“Why don’t we go into the kitchen and see if Miss Hilda left us a midnight snack?” His dark chocolate eyes light up, so I must be doing something right, even if getting him up for school tomorrow is going to suck for us both.
“Maybe there’s chocolate cake?” Dante asks, so much like his mother when it comes to having a sweet tooth. Even she couldn’t tell him no when it came to desserts.
“I bet there is.” I walk with him, my hand on his shoulder, bringing him close to my side, attempting to let him know that I’m here for him while not babying him to death. Something his grandparents, mainly my mother, did the entire time they stayed with us here in Texas while putting Sienna to rest. It was only at my dad’s urging that they needed to get back to Italy that they returned home after ten days. It was hard for them to leave Dante; the saving grace was summer being upon us, and I promised them we’d get over to Italy the first chance we could. My father, who aged well before his time after being the boss here in Texas, understands all too well how hard it is to get time off and knew I was making a promise that probably would never come to fruition.
“Good, maybe it will help me sleep.” I highly doubt that; more like keep him awake and bouncing off the walls, but if it takes some of the solemness away from him, I’ll call it a win.
“You might be right about that.” Dante looks up at me with hopefulness. I smile down at him because if Henley can answer my call after a damn month, maybe chocolate cake will help Dante tonight, too.
CHAPTER 3
HENLEY
“Hey, fancy seeing you here,” Sailor interrupts my thoughts as I’m walking out of an apartment in her building I looked at. I was hoping I’d like the place. Having her and Jackson here would have my father’s approval, but it just isn’t what I’m looking for. I know I’m going to probably compare everything to my once amazing apartment that overlooked the streets and parks of New York. So, when there wasn’t any natural light in the place across from Sailor’s apartment, it was definitely a no-go.
“Hi, Sailor.” A piece of me wants to bring up the past and what happened not long ago that required her to go to the hospital, but no way am I doing that right now. Not with the bright smile she has on her face. “I was looking at the apartment. It sucks that the lighting is so dinky. I’m not sure I could live with no natural light.”
“Girl, that apartment has been empty since I moved in here. Tell them you want to be the other building on the south side of the property. It’s newer and will be right up your alley. I never cared about that before; working at night and sleeping all day was my lifestyle. The darker, the better.” Sailor hikes her bag up on her shoulder.
“Thanks. I’ll go talk to them about that. The place seems nice and secure, plus we could be neighbors.” I go to run my fingers through my hair but then remember I don’t have my wig on today, needing to allow the skin to breathe. No one ever tells you how itchy and sweaty those things can be.
“It’ll be a lot of fun. Want me to go with you?” Sailor is a ball of energy, but from the looks of it, she was on her way out.
“Nah, I’m good. Will you be at dinner tonight?” When I left the house this morning, both my parents were gone, off doing something with the club, I’m assuming. Well, Mom is probably shopping with all the aunts or getting into some kind of mischief.
“Of course. See you then?” I nod, smiling, knowing that I’m going to drop another bomb on my family. This time, it doesn’t revolve around the ‘c’ word; nope, I got the all-clear that the cancer cells were gone the same day Dante wrapped his hand around mine. I’m still not sure who needed it more that day, but if it gave him an inkling of solace, I’ll be thankful. I was there on my own without my parents, much to their chagrin and annoyance. Believe me, they all let it be known that they wanted to be with me. I wasn’t having it, though. After my appointment was over, Dante was gone when I came out. I have no idea why I thought he'd still be there, and while I rang that bell, a rite of passage when you get good news, I did it without the happiness I thought I’d feel. I’m in remission. That doesn’t mean my days are all good. My body is still in a medicine overdose. Menopause hitting me the same time chemotherapy did surely didn’t help; add that in with depression and anxiety medicine, and I am a walking pharmacy, and I still have more bad days than good.