Page 72 of Love Like Lightning

For ninety, she’s shockingly sprightly. She’s short, with a cheery, age-lined face, and she’s always smiling, but today she’s smiling even more than usual.

“Come, let’s chat.” She pulls me over to one of the less crowded tables, and we both take a seat. “Talk to me about Colorado.”

Trying to muster up a smile, I tell her about the job and Cam. The beautiful views and the people. When I finish, I realize I didn’t mention Henry once.

“Why are you so sad, bambina?”

“I’m not sad,” I reply quickly, not wanting to get into this on her birthday.

She just looks at me, eyebrows raised and a deep knowledge in her eyes. Not saying anything, she takes my hand in hers and gives me the space to talk.

So I tell her everything.

Not the sex stuff. But everything else that matters. At the end of it, I’m choking back tears and wondering how in the hell I’ve gotten myself into this situation.

I’m also thanking every God in existence that the rest of my family is preoccupied with food and gossip, so I don’t have to deal with their questions.

“I didn’t realize that I loved him. It wasn’t obvious to me until everything fell apart. Why couldn’t I just want to be with some finance guy who has his life together and no family drama.”

“First, love isn’t predictable, Gianna. You don’t always see when it’s coming. Sometimes you do, sure. But sometimes it comes out of nowhere, hitting you like lightning, and then you’re left grappling with the aftermath. It’s not always so easy, so simple. But it’s always worth fighting for. Are you going to fight for your love, Gianna?”

Her words touch something hidden deep inside me, cracking something loose, and a tear breaks free and slides down my cheek. I didn’t see Henry coming at all. He was everything I didn’t think I wanted. And so complicated. But now that I know—now that I’ve opened my eyes to the love I have for him—I’m not willing to let it go.

“Of course I am.” I give her a watery smile, squeezing her hand in mine. “What was the second part?”

“Hmm?” She looks around the room, a ghost of a smile on her face.

“You said first’, so I assumed there was a second.”

Turning her piercing eyes on me, she tells me the cold, hard truth. “Bambina, if any of your ex-boyfriends are any indication, ‘finance’ guys are exactly the opposite of what you should be going for. So if this Henry is the opposite of your usual, then I say run with it.”

My mouth drops open in shock, and I gape at my Nonna. She’s always been honest, to an extent, at least after my breakups. But hearing how she really felt about the guys I’ve been choosing all these years solidifies my choice.

Once the party's over, I’m calling Henry again. I’ll leave him message after message, and if that doesn’t work, I’ll track him down once I’m back in Colorado and make him hear me out.

If there’s any way to fix my colossal screw-up, I’m going to find it.

31

Henry

“Thank you two for coming over.” Mom smiles gratefully from her seat on the couch next to my dad.

Mack and I are sitting next to each other on the loveseat across from them. Tension ripples off of Mack’s body like heat waves. When the text came through our family group message, Ian begged off, saying he was too busy with school right now to make the drive out here again. Art just said that the conversation he had with our parents was enough, and he trusted them.

So it’s just me and Mack. I don’t even know why I came. I’m not part of the business, and I don’t have any issues with their bringing Cam and Gia on to help. That’s all Mack.

“First and foremost, we want to apologize. I didn’t think that the other night would go the way it did. Clearly, there were a couple of things that contributed to everything going sideways, but we know we should have told you kids sooner what was going on,” Mom starts, biting her lip and looking at dad.

“Yeah, no kidding,” Mack mumbles under her breath, staring daggers at the floor.

“We know that we miscalculated,” Dad says. “Your mom and I just didn’t want anyone worrying, especially since we were trying to find a solution.”

“Okay, but how did we get here? Things were fine before Art left and now things are slow and we’re hiring help?” Mack's eyes widen, shaking her head.

“Ah, well, things seemed fine, that's for sure. It's been a rough couple of years on the back end of things. We’ve made some decisions in the last ten years or so that have caught up to us.” Mom sighs, her lips turned down.

“Isn’t that something that Art or I would have picked up on?” Mack’s face scrunches as she clearly tries to think back.

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