She shook her head. “We nailed the job.”
“Why then?”
“Antonia.”
Chloe opened her lips. “Oh.”
Brooke looked at the glass on the bedside table, noticed the brown color of the liquid inside, wrinkled her nose at it.
“It works. Trust me. I learned early. It’s two gulps and just breathe.” Chloe handed it to her.
Brooke placed her nose to it.
“No. Just drink it.”
What was the worst that could happen? She’d toss anything in her stomach up? She thought that was going to happen anyway.
“Cheers.”
One gulp.
Two gulps.
She tasted wine and pepper and something else she couldn’t identify.
“That’s awful.”
“Breathe.”
Brooke closed her eyes and did as instructed. After four deep breaths she opened them.
At least she didn’t think it was coming up.
“I’m okay.”
“We’ve all been there.”
Brooke shook her head slowly. “Why do we do this to ourselves?”
“Because men have a hard time connecting their actions to their brains sometimes. Luca told me you’re upset.”
“I’m glad he figured that out. I’m more hurt, Chloe. I really like your brother. I want him to be different.”
Chloe placed her hand on Brooke’s leg. “He feels shitty.”
“Good.”
She smiled.
“I want to be the modern, confident woman here, but damn it’s hard.”
“Sometimes a woman simply wants the man in her life to only have room for her. I don’t think you’re asking too much of Luca to keep it honest about Antonia.”
Brooke placed her hand over Chloe’s. “Thanks.”
There was a knock on the front door.
She and Chloe exchanged glances.
“Want me to get that?”
“Yeah. I need to get rid of what died in my mouth.”
Chloe left the bedroom and Brooke moved into the bathroom.
When she was done, she walked into the living room to find Chloe standing over a bouquet of spring flowers.
A huge bouquet.
“I’d say that Luca is trying.”
Brooke’s heart started to thaw. She reached for the card.
You are the only woman in my life.
L
“He had them delivered?”
Chloe nodded.
Brooke moved toward the kitchen. “My friend Carmen would say to hold off forgiveness until jewelry was involved.”
“I like how your friend thinks.”
In the kitchen, Brooke poured herself a glass of water.
“How is Franny taking all of this?”
“It’s hard to tell. She seems afraid to talk about it to any of us.”
Brooke sipped the water cautiously. “Man, do I remember that.”
“What do you mean?”
“I met my dad when I was a teenager.”
“You’re kidding.”
She shook her head. “My dad walked away before I was two and didn’t look back. Sound familiar?”
“Oh my God.”
“When I did meet him, I remember being under the microscope. My mother watched everything I said or did regarding him. She wasn’t exactly supportive of me being excited to get to know him. Which I get now, but for me . . . I wanted a dad. I can only think that Franny feels the same way. No matter who Antonia is, or if she’s even worthy of Franny, she is her mother. Franny knows that. But she’ll be afraid to show any excitement to Luca or any of you.”
Chloe sat on the sofa, her expression blank. “You’re the only person who can relate to her.”
Brooke took her water to the living room. “But I’m not without my own bias. I hate Antonia on principle. I’d bitch-slap you all the way to Sunday if you tried to do it to your kid.”
Chloe shook her head. “Never gonna happen. If I ever have kids, they’ll be smothered in my love.”
Brooke felt that to her core. “Me too.”
“None of us understood how she could walk away. But when she did, it seemed inevitable.”
“Why?”
Chloe hesitated. “I think you need to ask Luca.”
Brooke shook her head. “No. You started this conversation, and I don’t want to wait for the next time Luca wants to open up. What’s her story? Not their story . . . I’ll ask him about that.”
Chloe swiped her hand over her forehead. “I need coffee.”
Brooke motioned toward the kitchen. “Help yourself.”
Chloe made her way to the kitchen and moved around like she knew the space. Of course she knew it, since she’d likely placed everything where it was long before Brooke showed up.
“Antonia was a niece of our grandfather’s friend. She wanted to visit the States. My grandfather connected her with Mama—”
Brooke stopped her. “Please tell me she didn’t live in this apartment.”
Chloe shook her head, continued moving around the kitchen to make a pot of coffee. “No. She lived with Rosa, actually. My mother’s longest friend.”
“Thank God.”
“She came to the States. Toward the end of her visit, she and Luca were dating. Obviously, you know they eventually married, and Francesca was born.”
Brooke hesitated in her immediate assumption. “Accidents happen, so I won’t jump on that one.”
“No. Actually, Franny was born ten months after they were married. Everyone counted. Trust me.”
“That’s a relief.”
“It was for all of us. But it didn’t stop the fact that after Franny and a few years . . . Antonia got her citizenship and she moved on.”
Brooke cringed. “Damn.”
“It’s what most of us think.”
Brooke sat with the new information, let it roll around in her head. “How did Luca pull away from that?”
Chloe shrugged. “He had Franny. He took the role of father seriously and never looked back. To be fair, he takes on the role of oldest son, my father’s replacement . . . all of it seriously. Luca needs to be needed.”
Brooke sat a little taller. “What are you trying to tell me?”
“I think I said it. Luca is a good man with a big heart. We all thought she shut that down. Then you came around and put a smile back on his face.” Chloe paused. “Don’t let her win. She doesn’t deserve him.”
Brooke felt the lump in her throat that had been there ever since she’d heard of Antonia’s return. “I’m not the mother of his child.”
Chloe sucked in a breath, blew it out slowly. “That’s debatable.”
“I have paid for the room through tomorrow.” A week longer than he said he was going to. “After that it’s on you or you need to leave,” Luca told Antonia once he was able to get her on the phone.
“We can’t discuss this?”
“The only discussion is if you’d like to pay for the bill yourself. And considering you eat at the hotel daily and charge it to your room, you might want to do that.” Though he knew she wouldn’t.
“Francesca likes coming to the pool.” Franny had gone there once to go swimming. Antonia wore a bikini that hardly covered a thing and didn’t so much as dip her toe in the water. Luca had worn swim trunks just in case, but when it became apparent that Antonia wanted to engage him in conversation and not their daughter, Luca called Chloe to come by and supervise the visit.