He got that not everyone was made that way. But he wanted to make sure that staying local was her choice, not his dad’s.
Her phone buzzed with a text. “My friends want me to go somewhere tonight, but I have to work a shift.”
“Look, I’m home now,” Leo said. “You don’t have to worry about taking care of Dad.”
“I still have to work.” She smiled at him in a way that made him feel like she was the older sibling. He knew that his leaving had made her the center of his dad’s attention. The apple of his eye. But maybe it had also made her into the kind of kid who worried too much for her age and felt too responsible. “If I get a scholarship, I’ll get free tuition.”
“I don’t want you to worry about money.”
“Thank you, Leo,” she said between bites. “But I want to score as high as I can on the SAT and get as much money for school as I can.”
“Those are great goals, but—”
“I don’t want to go to college parties and fool around. I want to get my engineering degree and go to med school.”
Okay. Were they really related? Because he’d be the first to admit that when he got to college, he’d looked for where the parties were before he’d looked for the library. That wasn’t to say he hadn’t kicked butt to keep his grades up and land an investment banking job in New York that he’d kept for almost ten years.
He’d made some money. But the super-long hours meant he missed fresh air and rolling hills and…his family. He was all about working hard, but he liked playing hard, too. And he enjoyed creating things. Creating food.
Gia knew what she wanted; that was for sure. But how much of this was worry over leaving their father alone? Or maybe she was simply the most mature seventeen-year-old on the planet. “Are Emma and Wen going away to school?” Surely her two best friends were headed somewhere other than Blossom Glen?
“Yes, but their majors aren’t as demanding as BME, and everybody says that if you want to go to med school, you can’t screw up your GPA. I want to stay here where it’s quiet so I can study.”
He wanted to ask her about her dating life, but he didn’t know how to bring it up. He’d heard his dad tell her, half jokingly (or maybe not), that there was no dating until she was eighteen. Actually, Leo would probably prefer to make that thirty or so. But he decided to table that discussion for another time.
Instead he smiled, squeezed her hand, and said, “I’m really proud of you. You know that, right?”
“Yeah, yeah,” she said, finally smiling.
He got up and brought over the bakery box from yesterday. “Tessa brought these over. She said to be sure to save you some.”
She tore into the box immediately. “Chocolate chip. These are the best.” She pulled a perfectly shaped cannoli out and took a giant bite.
Leo cleared his throat. “Did you—do you talk to Tessa?” Because it was odd that Tessa seemed to be crossing the invisible line they’d never crossed once in all these years. With baked goods as her bait.
Clever.
She was clever. In the most annoying, challenging, headstrong ways. He felt completely rattled. How could he get her to change her mind and say yes?
Gia shrugged. “Sometimes she’s in the bakery at night and I say hi when Dad’s not around. She lets me taste test her pastries. She’s really sweet.”
Another person describing her as sweet? And Tessa had clearly made an impression on his sister. Hmmm. More interesting facts.
Gia shoved the rest of the cannoli into her mouth and began to gather up her things. “I’ve got a calc test and a track meet tomorrow, and I’m exhausted.”
He got up to see her out the door. “Hey. I’m—I’m glad to be back home. I—missed you.”
“I’m glad you’re back, too.” She kissed him on the cheek.
“Hey, would you do me a favor? Go with your friends tonight. I’ll cover your shift.” He handed her a twenty. “Pizza’s on me.”
She looked at him and then at the bill. “Really?”
“Really.”
“Well, if you put it that way, I won’t say no.” Then she smiled, snatched the bill, and was gone, taking her plate into the kitchen on the way.
That left him with a little bit of hope that she was still seventeen and liked having fun. But where was that mischievous little sister of his? This one was way too serious.
That gave him more heartburn. Years ago, he’d taken his opportunity as the valedictorian of his high school class. Gone far away—taken all the scholarship money he’d gotten, plus the endowed candle factory scholarship that paid for room and board for a year, and ran, determined not to be tied down to this town. But maybe he should’ve been around more for Gia’s sake.
He took a bite of the melt-in-your-mouth cannoli. Now all he had to do was convince his dad that serving delectable desserts like this at their restaurant was a good idea. And convince Tessa to say yes.
Chapter Six
Turns out Tessa’s mother and grandmother came to work the next day, and Tessa had to listen to Juliet recreate her entire conversation with Jax again. And look a second time at rings on the Internet. Finally, everyone got back to work, but she couldn’t concentrate. She added too many eggs to the croissant dough and had to start over. And a bowl slipped out of her hands and shattered all over the floor.
“Is everything okay?” her mom asked.
“I—forgot to eat lunch, and I’m a little shaky. I’m going to run an errand. Be back in twenty, okay?”
She was shaking, but not from hunger, as she walked out of the shop into the bright noon sunshine and straight into Castorinis’ restaurant.
Being midday, no one was sitting in any of the booths. But she could hear the clinking of pots in the kitchen.
Leo’s Aunt Loretta clutched her chest and gasped.
“Um—hi,” Tessa said, trying to pretend she walked into this restaurant every day instead of almost never. “Is Leo here?” She swallowed. His Uncle Cosmo ran out of the kitchen, wiping his hands on a towel, and halted abruptly on seeing Tessa. They both were looking at her like she’d sprouted an extra head or two.
“Leo,” Uncle Cosmo called. “Someone’s here to…see you.”
Leo walked out from the kitchen wearing a white apron, looking like a hot chef.
And now a hot, very surprised chef.
But he kept his cool. “Tessa,” he said. “What are you doing here?”
“I—I came over to talk to you about…that thing.”