Page 21 of Cherry on Top

“Just like her son, I’m sure.” But there was no heat in his voice. He’d gotten over Oliver ages ago.

“Are you going to stay here?”

“Yeah, I’ll have another cappuccino. Maybe sketch some.” What he wanted to do was sketch some ideas for the mural—but he wasn’t convinced Will would change his mind.

Maybe he should go back to Cherry’s and deploy some additional Moretti charm to persuade him.

“Are you sure you don’t want me to talk to him?” Giana asked. And Enzo knew exactly who she was referring to. “Maybe if I apologized, smoothed things over, he’d see things differently.”

He might. But Enzo couldn’t risk her pimping him out again.

“No, it’s fine,” Enzo said. “I have other work I can play around with. And maybe I can convince Rocco to play hooky.”

He pulled out a pencil and his sketchpad from his back pocket.

“You shouldn’t,” Giana said but she was smiling.

“I’ll see you later,” Enzo said. “Have fun with Joy.”

But before she could walk out the door, it was opening and there was Will standing there, in another of his tight white T-shirts, two cherries with their stems intertwined embroidered on the pocket.

“Oh, Will,” Giana said excitedly, beckoning him over and Enzo had to clamp his lips together so he didn’t groan out loud.

“I’m so glad I ran into you,” she continued, and Enzo was relieved that at least she’d pasted on her most contrite expression. “I wanted to apologize for the misunderstanding.”

Will raised an eyebrow. He didn’t look convinced by her show of remorse.

“It must’ve just slipped your mind to tell me,” Will said.

“Yes, exactly,” Giana said, giving him one of her brightest smiles.

Enzo recognized that smile and didn’t think Will would be able to resist it, and sure enough, he didn’t. He melted. Only a little, but it was enough.

“Well, no harm, no foul,” Will said, and then he turned to Enzo. “I was hoping I’d catch you here. I want to talk to you.”

Giana’s expression turned rapturous.

Enzo internally winced.

“About the mural,” Will added, with emphasis.

“Don’t you have somewhere you need to be?” Enzo asked his mother.

“Well . . .” She trailed off.

“Go meet Joy. Let me take care of this,” Enzo said.

She smiled and gave him a nod. “Alright. Enjoy yourselves. A lot.”

Even after she disappeared out of the front door, Will didn’t sit down. Just stood there, shifting his weight from foot to foot. “I was thinking,” he said. “What if I gave you a general subject for the mural and you took it from there?”

I’ve got him.

But Enzo had a feeling if he got cocky again, he’d scare him away again. “That’s not usually the way it works,” he reminded him. “But I promise, I’m not going to paint something completely ridiculous on your building.”

“I know,” Will said.

Enzo gestured towards the seat across from him. “Come on, sit down. Let’s talk about this.” When Will continued to hesitate, he added, “I promise, I don’t believe that if we sit together and share a conversation that we’re gonna fall wildly in love and get married.”

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