Page 7 of Cherry on Top

His phone rang again.

“I really don’t have time but I’ll make time for you,” Enzo teased after he answered.

“And you call me a smug asshole,” Luca said, sounding equally amused.

“Takes one to know one.”

Luca chuckled. “It sure does. So how did she convince you?”

“It wasn’t actually that hard.” Enzo sighed with resignation. “She wants me to paint a mural.”

“Oh, on Will’s building? Yeah, I can see that.”

“Who’s Will?” Enzo asked absently.

“A new guy in town. You’ll like him. And his ice cream.”

“Guess you didn’t open that gelateria you’d been talking about,” Enzo said.

“You know how busy we are, how were we gonna do that justice? It wasn’t going to happen. And then Will showed up with all these plans, and you know, Oliver said it best. Why would we try to do something when he’s such an expert at it, already?”

“You’re a huge sap.”

“Guilty as charged.”

There’d been a time when Enzo hadn’t exactly been thrilled that his smug asshole of a cousin had met, fallen in love, and then married his old teenage crush. But that was water long under the bridge.

He and Oliver would’ve been a disaster.

Had been a disaster. The worst first date both of them had probably ever been on.

“Let me guess,” Luca said, “you’re trying to avoid Giana driving into Charleston to pick you up.”

“If I let her, she’ll stop by every antique mall between there and Indigo Bay, and you know how I feel about antiquing.”

“It’s baffling to me why Giana moved back to Indigo Bay when she was so into the antique scene in Charleston.”

“You know it was too big for her. Not enough room to be her natural busybody self,” Enzo joked.

Luca laughed again. “You know her well.”

“Better than anybody else,” Enzo agreed. “So I’ll catch a ride back with you. Text me your flight info.”

His phone dinged again. “Done,” Luca said. “And if for some reason that doesn’t work for you, either Oliver or I can come into town and pick you up. No problem. Consider it karmic justice.”

“Done,” Enzo said.

“Ugh, that’s exactly what you intended, wasn’t it?”

“A happy accident,” Enzo suggested instead, and Luca scoffed.

“Sure,” he said, but he still sounded amused. “I am happy you’ll be home for a little while, karmic justice and all. I’m sure Oliver will be, too. And you know our cousin Rocco’s in Indigo Bay for the summer, yeah?”

“Rocco?”

“I’m sure you’ve met him before. At Chiara and Ilaria’s place, maybe? He’s a . . .second cousin? Third cousin? Anyway, Oliver’s teaching him everything he knows about the bakery, and he’s working at our place sometimes, and down the street at Rudy’s. Saving up.”

“Oh, yeah. Rocco.” He remembered the guy now. A real chip off the Moretti block. A fun, cheerful guy with a big smile that seemed to permanently reside on his face. “What’s he saving for?”

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