“What?” she asked.
“You’ve domesticated him,” Lorenzo said.
“Oh, please,” Cait scoffed.
“No, seriously. Cooking. Worried that I’m getting too thin. And I think it’s kind of sweet.”
“I bet,” she scoffed good-naturedly as she followed Val into the bedroom. From behind the closed door, Lorenzo could hear their low voices, and again he thought that it might be best to just leave. But a wave of fatigue suddenly overwhelmed him, and he slumped into a bright blue armchair that had to have come from a thrift shop. Val emerged from the room first and folded his arms across his tank-topped chest as he narrowed his eyes as he looked over his brother.
“You doing okay?” he asked.
“Eccellente,” he said. “Since when did you start cooking?”
“Since I got hungry,” Val said. “I’ll make extra.”
As he headed back to the kitchen, Cait emerged in a pair of leggings and a maroon top. She exchanged a quick smile with Val before taking the mismatched seat at Lorenzo’s side.
“Well, it is good to see you,” she started.
“You sound so convincing.”
“I mean it,” she insisted, slapping his knee before folding her fingers under her chin. “But I have a bit of a bone to pick with you.”
“Why?”
“You’re back in Brooklyn, and this is the first time you come around to see me?”
“Who am I to spoil your happy home?” he asked, relaxing when she laughed lightly and slid back in her seat.
“Doesn’t mean I can’t play the happy hostess,” she teased. “You want a drink?”
“Please.”
His voice sounded a bit too eager for comfort in a glass, but Cait seemed to brush it off as she left her chair and deftly prepared him a scotch and soda.
“Not too much ice,” she promised.
“I’m touched that you remember,” he said, taking the glass and downing a large gulp. It did wonders for his mood as he sank deeper into the chair, and Cait stayed on her feet, staring at him.
“Enzo?”
“Yeah?”
“Is something wrong?” she asked.
He drank again before responding.
“No. Nothing. Where’s the cena?” he asked, changing the subject to the always safe food topic.
The supper appeared right on time, courtesy of Val. Cait smiled and snuggled against him as he sat on the arm of her chair, but Lorenzo stared at the so-called cuisine on the paper plate and spoke slowly.
“What is this?” Lorenzo asked.
“Dinner,” Val said. “Why? What’s the problem?”
Lorenzo held his tongue as he looked down at mac and cheese that could have passed for soup… which made the plate even more confusing.
“And what’s the pink stuff?” Lorenzo asked cautiously.
“Ham.”
“Did you just tear up some lunch meat and use it as a garnish?” Lorenzo asked.
“Are you turning your nose up at free food?” Val asked.
“Boys,” Caitlin gently warned. “Don’t fight.”
He watched her take a healthy helping onto her fork and swallow it with what looked like a smile.
“It’s really not that bad,” she said. “Give it a try, Enzo.”
He started but couldn’t. Even if he had three or four more scotch and sodas, it would never replace Michelle’s sauce and the other delights from her kitchen. He set his plate aside and returned to his drink. At least that he knew tasted good.
“Mi dispiace,” he said. “I really shouldn’t have come.”
“Lorenzo, talk to us.”
Lorenzo was stunned by the sudden feel of Val’s hand on his arm and looked up to find his brother’s eyes warm but worried. “Who are you?” he whispered.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, is this really you? Or Cait’s influence?”
Cait set her plate of mac and cheese aside and adjusted her glasses as she found his stare.
“Maybe it is me,” she said. “Is that such a bad thing? That we’re both worried?”
“I—”
“Thought you were finding your feet with the restaurant.”
At the sound of Val’s words, Lorenzo stood and started to pace. “I… I’m supposed to work with her, Michelle, the chef. But Zio gave me the impression that I would call the shots. And I can’t when she knows more about that world than I ever could. And I don’t even know why I’m there.”
It all came out quickly. He looked back to see his brother and his friend staring at him with wide eyes and started to backtrack when Cait rose and cut him off at the pass.
“Don’t,” she started. “Take a deep breath.”
“I—”
“Listen to me, Enzo.”
He did as much, his mind racing through his hours on the streets until he managed to collect his thoughts and felt Cait’s hand in his.
“Okay,” he started. “I’m calming down.”
“Good.”
“Your uncle wants you there for a reason.”
“I guess,” Lorenzo said.
“And that’s not what this is about.”
“But—”
“Fratello, maybe he wants you to help her and yourself.”
Lorenzo was surprised at the words coming out of his brother’s mouth, and he looked down at Cait’s hand before he spoke.
“Like he did for you?”
Val simply sighed as he stood to wind his arms around Cait’s shoulders. He kissed her temple and smiled into her eyes.
“Zio wasn’t wrong,” Val admitted. “We trusted him when Dad died. And I speak from experience. Trust him again.”
Lorenzo felt a weight leaving his shoulders as he realized that his intrusion had done nothing to stop their happiness. Could he have that same thing with the likes of Michelle? Maybe it was too soon to tell.
But…
“But the time I’m spending with lunch meat mac and cheese could be spent in a real restaurant.”
“Not a bad place to start,” Cait said.
“Got it. Okay.”
He was ready to fly out the door right on the spot. But a glance at his watch revealed the time. The kitchen had to be closed. It would have to wait until the next day.
And for the moment…
“I got it now,” Lorenzo said. “And who am I to be rude?”
He resumed his seat with his plate, choking down Val’s cuisine and watching the happy couple smile as they talked about how well their end of the business was going, how happy they were with one another. Good for Cait. Better for Val.
But at the end of the day, Lorenzo could think of nothing but Michelle’s food... and the chef herself.
4
“You need to make nice with him,” Angelo Moretti said.
An exhausted Michelle barely had a foot through the door of the small apartment that she shared with her father when he was already laying into her. For what seemed like the millionth time.
“How do you even know what went down?” she asked. “Rodolfo wouldn’t have squealed.”