Page 106 of Cherry on Top

“Thanks for that,” Enzo retorted.

“Hey, I’m just the messenger. Now I gotta get back to cooking. But you don’t have to worry about us. Let’s have dinner next week, all four of us, alright? We’ll go to Charleston. Make a real evening of it. Celebrate your sort-of-new relationship.”

“Sounds good,” Enzo said and then in a quieter voice added, “Thanks, Luca.”

“Anytime,” Luca said, and Will could tell he meant it.

Enzo hung up and Will could tell he knew Luca meant it, too.

Will didn’t say anything. Let Enzo think for a minute.

“I . . .I hated him when he came here, you know?” Enzo sounded like he’d never regretted anything in his life more.

“I bet you did.”

“Really? Saint Luca?” Enzo’s tone was wry.

“He isn’t a saint, and I bet he wasn’t a saint back then, either. But yeah, I can imagine how it felt when he showed up here, and even though your mom had asked him to come and help you guys, I bet it sucked when he told you everything you had to change. Everything you were doing wrong. And you didn’t even want to be here.”

“I didn’t,” Enzo said. “And you know how he paid back all my bullshit? He intervened. He stood up for what I wanted, with my mom. He saw my dreams, when I’d given up on them. I wouldn’t have anything I have now, if it wasn’t for him.” Enzo was quiet for another moment. “I don’t know if he even understands that.”

“He does,” Will said firmly. He pressed a kiss to Enzo’s shoulder. “I promise you, he does.”

Enzo sighed. “I shouldn’t have lied to him.”

“You heard him. You lied to yourself, not him.” Will nudged him. “After all, you couldn’t have known you couldn’t ultimately resist this stud muffin.”

Enzo laughed, and Will knew he wanted to make Enzo sound exactly like that for the rest of his life. Was it still too early to say so? Absolutely—which was why they were gonna have to come clean tomorrow morning.

“I have one piece of good news for you,” Enzo said.

“What’s that?”

“Tomorrow night,” Enzo said, leaning in and brushing a kiss across his lips, “it’ll be over and they’ll know everything and we’ll still have each other.”

Chapter Eighteen

To say Enzo was nervous was an understatement.

Already he’d guzzled down two cappuccinos and every time he eyed Rocco, standing at the counter, by the espresso machine, Rocco eyed him right back, like No way am I giving you another one.

“You ready?” Will said, spotting his parents approaching from one side through the windows that lined the street side of Sweetie Pie’s. They’d taken the same table they had the other day, when they’d all had lunch.

They’d debated having this conversation somewhere private, like Cherry’s before it opened, but Enzo had staunchly argued that they needed to do it in public—hopefully to contain the fallout. Besides, Enzo barely considered Oliver’s bakery public, because he’d spent so much time in it over the years.

“As ready as I’ll ever be,” Enzo said and watched as his mom approached from the other side. Enzo realized he was holding his breath—not from anticipation, but sheer, unadulterated dread—as they met at the Sweetie Pie’s front door, exchanging what seemed to be basic pleasantries.

Okay. So they hadn’t met yet. But as they walked into the bakery, Enzo could see they were eyeing each other, and when they all ended up walking towards the same table, Carla Johnson turned to his mom and said, “I’m sorry, but are you Enzo’s mother? You look so much like him.”

Giana beamed. “Do you think so? Everyone always says so, but I always wonder, if he’ll turn out to be just like his father.”

“And who’s his father?”

Ugh, Enzo really didn’t want to go down this road. Not now. Not today. He liked Will, and he liked Will’s parents, and they seemed reasonable but it never seemed to go over well when he mentioned that his father had probably been part of the family and was probably lying dead somewhere, which was why he’d never met the man.

Just because he was okay with it didn’t mean other people were.

“Mom,” he said, walking over and wrapping an arm around her shoulders, “meet Will’s parents. This is my mom, Giana Moretti.”

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