Page 63 of Till Death Do Us Part

Talia sent an eye-rolling emoji.

Lo sent Talia a clapping emoji.

Lo:Take your pick, Isabella. Coal, garlic, onions, or straw? Because that’s what you’re getting from La Befana.

Isabella:Get over it already, Y.

“Get over yourself, bish,” I muttered.

“Isabella?” Elsa asked.

Before I could respond, Kerry asked me how she was doing.

“You know Isabella?”

“My older sister does. They used to play together when they were little.”

Both of Kerry’s parents were doctors and friends of Babbo’s. I didn’t remember Isabella being friends with Kerry’s older sister, though. But there was a sizable age gap between us. I said as much.

“They had a falling out over dolls,” Kerry said, laughing.

“Dolls?”

“Yeah. One of the dolls was getting married. They had this whole wedding planned. But my sister wanted the doll to marry another doll. Your sister went berserk, saying she had to marry the other one. She said it had been arranged and that was that. They’re friends now, but it’s a memorable story.”

“Sounds like Isabella,” I said.

Kerry and Elsa started laughing.

“What?” Smoke billowed out of my mouth.

“We were talking about something funny.” Kerry sat her empty mug down. “You were dead serious.”

They really started laughing, maybe at the look on my face. Iwasdead serious. Even as a kid, Isabella stuck to the rules and refused to even think about anyone else but her already chosen future husband. She couldn’t even let it go while she played with her friend and had a pretend wedding for dolls. I didn’t think my response was all that funny, though. They were just getting drunk.

“I’m going to get another—” I began, but Kerry’s next words made me go silent.

“Is that John Maggio?” Kerry squinted, looking towards the doors leading outside.

Felice was going to meet me at the hotel. We had plans to go to the ballet after dinner. I assumed he was at “work” until then. It had just been a couple of days, but after Felice told me how he felt about being separated, and after Isabella’s stunt, something in me had grown bolder. Getting caught wasn’t in my plans, but I refused to not see him or talk to him.

Even though Lo made me solemnly swear to her that whatever my plans were, I’d wait until after her wedding. Traditionally, my parents would wait a few months to start planning a new wedding when we were close in age. Isabella and Talia were barely two years apart, though Talia was more a loner child. Alina was somewhere in the middle, and she was Isabella’s shadow. And there was an eighteen-month age-gap between Lo and me. But that was when Mamma was alive. This was new territory with Babbo.

“No,” Elsa breathed out. It was almost one-hundred proof. “That’s Jack. John’s uncle.”

“His uncle?”

Elsa explained the situation, and Kerry nodded.

“He looks younger.”

“He is,” Elsa said, looking at me. Her face became transparent when drunk. It was anoh shit,look-who’s-here-to-rock-the-boatlook.

“Something’s going on,” Kerry said. “My senses are tingling.”

The three of us grew quiet as Jack and three men strode to our table. They were all handsome and built. They smelled like rich colognes, and they had all donned the finest clothes. I hated to admit it, but Jack stood out like Felice did. If I lied to myself and said there was nothing to Jack, I’d be saying that about Felice too. But his looks didn’t complete the entire picture. He had nothing on Felice when it came to presence. Felice’s intensity made me feel like he was touching me even when he wasn’t.

Introductions were made by me first. Jack corrected me when I called him a friend.

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