How can she refuse?
They find a café that sells horribly overpriced zoo concession food. Cassie has no appetite, but she grudgingly tells Joel to get her a hotdog. The three men take Violet with them to get the food while the three women stay behind to hold the table. Cassie would have liked to get in the line with the men, but Lydia links arms with her and practically drags her to the table.
She has a bad feeling Lydia wants to get her alone.
As Anna settles down at the table, she places a hand on her stomach and her brown eyes widen. “Ooh, that was a big kick!”
Lydia laughs. “It only gets worse, my dear.”
“How far along are you?” Cassie asks, happy to talk about something besides herself.
Anna beams. “Five months.”
“How about you, Cassie?” Lydia focuses on her like a laser beam. “Do you see children in your future?”
“I, uh…” Cassie swallows hard. “I’m not sure…”
“Joel wants kids,” Lydia says. “That’s for sure. Lots of ‘em.”
Anna smiles. “Oh, yes. I would have thought he’d have a few by now.”
Cassie’s brain is spinning. If Joel wants kids so badly, why didn’t he marry Francesca and have some? Did she not want kids? Is that what broke them up? Why won’t Joel ever talk about her?
“Anyway.” Lydia waves her hand. “You have plenty of time to decide. You’re so young.” She narrows her eyes. “How old are you, anyway? If you don’t mind my asking.”
“Twenty… seven.” It’s not entirely a lie. Her birthday is in… well, nine months. Right around the corner.
But there was no point in lying. Lydia laughs and exchanges looks with Anna. God, she’s not that young. It’s not like she’s sixteen, for crying out loud.
Cassie glances over at the line for food, willing it to move faster. “I wonder what’s taking so long…” She forces a smile. “I could have cooked my own hotdogs by now.”
Lydia arches an eyebrow. “Oh, do you cook?”
The answer to that is a hard no. Cassie cooks, but only stuff that comes out of a box. “Not… really.”
Lydia lets out a sigh. “I’d kill for one of Francesca’s meatballs right now.”
Cassie thinks back to her first date with Joel, when he’d reacted so strangely to her request for Italian food. Maybe that was why. “Oh, she… cooked a lot?”
Lydia gives her a look of disbelief. “You have to when you own a restaurant, don’t you?”
Francesca owns a restaurant?
The question pops up on Cassie’s lips, unbidden: “Where is the restaurant?”
Lydia and Anna exchange looks. Immediately, Cassie wishes she could take back the question. She doesn’t need to know where Francesca works. It’s better if she doesn’t.
But at the same time, she’s dying for some details about the wonderful Francesca. And Joel won’t say a word about her.
“It’s in the Village,” Anna says. She glances at Lydia. “It’s called Angela’s Ristorante.”
“The food is incredible,” Lydia says. “I’ve been to Italy three times, so I can tell you how authentic it is. It’s like being transported to a restaurant in Naples.”
Lydia’s been to Italy three times? Cassie’s only left the country once. And that was to go to Canada.
She wonders how many times the wonderful Francesca has traveled out of the country. Or maybe she doesn’t want to know.