you and me too. You didn’t even get in a text sentence by yourself. Harsh. What happened?”
I’m silent for so long Luca asks if I’m still there. Listing my failures in front of everyone in the room is not my idea of a good day at work. “She was always going to leave, and I never should have let it go so far. I know you told me so.”
“Yeah, but that doesn’t mean I’m happy it ended the way it did, this time or last time.”
Pinching my nose, I pace up and down the short hall. Surely I made the right decision. “We’ll talk about this later.” Unless I can avoid it. “I have to go.”
I hang up, and Nonno appears at my side, his expression tight. “Let’s take a ride in the elevator.”
The elevator. That would have come in handy five minutes ago if I’d had the wits to think of it. My head is not in a good place.
We step in and the doors close. It smells like men’s cologne in here. I loosen my tie, then remember Lexington straightening it at the gallery. Pop.
Nonno punches all the floors and the elevator shudders down to the next level, just like in a movie. “Your grandmother wants me to find out what the deal is with Lexi. Isn’t she leaving today? What’s next?”
“Et tu, Brute?”
He chuckles, but I clench my teeth. I’m not joking. Can a guy not have five minutes to convince himself he did the right thing even though his throat feels thick and he wants to throw a baseball against a wall so hard something breaks? To figure out why it feels like I got everything backward?
“I’m not pushing, but you can talk to me.” He holds up his hands. “For once, I promise not to pass on anything you say. This is your one chance for immunity. Take it or leave it.”
I have to get some of this off my chest or I’ll implode, and better that it’s Nonno than one of the women.
I run my hand through my hair. “Love terrifies me. It’s led to nothing but heartache.
I could maybe take a risk, in a normal situation, but Lexington put me in exactly the same position as Zoe.
She’s getting on a plane and going home. ”
The words taste wrong in my mouth.
Lexington is not Zoe. Lexington fit with my family, spoke Romanesque, slid into our culture without losing a beat, and seemed made for Italy.
Nonno ponders what I said for a moment, and I appreciate that he doesn’t act like I’m crazy or overcomplicating a simple situation. The elevator opens on the ground floor, and Nonno presses the button for the eighth floor.
“At your birthday party, Lexi and I talked about your father and how much I miss him. She made a remark I’ve been pondering over ever since. Something that might change everything.”
I’m not sure what this has to do with Lexington and me, but Nonno always has a point. “What did she say?”
“She said maybe my son is waiting for me to come get him. That if she had any family left, she would chase them down to the ends of the earth.”
We stare at each other until the doors open to the Gallos’ reception area. Mr. Gallo is standing in front of the semicircle of applicants, delivering the news.
“. . . proud to announce the job goes to Russo Family Construction, Restoration, and Interior Design.”
I just got exactly what I wanted. Or not.