But it bothered me tonight.
I didn’t know why, but I felt so edgy. I attempted to distract myself by concentrating on the conversation between Alessandro and Gabriel instead.
“Ricky and I have been conferring back and forth about it, so now we’ve got this one focusing in even tighter. The lens is controlled by remote access so we can zoom in on a face so close it’ll seem like we’re taking a selfie,” Sandro was saying, his excitement all over his face.
Ricky, his best friend since childhood as well as our trusted defense attorney, sometimes worked with him on stuff like this. I got the feeling that being a lawyer didn’t ignite Ricky’s creativity as much as fiddling around with my brother’s drones did.
They were two geeky peas in a pod.
“I’ll check it out after dinner. Though the last thing you two took a picture of with that thing was a chick strutting down Chadwick Street, and you didn’t seem to be focusing on her face,” Gabriel said, keeping his voice low.
“What are you two talking about?” Molly asked, looking peeved.
Sounded like they hadn’t kept their voices low enough. But Alessandro didn’t seem worried at all.
“Those new drones I’ve been developing with Ricky. The cameras are out of this world good.”
“Well, I’m glad. For a minute there it sounded like you were talking about scoping out boobs,” Molly said, totally on to them.
“Boobs!” Anna hollered out, nice and loud. Gabriel’s eyes went three times their normal size, and I thought Luca would be ticked, but before he could react, Molly took care of the issue.
“That’s right, Anna, boobs. Just like Mommy’s got.”
“Yeah, like Mommy’s got,” Luca muttered with a wolfish grin, shocking the hell out of me. He probably hadn’t meant for anyone but Molly to hear him, but the fact that we was willing to flirt with his wife—whose dress had been cut low enough to show off the body parts in question—was such a conventional newlywed husband thing to do.
She waggled her eyebrows at him, leaning in to sneak a brief kiss, and I couldn’t help but marvel at the change Molly had on my brother. He hadn’t been this carefree since before Alana had died.
And even then, he never would’ve dared to flirt with her at our mother’s enormous and formal dinner table. Not that this table was the same one. The original had been destroyed in the fire.
Of course, back then our father had been at the head of that table, glaring down at everyone. Demanding reverence and throwing his gloomy weight around.
I didn’t miss the old man.
But as happy as I was for my brother, and I was, I didn’t see any such happiness coming my way. My last doctor’s appointment had confirmed that my grafts had finally succeeded in closing the majority of my wounds, so except for a couple of inch long raw-looking areas, I was essentially good to go.
Which was great. I was now out of the woods as far as infections or anything life threatening went. I also had no significant pain and only minimal discomfort due to the scar tissue.
But that scar tissue…
Let’s just say I wouldn’t be winning any modeling contracts going forward.
Those patches of skin were rougher than most city pavements. And though the scarring looked so much better than it had, it was still hideous enough I couldn’t imagine showing it to anyone who hadn’t already had the misfortune to see it. Which was basically medical personnel and everyone living in this house.
So despite that lovely moment I’d had with Kelly earlier that day, unless I planned to keep my shirt on, things couldn’t go much farther between us. Not that they should probably go farther anyway. Especially since her brother was a member of the Philadelphia Police Department. A fucking cop. One we hadn’t put on our payroll, either. I’d checked.
The second she told me about him I’d been tempted to renege on the whole I’m-not-going-to-fire-anyone deal. But I couldn’t cut her loose. It would’ve been an asshole move. Besides, she’d been doing a fantastic job there at the restaurant, and she was just naïve enough for me to pass off what I did as legitimate.
Not that I thought of her as any kind of intellectual slouch. She had book smarts coming out the wazoo. But she wasn’t someone I’d call streetwise. Which, honestly, I considered refreshing. There was an innocence about her that made me want to spend more and more time in her presenc
e, just so I could soak up all the wholesomeness.
Not that I could ever be wholesome myself. Christ, I couldn’t even call myself decent. She had no idea who I really was, what I’d done. What I was still capable of and would do without compunction if I had to.
Maybe today happened because I’d hoped some of her sweet upright nature would rub off on me. Purify me a bit. Lighten my dark soul. As if such a concept was even possible for a Varasso. Particularly this late in the game.
Talk about a snowball’s chance in hell.
“What’s got your undies in a twist?” Alessandro mumbled to me, eyes peeking over his glasses, trying to avoid the attention of the blissful little foursome at the head of the table. “I thought you heard good news during your last doctor’s appointment.”