Page 60 of Salvatore

Chapter Sixteen

Salvatore

More snow drifts up and into my face. Sleigh rides aren’t my thing and this is why. Aedry giggles beside me in that cute way she does and lifts her chin to kiss my cheek.

“This is fun, isn’t it?” she teases.

“Yeah. Fun,” I respond, working to keep my face hard.

She laughs and snuggles closer. She knows me well enough to guess I’m having a good time. It bothers me, to some extent, that she can see past my steel exterior. What bothers me more is how much I’ve lied to her.

The shit I’ve been dealing with has made me more of a liar than the man I’m trying to be for her and my brothers. It’s one of the reasons I agreed to this trip. Out here, far from the city, it’s like the life I’m leading doesn’t exist and like the danger I breathe in and out is nothing more than pollution skimming along the New York skyline. I want this time for us. It connects me to that human side I all but lost before she came along.

Christ. How is it possible for a woman to make me feel this way in such a short period of time? As if reading my thoughts, she curls against my body like she belongs there, reminding me of the little things she does to make me feel like I’m the most important thing in this fucking world. I kiss the top of her head, she draws my affection as easy as that.

Gianno and Apollo turn from where they’re seated in front of us, both smirking. “Pussy,” Gianno mouths to me.

I lean forward and shove his head. “Behave,” Aedry insists.

“I am,” I say, the corners of my mouth lifting when Apollo cracks up. “He’s still breathing, isn’t he?”

The sleigh slows to a stop in front of the barn where our excursion through the snow-covered hills first began. I hop out and help Aedry out. Two teenaged girls edge closer to the sleigh, lured by the sight of my brothers. Gianno and Apollo are growing up fast, their faces and developing muscles earning them second glances from young women everywhere we go. Aedry doesn’t like it. But my brothers do.

“Hey, baby,” Gianno says. “What’ve you got beneath that bonnet?”

Aedry slips from my hold, dragging my brothers forward. “Don’t make me kill you in front of all these witnesses,” she tells them, putting as much distance between them and the girls as she can.

I follow behind them, chuckling into my fist as my brothers gripe about Aedry destroying their chances at finding a nice Amish girl.

She ignores their comments, leading them past that man we met when we came in, the one who breeds Labrador Retrievers. As much as she’s fussing over my brothers, I don’t miss the way she glances at the dogs by his side. They wag their tails, remembering her, too, and probably the way she fell all over them when she stopped to pet them. The dogs are from a champion line and weren’t for sale. I asked the man for his card when she slipped into a small tent that sold spices and he mentioned he breeds them.

I know she still misses her dog, the one from her childhood. With the way my brothers went nuts over the dogs, I’m thinking about buying her one and having them help her take care of it. Gianno could use a running partner and Apollo could use something to keep him out of trouble and make him more responsible.

I’ve never wanted a dog, but if it makes Aedry happy . . .

Shit. Gianno’s right. I am a pussy.

I catch up to them as they reach a stand selling potato pancakes and soup. “Be respectful before you get us chased out of here by men wielding pitchforks,” she tells my boys when they return the smiles of yet another group of girls who pass them.

“I’ve got this,” I say, when she reaches into her purse and pulls out her wallet.

She crinkles her brow. “This day was supposed to be my treat,” she protests.

I shake my head. “You don’t pay for anything when I’m around,” I remind her.

“That’s how it should be, miss,” the old man at the stand says when Aedry tries to argue. “It’s only proper for a good man to take care of his lady.”

I wouldn’t call myself a good man. But I would call Aedry one fine lady.

The man fills four giant bread bowls with rich stew, its thick and hearty scent instantly making my mouth water. I take my and Aedry’s servings, following my brothers as they plop down on one of the outdoor benches. The sun’s out today and even though it’s only about twenty-eight degrees, I can’t deny it’s a beautiful day. I’ve never been out to the boonies of Pennsylvania, except once to bury a body (yet another of Vin’s mistakes), but we won’t go there. Not today.

Out in the country, it almost seems like life is too good to be true. Everyone here greets us with a smile, a “yes, sir” or “no, sir,” appearing to mean what they say and how they come across. It’s strange for a city boy like me to find peace here, but if there’s such a thing as heaven on earth, I find it here among the quiet surroundings, the snow-covered trees, but mostly the company.

Apollo and Gianno wolf down their food like they haven’t been stuffing their faces all day, before diving into the potato pancakes and homemade applesauce like they’re starving. “Can we get some of this stuff to take home?” Apollo asks, pointing to his food. “And maybe a couple of those fresh pies we passed, too?”

“Of course,” Aedry says, sighing when I shoot her a look that lets her know no way is she shelling out the bills for it. “You’re impossible, you know that?” she tells me, leaning in to kiss my cheek.

I tilt my head so she meets my lips, making her grin. My brothers take it as their cue to leave, stopping only to toss their garbage in a rusty old barrel. I expect her to call to them to not wander far, or to ask them if they need any money, that’s what she always does. Instead, she keeps her focus on me, her large blue eyes shimmering with a sense of sadness that makes me frown.

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