Page 11 of Wicked Rivals

He nodded toward the swing set at Enzo.

“Oh, I'm sure you do. For now, anyway, while he's still a child. But he’ll grow up, Ms. Salera, sooner than you think. And as strong as Enzo is now, and with the leadership qualities he’s already exhibiting in the short time I’ve known him, the lack of a father figure comes with an incredibly high risk.

“Enzo could channel those strengths in the wrong direction. He needs someone to teach him what kind of man he should become.”

Are you fucking kidding me right now?

“Oh believe me, Mr. Luka, I know exactly what kind of man I want my son to be. And what kind of man Enzo needs in his life. But so far, that man hasn’t entered our lives.”

Luka choked back his reaction for a minute.

“That’s… Ms. Salera, you can’t honestly?—”

“I do but thank you for your concern. I really could have gone without your unsolicited advice, though.”

Before I had to further test my ability to bite my tongue, Enzo appeared at my side and slipped his hand through my arm, pulling down, so he could lace his fingers through mine.

Looking down at him with a smile, I gave his hand a reassuring squeeze.

“Hey, buddy. Ready to go home?”

He looked at me with his gorgeous blue eyes and nodded. Then all the love and admiration I had learned to recognize in my son’s gaze, despite his stoicism, disappeared when he shot his teacher an annoyed frown.

I wished I hadn’t seen that look before in another person. In someone who had made it impossible for me to not see what he had passed down to my son, including that exact expression, with those matching eyes.

“You have a nice evening, Mr. Luka,” I said.

And with Enzo's hand in mine, we walked away before his teacher could say anything else to me or to him.

The defensive mood and the bitterness that man had dragged out of me needed to be gone by the time we got back to the café. The last thing I wanted was for my customers to taste it in their coffee.

“How’s work going today, Mama?” Enzo asked.

“Work?” I flashed him a surprised smile. “Good, buddy. It’s good. We’ve been pretty busy today, and everyone showed up for their shifts on time. So that’s a good thing too.”

“Why’s it so busy?”

“Well, if I had to guess, I would say it has a lot to do with college midterms this week. So there are a lot of students coming in, studying, and loading up on caffeine. Plus, the constant rush of deliveries from the college and the new fall flavors being a massive hit always helps.”

I caught myself then, noticing how easily I slipped into talking to my nine-year-old as if he were one of those college students instead. Talking to Enzo certainly felt like talking to a young adult so much of the time, though when I flashed him another sly smile, he was nine again.

“And you know what that means, right?”

An excited jump broke the rhythm of his steps as he tugged on my hand.

“I get to wait tables and make tips while everyone else fills the orders?”

“Yes, but only after your homework is done.”

He pumped his fist in the air and jumped again.

“Yes!”

Most boys his age probably preferred to ride their bikes or climb trees rather than work with their moms in a fast-paced spot like Con Amore.

My Enzo wasn’t most boys.

It hadn’t taken me long to recognize how much he loved it the first time I let him serve a single table just for fun. That was also the first time I’d seen him smiling and chatting up complete strangers, even laying on the charm with some of the women.

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