“Santa Cruz is a rad little town,” Luca says, coming to stand next to me. He hands me a beer, clinking his against it. “Cheers. To reconnecting.”
“Cheers.” Smiling, I take a nice, long pull of the cool, crisp ale.
“Do you want to sit inside or outside?” he asks, ambling over to the door and peering out the window. “It’s kind of chilly, I guess, but I have blankets.”
“I think I’m in the mood for this couch.” I sit, patting the seat beside me. “It’s comfy.”
He joins me, running his fingers through his hair. “Couch it is.”
I hide a smile at the sudden awkwardness between us. Luca and I have been in each other’s orbits for such a long time, but there’s still a lot we don’t know about each other.
“What does your mom do?” I ask, starting at ground zero.
“She works at an interior design firm in San Francisco.” He leans back, balancing his bottle on his thigh. “They specialize in hotels. She’s been there for nearly a decade.”
“I can honestly say I’ve never met someone who does that.” I scratch my head. “What exactly does she do?”
He pauses, thinking. “Basically, her team works with other companies, helping them to build cohesive brands. They create brand strategy, brand identity, stuff like that.”
“Like logos and signs?”
“Exactly.” He nods. “It goes even deeper, but that’s the gist of it.”
“That’s really, really cool. And what about your dad?” I ask. “He lives in Brazil, right? São Paulo?”
“Right. He’s in software, pretty high level.”
“But that’s not what you want to do,” I say, remembering our conversation about this very thing way back when.
“Ultimately, no.” A small smile crosses his lips, and he takes a sip of beer. “I want to focus on architecture.”
“So, design, like your mom. Just a different manifestation.”
Luca’s smile widens. “I never thought about it like that, but yeah.”
“You said ultimately. Does that mean you’re still dabbling in software?”
“Nothing gets by you,” he says, titling his head. “I’ve spent two summers and two semesters now, working in São Paulo.”
“For your dad?”
“For him, for his associates.”
“And how’s it been going?”
Luca shrugs. “I make good money.”
“But…”
“The kind of money that can be hard to walk away from.” He sinks back into the couch, drawing deeply from his beer. “What about your mom? What does she do?”
“She’s been a yoga instructor for nearly twenty years.” I trace my finger through the condensation on my bottle, wondering why, after all this time, Luca is still so uncertain about his future. About following in his dad’s footsteps. “She owns Lotus Studios in downtown Santa Cruz.”
“That’s hella cool,” he says, nodding. “Business ownership is where it’s at.”
I nod, thinking of my mother’s gusto, her independent spirit. “It’s a good thing. Having her own studio was always her dream, so I’m proud of her for doing it. She loves helping people and loves being her own boss, so it’s a win/win.”
Luca raises an eyebrow. “But?”