Page 57 of Tell Me Your Desires
“Francesco!DueNegronis!Sbrigati!”Nonna turned back to Anya and Jaime. “This is a special occasion, si? Nonna will bring you food!”
There was no arguing with Nonna. Mainly because she said what she said and bustled away before either Anya or Jaime could open their mouths.
“You speak Italian,” Anya stated once they were alone and the noise level dissipated enough for them to hear each other without shouting. She purposefully chose to ignore Nonna’s ‘settled down’ remark as it made her skin itch.
“Only a little and only here,” Jaime chuckled. “Nonna has taught me a few words and insists I use them when I’m here. Fact is, I’m a little scared of her, so I do it to keep the peace. Do you drink? I should have asked before I ordered for you.”
“I like a cocktail or two,” Anya smiled. “Is she really your grandmother?”
“Oh, no, no. Which is probably a good thing since she loves to fill me with all the food she can. ‘You’re too skinny, Jaime!’” Jaime mimicked Nonna’s gravelly Italian accent. “She can be abrasive and persuasive, to say the least. Sorry about that, by the way. I should have warned you she was… something else,” Jaime chuckled.
Anya laughed at Jaime’s playfulness.Another check in the pro column.“She’s fine. It’s been a long time since I’ve been around someone so… animated. Do you come here often?” She rolled her eyes. “That sounded like the cheesiest pick-up line.”
Jaime just smiled. “More so now than I used to. Taylor wasn’t a fan of Italian…” Jaime bit her lip. If she didn’t stop talking about Taylor to the woman she wanted to woo, it would be a very short night and even shorter courting.
The space between Anya’s eyebrows wrinkled as she studied Jaime. “Is it hard for you to talk about Taylor?”
“I…” Jaime was taken aback by Anya’s question. She hadn’t shied away from saying Taylor’s name, nor did she seem… upset by the subject. In Jaime’s limited experience after Taylor — which consisted of coffee with precisely one woman who was a colleague — prospective ‘girlfriends’ didn’t like talking about exes. “Sometimes,” she answered honestly. “There’s a lot there that’s… unanswered.”
“About her death?” Anya asked carefully.
Jaime nodded. “Her killer is still out there.”
“Does that make it hard for you to let her rest?”
Let her rest.Jaime kicked that approach around in her brain for a minute. Was Anya right? Was Jaime confusing the heartbreak of tremendous love and loss with the need for closure?
“Maybe.” Jaime shook her head. “We’re supposed to be getting to know each other, not talking about my ex.”
Anya reached over and took Jaime’s hand in hers. “Taylor isn’t your ex. You didn’t break up, Jaime. You lost her, and that loss still sits very heavy in your heart. Has there been any leads at all?”
“Nah, it’s a cold case at the moment. Sometimes I pick it back up, hoping to see something I didn’t catch before, but…” Jaime shrugged.
“Would you like me to look at it?” Anya was as shocked by her suggestion as Jaime seemed to be. She hadn’t looked at cases in years, having put that time in her life far, far behind her. Anya walked away from profiling without looking back, and yet, here she was, offering her ‘expertise.’ “I don’t mean to overstep…”
“No, you didn’t. I just… are you sure you want to do that?”
Anya laughed. “No, but I’m willing to if it’ll help you. Just as I’m willing to help with this case.Ifthe plan makes sense and doesn’t put anyone in danger,” she clarified quickly.
Francesco came by then with their Negronis, and Jaime was glad for the interruption. Time to get onto a different topic. She held her glass up towards Anya.
“Here’s to a beautiful night with a beautiful woman.”
Anya touched the rim of her glass to Jaime’s with a sweet smile.Another check in the pro column.“Cheers to that.” She took a sip, the bitter taste hitting the back of her throat. “Oh. Oh, that’s… whew!”
Jaime grinned behind her glass. Negroni wasn’t for everyone, but it was a great start to an even better dinner. “Nonna swears by this stuff. She says it opens the tummy and invites the food in.”
“That’s… quite the visual,” Anya laughed. “It’s delicious, though.”
“Bruschetta, yes?” Nonna set a plate of aromatic bread topped with garlic, olive oil, beautifully red tomatoes, and salt in front of them and hurried off again.
“Yes, I believe I will,” Anya said to Nonna’s retreating back as she eyed the bruschetta. “I love bread and garlic. And tomatoes. And olive oil. Don’t judge me when I dig into this.”
Jaime crossed her heart with her finger. “Never,” she snickered. “I bet you haven’t had bruschetta like this before. Unless you’ve been to Italy.”
Anya shook her head as she took a large bite. Crumbs and tomatoes dropped onto the small plate in front of Anya, but she quickly picked the tomatoes up and put them back on the bread. “So good. Feel free to keep talking as I stuff my face.”
Jaime laughed. This is definitely a side of Anya she hadn’t expected. The woman enjoyed food and wasn’t ashamed to show it. That was something Jaime could appreciate. Taylor had beenthe opposite. If Jaime and Taylor went out on a date, Taylor ate small portions, always afraid of how she’d be perceived in public.Stop thinking about Taylor.
