Chapter 58
LA FA?ON, MANHATTAN
Luca walked into the treasure trove cupboard and breathed in deep.
Nothing. This morning he just couldn’t smell anything.
Not his takeout coffee on the way here, not the delivery of items from new designer, Andrea Boski, not his fail-safe go-to – the lace.
Nada. He knew why. It was because last night hadn’t gone so well with Steffi.
She had been excited to see him at the family home, smiled joyfully when she realised their mom had made her signature bolognese, but once he had told her he had been the one to effectively incarcerate their father and about Babbo’s plan, the smiles had turned to tears and she had put the blame firmly on Luca’s shoulders.
He knew it would take time. It was a lot to take on board.
‘Mr Manning,’ Sybille’s voice called. ‘Are you hiding in here?’
He took a breath. Hiding. No, he wasn’t going to be doing that anymore. He stepped out into the main room and there was his boss and, next to her, Errol.
‘Good morning, Sybille,’ Luca greeted. ‘Hey, Errol.’
‘So, the big boss gets “good morning” and I get a “hey”? I thought I was joining a high-class establishment here.’
Luca smiled. ‘Good morning, Errol. And did I hear the word “joining”?’
‘You did,’ Sybille answered. ‘We have not come to a final arrangement on terms yet. Mr Dalton is a fine negotiator. However, we have decided on one thing. Mr Dalton will report to you, Mr Manning. You will be responsible for teaching him how we work at La Facon and he will work directly for you and your clients until he eventually establishes his own client base.’ She paused and then quickly added, ‘If you agree, of course.’
Luca felt an uplifting inside him like the way he felt when he watched a beautiful sunrise over the Hudson River.
This could be his dream turning into reality.
To have established himself here in the industry he loved.
To be able to work unblighted by the ghosts of his father’s past. He let that feeling settle inside him and hoped.
But there was something else he wanted now.
It was more than the ambition that had driven him this far.
It was what he had started with someone.
And to admit that, even to himself, felt like the biggest step.
‘Mr Manning, do you not agree?’
It was only when Sybille spoke that he realised he hadn’t said anything, had just breathed and got lost in his own thoughts and left everyone hanging.
‘No,’ he said. ‘I mean, yes! Yes, I agree. Absolutely.’ He stretched a hand out to Errol. ‘Welcome to the team, man.’
Errol grinned and took hold of Luca’s hand before pulling him in for one of his infamous huge bear hugs complete with back-slapping. ‘Hugging’s OK, right?’
‘Yeah,’ Luca answered, struggling to breathe. ‘Just don’t do it with any of the clients.’
A dog barked and it broke apart the hug and everyone looked to the door. It was Mr Darcy, Phoebe and then there was Gabriella, the person whose aura had drawn his attention from the very start…
‘Good morning, Miss Felix,’ Sybille greeted.
‘Good morning,’ Phoebe and Gabriella replied at the very same time. And then they both giggled in a similar way and then that made them giggle again. Mr Darcy barked some more, jumping a bit on the leash in Phoebe’s hands.
‘Errol, it’s good to see you. How is everything?’ Gabriella asked, moving forward into the room.
‘Everything is swell,’ Errol replied. ‘Especially my ribs, but I’m not one to complain.’
‘So,’ Sybille started. ‘Shall Errol and I arrange coffee while you get started on the next event? A bookstore, I believe.’
‘It is,’ Gabriella said, nodding.
‘Phoebe, I have some biscuits for Mr Darcy,’ Sybille said.
‘Really?’ Phoebe said, pushing her glasses up her nose with her free hand and gripping Mr Darcy’s lead with the other.
‘We get biscuits here?’ Errol asked.
‘Dog biscuits, Errol,’ Sybille answered dryly.
With more barking and a bit more chatter, finally it was just Luca and Gabriella in the space. And there was something extra special about her today, something unwound and untethered.
‘What’s happened?’ he asked before he had even thought about it.
‘Is it that obvious that something has?’
He stepped closer to her, wanting to be nearer, to drink her in. ‘You look—’
‘Tired?’
‘No.’
‘Unmoisturised?’
‘It’s not skin deep.’
‘Full of chocolate pancakes that I posted to Instagram? Because I am. And I did.’
He smiled. ‘I know what it is now.’
‘High on additives?’
‘Stop talking.’
‘Why? Am I too much?’
‘No,’ Luca said. ‘So I can kiss you.’
He leaned in but she quickly stepped back and he felt the rejection land harder than it should as she walked towards the windows. He watched her as she looked out over the city.
‘I do want to kiss you,’ she said, still facing the view and not him. ‘I really really want to kiss you and also do all the things we did in your apartment and also all the moves we didn’t get to finish. And perhaps different moves that don’t even have names yet.’
‘O-K,’ he answered, feeling slightly less unwanted.
‘But you need to find out some things about me first. All the things. The things I’ve held back my whole life.
Because you’ve only got to know Gabriella Felix at maybe 50 per cent most of the time, edging up towards 60 per cent because, for some reason the universe decided that you needed a bit more than anyone else and I listened and ran with it. ’
‘OK, well,’ he said softly. ‘The same kinda goes for me too. With my… family drama and the whole—’
‘The Sopranos thing?’
‘Are you mocking my real-life situation and comparing it to an HBO TV show?’ he asked, teasingly. ‘Because you should be careful with that.’
She turned around and faced him. ‘Why? Will I end up like Uncle Louie?’
‘Maybe,’ he answered.
Her eyes widened as she walked back towards him. ‘Shit, you really have an Uncle Louie?’
‘Doesn’t everyone have an Uncle Louie?’ He waited a beat until she was right there opposite him and then he laughed. ‘Actually, I’m kidding. I don’t have an Uncle Louie.’
She struck out, but he caught her arm before she could make contact and held it hard. ‘Careful, Gabriella,’ he said. ‘You don’t want to mess with a Marcello.’
She inched her body closer. ‘Mmm, maybe that’s exactly what I want to do.’
All the professional code of conduct was falling away fast, but he had restraint and he could apply it here. He took a step back this time and nodded. ‘OK, good. So, in the changing area are the outfits I have picked out for the bookstore event. Let’s see what you think.’
‘See what I think?’ she asked him. ‘How about instead, we see what I feel.’
He smiled then and, as he recalled one of the first conversations they’d ever had, he watched the most confident version of Gabriella he had ever seen head behind the curtain.