Page 26 of Doormat
“Come,” he said.“See what I picked up, and if there is anything missing, we can head back to the store.”
She had her doubts, he saw that, but he had pretty much picked up everything that didn’t require a garden.
Liana came closer and started to rummage in the bags and lay them out on the coffee table.He had also gotten lots of candy as well.He wasn’t quite sure if there were kids that lived in the building, but children were everywhere.Surely the candy would come in handy.
“This is amazing,” Liana said.
He hadn’t expected the way she threw her arms around him and hugged him.All he had done was go shopping for a few items, it wasn’t that big of a deal.However, he would gladly do it again and again, to continue getting hugs like that.
“I just need to put the dinner into the oven.I’ll be right back.”
“What is for dinner?”
“It’s called Hunter’s Chicken.It is one of my mom’s recipes.”
“Love it,” he said.
Liana left to go into the kitchen, and Diego picked up some black and purple tinsel.Snapping the wrapper that came around it, he moved to where the mantle was and started to lay it across the shelf.She came back and started to help him, and together they began to make his home Halloween festive.
During the process, he started to realize that his home didn’t have a lot of personal touches.At Liana’s parents’ home, there were pictures.Constant memories that surrounded people as they entered their home.He had seen pictures of Liana from a baby to now.
Stepping back and looking at his penthouse suite, they had artwork.He didn’t even know the artist.The place had been decorated by a professional, and all he had demanded was for it to be clean.That was it.
Now, it didn’t look like his home.It looked like a place to stay, but not a home.Diego gripped the back of his neck, not liking the feelings rushing through him.He had never truly considered what a home was supposed to look like.
Liana placed several fake pumpkins around the room, and weaved fairy lights around them.The scents coming from the kitchen were making his mouth water, and as Liana stepped away from the sitting room, she came toward him and placed an arm around his waist.
“Thank you,” she said.She surprised him further by placing a kiss on his cheek.
He watched her as she walked into the kitchen, and he couldn’t help but check out her ass.They hadn’t exactly come to an agreement about the whole divorce thing, but this was something.Rubbing his hands together, he walked into the kitchen to see her already serving dinner.
“Are you hungry?”
“Starving.”
She carried their food into the dining room, and he took a seat.He noticed she had served water but had placed a cool beer for him on a small coaster.Liana was slowly making this place her home.
Picking up his knife and fork, he cut into a piece of chicken, and it fell apart, it was so tender.He took a bite, and the flavors were so savory on his tongue.It was a perfect balance of garlic, tomatoes, chicken, carrots, the whole dish was just perfection.
“How was work today?”Liana asked.
“It was good.You could have come in.I was just at the desk at one of the casinos, looking over some figures.”He was not going to tell her he also had to torture a man who was seen spying as well as distributing drugs at that same casino.It was the only reason he was there.
In the past couple of weeks, Francesco had been getting a lot of heat from people overdosing on product on Colombo Mafia property.Emilio had contacted him today, telling him two women were found dead, with blood coming out of their noses from drugs, that were not Colombo.Whoever was distributing this shit was doing so in the hope of putting the blame on them.Diego was not going to let that happen.
Giovanni and Lorenzo were also suffering the same problem.The guy he talked with today was currently spending some time locked in a box in a freezer.He figured some alone time would help him decide where his best interests lay.
“How was your day?”he asked.
“It was good.I mean, I didn’t do a whole lot.I baked a pumpkin-chocolate cake.”
“You baked?”
“Yeah, I like to do that from time to time.”
He sat back and looked at her.
“What?”she asked.
