Chapter 68
VALENTINO’S, LITTLE ITALY
It was the following evening and it was Gabriella’s last night in NYC.
Luca couldn’t believe that was a fact. Didn’t want it to be fact.
But he also knew that not wanting something to be true didn’t change it, nor did it stop time…
As he and Gabriella walked through his family’s neighbourhood, heading for the restaurant he had really thought he would never visit again, he contemplated how much had happened in such a short space of time.
And, last night, at the fashion show, it had been a culmination of his and Gabriella’s worlds colliding in the best kind of way.
Her risk had also reaped reward, for everyone it seemed.
Highlighting the charities doing amazing work with mental health, showcasing him, Errol and Sybille and celebrating the life and aspirations of Lulu.
But there was another collision of their worlds to come.
He squeezed her hand in his as they continued down the street, the light snowfall landing on lampposts and car hoods before settling on the sidewalk. The weather knew Christmas was definitely coming.
‘I promise I will put my phone away in a second,’ Gabriella told him. ‘But this article, they mention you and Errol twice and there’s a link to the La Facon website.’
‘That’s good,’ he answered. ‘I can pay my rent for another month maybe.’
‘I like your apartment,’ Gabriella said.
‘Me too.’
‘I don’t like mine,’ she admitted. ‘I think, in the new year, Phoebe and I might move.’
‘Yeah?’ Was that hope wriggling in his gut? That it might be nearer? That it might even be here?
‘Yeah,’ Gabriella said. ‘Bettersea is nice and it’s been good to us, but it’s somewhere my mother chose because she thought I couldn’t look after Phoebe without a cleaner and a view of the whole of London.’
‘And now?’
‘Well, she probably has the same opinion, but Phoebe and I are newly-honed warriors of our independence thanks to our time in this city, so we will decide where we’re going to live now.’
‘That’s great,’ he said as the trattoria came into view across the street.
‘Wow, Luca, you didn’t even try to sound like you meant that.’
‘Sorry,’ he said, blowing out a breath into the snowy air. ‘I did mean it. I do mean it, I just…’ He stopped talking.
‘Are you nervous about me meeting your mum?’ Gabriella asked.
‘Yes,’ he said, nodding. ‘Yes, I am. I mean, you can’t deny there’s kind of a lot going on for both our families right now.’
His father’s decision to confess to crimes he had not committed to buy his family’s freedom from threat was going to be a drawn-out process but it was a direction Luca was satisfied with.
He knew, most likely sooner rather than later, especially if press attention kept coming his way for his work, he would not be able to shield himself behind the ‘Manning’ banner and he would need to own who he had come from.
But the people who mattered to him most, his mom and Steffi, Errol, Sybille and Gabriella, they all knew already and they were all still beside him.
She smiled. ‘Luca, you don’t need to worry. I’m not going to speak Russian or throw a water bottle at her.’
‘See, you shouldn’t make early decisions like that. You never know how a night with a Marcello will go.’ He smiled.
‘Ah, but I’ve spent a few nights with a Marcello, haven’t I? And not only did I survive, I actually quite enjoyed myself.’
‘“Quite”? Is that a British thing that means you’re crazy about it?’ he asked.
‘So good I might write my next book about it,’ she answered, leaning toward him.
‘Is that so?’
‘I’m thinking of a title right now.’
‘Hot New York Nights.’
‘No.’
‘Dirty Bad Daddy.’
‘Absolutely not. But, weirdly, I kind of like that one. Kiss me already.’
He did as she asked, kissed her hard, held her tight and loved every second of the connection on the wintry New York street. And, when he reluctantly ended the kiss, he knew he was ready to really let someone in, let Gabriella in, for her to see who his family was.
‘Come on,’ he said, putting an arm around her shoulders and watching for traffic as they got ready to cross the street. ‘Come and meet my mom and the rest of the gypsies, tramps and thieves.’
‘Oh, ha ha, we’re still going there with the Cher songs?’
‘I really killed it with that one,’ Luca said, laughing.