Page 293 of Come Back to Me

The loss. The distrust. The fear.

The faith. The reconnection. The passion.

The love.

Not once do I lift my head. I keep my gaze pinned on my plate as I toy with the fettuccini Nonna and Mom handmade for the occasion, but my appetite’s in the dust.

As the song nears the finale, a rousing end that conveys my hope for tomorrow, the aftermath is bitterly silent.

That’s when I hear a sniffle.

“Coniglio,” Nonna wails, using the tablecloth to swipe at her eyes. “It’s you two!”

Of course she understands it.

“Oh, darling,” Mom whispers.

Cody squeezes my hand as I shoot them both tremulous smiles.

Zee’s sniffling into a napkin.

Raquel’s eyes are wet.

Colt raises his glass to me.

“That was neat,” Anthony cheers.

“Thanks, Tony,” I mumble.

Daddy clears his throat.

I close my eyes.

Dreading looking at him.

That’s when I hear the scraping of a chair.

Some footsteps.

My heart pounds.

I squeeze even more juice out of Cody’s hand.

Then a face is next to mine and a kiss is pressed to my temple.

“Beautiful, Christy.” My dad holds me in a half-hug. “Such talent. Such promise.” He squeezes me. “I like what he brings out in you, and I know that director will too.”

With a sob, I turn around and hurl myself into his arms.

I hate being at odds with anyone in my family. I love them. So much. It hurts. But he embraces me as fiercely as I do him.

And maybe it won’t work out with Jerry Majors. Maybe I’ll have to get a job at The Coffee Shop if Zeedoesstop with the campaign trail like the family is discussing. Or maybe, I’ll just keep on helping Callan out…

It’ll be fine.

Because I havelove.

It came back to me.

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