Page 11 of Supernova

"Okay, Papa," Frankie says. She's exhausted, and honestly thrilled that her parents want to go to bed. "You two rest up. Let me know if you need anything."

She accepts kisses from both parents and then turns out the kitchen lights. There'll be plenty of time for everything tomorrow.

"I said I wanted thefesaandscamone!" Allegra Lombardi shouts over the counter at the butcher, who shrugs good-naturedly and goes back to the refrigerated area to get the cuts of rump the older woman is asking for. "I'm makingspezzatino," Allegra says in a quieter voice, turning to her daughter. She's such a spitfire, and never in her life has Frankie seen her mother back down--from anything. Despite her petite stature, she makes herself heard and seen.

Frankie stands there in a fitted dress and high heels, an unlit cigarette in one hand as she looks at her mother with amusement. "You know I love yourspezzatino," she says, fishing through her handbag for a lighter. She'd lasted eight days without a cigarette, but her parents' arrival had sent her into the master bathroom the night before, where she cracked the small window and lit one, exhaling gratefully into the dark night as the nicotine floated through her body.

The butcher is back. He wipes his hands on an already bloodstained apron as he regards Mrs. Lombardi warily. "It will cost you extra," he says, lifting his chin at her as if he wants to get under her skin. It works.

"What kind of an operation are you running here, youidiota?" Allegra flicks her fingers beneath her chin and glares at the butcher. Frankie would be more alarmed at her mother's badbehavior, but she knows that the butcher is Italian just like her parents, and that this is all part of their back-and-forth. She's seen her mother have exchanges just like this all over Brooklyn for the better part of her life, so she ignores it and glances out at the sidewalk longingly.

"Mama, I'm going to go outside and smoke. I'll wait for you." Frankie is out the glass door and flicking her gold lighter before her mother can even respond. She inhales deeply, closing her eyes in the bright morning sun.

"Frankie!" Jo is walking down the sidewalk, waving excitedly. "I came by your house last night," she says as she approaches with a huge, open smile. "No one was home, so I just took our walk alone. I missed you though."

"Ed and I went to Fort Lauderdale to pick up my parents at the airport," she says, tipping her head backward towards the butcher's storefront behind her. "My mother is in there and I'm out here," she adds, holding up her burning cigarette like it's a passport that's allowing her to travel to another country.

Jo smiles knowingly. "You're out here because you already need a break?"

"A month, Jo--I invited them fora month."

"Are you already rethinking that?" Jo asks with sympathy. "I don't know if I could spend a month with my parents--God love them, but I do think there's a good reason why we grow up and leave our parents' house."

Frankie lifts one bare shoulder and lets it fall as she takes another pull from her cigarette. "I woke up to find my father reading the newspaper on the lanai in his underwear," she says. Jo makes ayikesface. "And my mother has demanded that I write down the details of my last three menstrual cycles so she can 'cook the right foods' to help me get pregnant."

One of Jo's hands clamps over her own mouth to stifle a surprised laugh. "Oh, no," she says, shaking her head. "I'm sorry, Frankie."

Frankie shrugs again and taps the ash of her cigarette over a grate on the sidewalk. "Parents--what are you gonna do, right?"

Just then, Mrs. Lombardi comes out of the butcher shop with a cut of meat wrapped in brown paper, tied with string, and tucked beneath her arm. "Francesca," she says with a big smile. "Tonight, we feast."

Frankie smiles, looking back and forth between her mother and Jo. "Mama, this is Josephine Booker. Our husbands work together. Jo, this is my mother, Allegra Lombardi."

"Mrs. Lombardi." Jo puts out a hand to shake but Frankie's mother just frowns at it. After a brief moment, her face collapses into a smile. "You are beautiful!" she says to Jo, holding her hand up in the air and stepping closer to Jo. "I'm so happy to meet Francesca's new friends!" Without warning, she leans in and kisses Jo on one cheek.

"Oh!" Jo can't hide the blush that creeps up her cheeks as she smiles at Frankie's mother. "It's lovely to meet you as well. How are you liking Stardust Beach so far?"

Allegra looks up and down the street at the shops and at the shiny cars parked at the curb. "It's so...new," she says, sounding a little puzzled. "It looks like a set for a movie, doesn't it? Where are the cops? No one is bent over the hood of a car, no one is frisking anyone for weapons."

Jo blinks rapidly, surprised. "No cops," she says, waiting to hear what Mrs. Lombardi will come up with next.

"And why no men sleeping on the street? No one drinking from a paper bag? No girls selling their--"

"Mama," Frankie interrupts. "Stardust Beach is brand new. Give us a decade and maybe it'll look more like Brooklyn."

"You know," Allegra says, turning to Jo. "One morning Francesca's father got up for work, and there were seven bullet holes in his brand new Chevy.Seven." She throws a hand in the air like she's given up trying to figure things out. "Is it like that where you come from?"

Jo looks at Frankie like she needs permission to answer, but all she gets is a smirk from Frankie, who is taking a long, amused drag on her cigarette.

"No," Jo says. She shakes her head. "No, ma'am. I'm from Minnesota, and I don't think I've ever seen a policeman frisk anyone over the hood of a car."

Allegra watches Jo's face, and then, without warning, she throws her head back and howls with laughter. "Frankie!" she says, her eyes watering a little as she cackles. "I love this girl. Josephine, you'll come for dinner, won't you? Maybe after the holiday? We're here for a month."

Jo looks thrilled to be invited. "I'd love to," she says at the same time that Frankie says: "Mama, Jo is married with three kids. She can't just abandon them and come to dinner."

Allegra turns to her daughter with a storm cloud on her face. "Then she'll bring them along, Francesca. You've got a swimming pool for her children, and we'll get to know Jo and her husband." She turns back to Jo. "Yes?"

"Absolutely," Jo says. She looks at Frankie and gives her just the barest hint of a wink. "I should get going though," she says, holding up the shopping bag in her hand. "I have a few more Christmas gifts to wrap here. Happy holidays to all of you!"

---