Quietly, he said, “I didn’t know you played.”
“It was a long time ago.”
“Your mother?”
Sal knew me so well. “Yes.”
He nodded as if completely understanding why I never played, and why it was monumental that I just did.
After more silence, he asked, “What else happened while you were gone?”
I exhaled regret. “I called your father.”
Next to me, his whole body seized up. Me telling him had him suspecting bad news.
I nodded. “I’m sorry. Disconnected.”
His eyes slid shut. “Mamma.”
“My heart says she is safe.”
His eyes slid open.
I then explained the conversation with the Steel Stallions. Sal didn’t blame me at all for reaching out. In fact, he spoke of the same guilt, for both the grey-eyed girl and the other victims we left defenseless.
After even more silence passed, he finally asked, “What is happening to our friendship?”
I hated to hear his insecurity. I never meant for him to feel any doubt between us, so I answered honestly, “It is getting stronger.”
His tension eased as an exhale released from lungs that had been restricted.
It was all making sense to me now. “Sal, I’ve never been with anyone without you. Even if only a kiss, you were at least nearby.”
He nodded. “Of course.”
We had been together every day since I had moved onto the Giordano property. “How did you feel, watching me almost kiss Scarlett in the kitchen?”
He rumbled a hungry, “Like I was finally getting back to something tantalizing and so familiar it heated my insides.”
“Yes. It is something you know very well.” He would understand soon. “Now, imagine you at, say, the store in town.”
He nodded.
“Now, while you’re at the store, imagine me kissing her,” I pointed to the kitchen counter where Scarlett had been sitting, “sucking on those perfect lips.”
His body jerked. “Wait. I don’t like it.”
“Exactly. Now, imagine Noemi sitting on the kitchen counter.” I smiled as he literally took a step forward before catching himself. “Yessss,” I agreed. “Now, imagine one of those women from a bar sitting on that counter.”
His upper lip lifted.
Pleased, I said, “Now you see.”
His head fell forward. “I see.”
“For a perfect time in our lives, we had Noemi. She was all ours.” I lifted my hand and let it glide up into the air. “She made you and me soar, my friend. She took us to where we had never been. She left a deep mark that will be a part of us for the rest of our lives.”
As if the memory of her was bringing him pain, he grabbed his chest. “Why are you torturing me with something I can no longer have?”
“And during all the years after her?”
His eyes slid shut. “I have longed for her.”
“What was the closest we could get?”
He lifted his head and shrugged. “Barflies?”
Completely getting pulled from my train of thought, my brows bunched. “What?”
“That’s what women who look for sex at bars are called.”
I recoiled. “How degrading.”
“Yeah, and we fucked them.”
I shook my head. “Stop. You are getting me off track.” Clearing my mind of actual annoying insects, I continued, “How do you feel about Scarlett? Fly-like?”
Now, he recoiled as if I had insulted him, or her, for that matter. “She is no fly. Dove is, oh damn, she is…” He finally sighed, then reverted to Italian to make a point. “A breath of invigorating air.”
“Exactly. Noemi was how we touched the sky. She was how you and I flew. Together. She is how we earned our first taste of Heaven.”
Sal spoke to himself, “Taste. Sky—” My meaning slammed into Sal. I could see it all by the way his face and body softened as this was now making sense. “Scarlett. She gets it. Doesn’t she?”
My heart beamed. “Yes. Just like Noemi did.”
“No wonder Mateo fell hard and fast.”
“Oh yes, my friend. He was bitter about a forced marriage that he soon thanked the Heavens for.”
“Wow.”
We both had to chuckle at Sal, not meaning to, imitating Scarlett.
He added, “You and I, we believe Scarlett can take us there again.”
“Who else would comprehend such magic as one who cherishes warm water from a faucet?”
He ran both hands through his hair. “This makes so much sense. Today,” he sighed, “she was… Oh, Angelo, she is a woman of valor.”
I took a deep breath, thinking of Isabella. “Just like her mother, that courageous soul.” Thinking of Isabella had me thinking of her father. “Sal—” Suddenly feeling a little anxious, I switched to Italian, “Mr. Giordano asked me if I had feelings for Isabella.”
“No.”
“Of course, I don’t. Not like that, but… he said that it was a good thing because, otherwise, he would have to put a bullet in my head.”
Sal’s chest expanded, then released air. “Then, I guess we will both be shot because I am not letting you return Scarlett without her having the chance to understand what true lovemaking is.”
“As much as I want to lie with her and cherish her body, it cannot be.”
“Not according to that kiss,” he teased.
I stared at the piano. “Yes, that was not so easy to walk away from, but her needs are far more important than ours. The last thing she needs is me lusting after her with all she has experienced.”
In awe of me, Sal looked directly at me and quietly said, “You truly are her Angel of the Night.”
I may have felt blessed by God’s rain, but I still knew I didn’t belong in Heaven.
After a quiet moment, Sal grinned. “I must say, all this is quite a relief. I was starting to think we Soldier Tugged in front of one another one too many times.”
I laughed. “Nope, we have just found another’s, oh,” I thought of all the beautiful things that float toward the sky, “kite to help us touch the sky.”
Apparently, my analogy sucked because he lifted a brow. “A kite? Not very manly, no? Do we still love women?”
I slapped my forehead. “Yes, we still love women, Sal.”
In this dream, Isabella was younger, like Scarlett, and she was standing at the entrance of the cave I once found her in back in Italy. The one where Sal and I made love to Noemi, over and over again. In the glow of a fire inside, Isabella’s smile was soft, surreal, but immediately faded as soon as she heard a baby’s cry from within the cave. When her blue eyes followed the sound of the baby, I knew she would follow it anywhere.
“No!” I shouted, but was ignored. Too far away, I couldn’t stop her. Isabella ran inside the cave, so I chased. “Wait!” By the time I turned the corner of the cave’s opening, she was gone.
The cry got louder. “Isabella!”
A tunnel suddenly appeared at the rear of the cave. Without hesitation, I rushed forward into the dark channel that only led to more channels.
“Isabella!”