“Very un-American,” Dev teased. “We’ve mastered the art of more is better.”
“Took me a while to like it.”
“Will you ever go back?” Their shoulders brushed as he shifted his weight. A funny dropping weight hit her belly. She smelled lemons and cotton and clean male sweat. “To New York? Your job? Any of it?”
He regarded her thoughtfully. She liked the way he answered questions. She was used to the regular How are you? questions and Fine responses, giving away nothing beneath the surface. In a way, she had the same issues Hawke had admitted to. Her relationships weren’t as deep as she wanted, but she’d never given thought to it before. Hearing his story put some things in perspective, but it was scary to dig any deeper.
She didn’t know what things she might find that needed to change.
“Maybe. When the time is right and I want to,” he said.
She couldn’t help the laugh that escaped her lips. “You’re a strange man, Hawke. What’s your last name?”
“Rinaldi.”
She squinted at him through her sunglasses. “You don’t look Italian.”
“My uncle. My parents were both dark-haired and dark-eyed, so they didn’t know what to make of me. But my uncle had the German genes even though he spoke Italian. Probably where I got my German name.”
“Hawke is German?”
He wrinkled his nose. “No, my real name is Hackett, but I always hated it. So I use a nickname.”
“Hackett.” The name rolled off her tongue and she grinned. “I like it.”
“I don’t. Neither did my uncle—he begged my parents not to saddle me with that one.”
“Were you close to your uncle?”
“Definitely. Sometimes I felt as if we practically lived together.” He shook his head. “Heard he was a real Casanova back in the day too. Dad said he had quite a love affair here.”
Her skin prickled with awareness. “Wait—did your uncle live here too?”
“Kind of. He stayed here with us in the summer, and Dad gave him free rein when we weren’t vacationing. Eventually, he moved to Sicily.”
Suddenly, her ears roared and her heart paused and her breath stuck in her lungs. She could barely choke out her next words. “What was your uncle’s name?”
“Raymond. Why?”
No. Was it possible? “Was your uncle around your dad’s age?”
“Yeah, they were only two years apart.”
“He didn’t own a boat, did he?”
Surprise flickered in his gaze. “Yeah, he did. Would sometimes bring small tours out with people he liked.”
She couldn’t stop the questions, which shot like bullets from her mouth. “And was your uncle married?”
He shook his head. “No, he never settled down. I remember asking him about it once. He got this strange look in his eyes and told me it wasn’t in the cards for him, but he was happy. I always got the impression there was someone but it didn’t work out.”
Everything faded away. Of course. It was like fate had stepped in and led her here, to this bench, at this moment, with Hawke. This was too big to tackle alone. She needed her sisters with her.
“Hawke, will you come to dinner with us? I’d like to talk more about your uncle. My sisters and I have a mystery to solve, and I think you just gave us the missing piece.”
His brow lifted but he nodded. “Is this the same reason you all reacted when I told you my father’s name?”
“Yeah.”
“Sure. I actually have plans tonight with a friend. Will tomorrow work?”
She wondered briefly if his plans included a girlfriend, then pushed the thought away. Hawke was attractive and interesting, but not for her. Bailey had already made her intentions known, if he was free, and she wasn’t about to get entangled with that mess.
Not ever again.
“Of course. I appreciate it.” She stood. “We better get back.”
They picked up the pace, but their conversation unfurled at leisure, focusing on Dev’s work. When he got to her door, he smiled. “Thanks for the company on the walk.”
“Welcome. I’ll let you know what time for dinner.”
He nodded and left. Dev tore inside the house, shutting the door loudly behind her. “Guys!” she called out. “Get your butts in here now!”
It didn’t take long for her sisters to emerge. Bailey looked grumpy and Pris yawned, her blond hair all in disarray. “What? I still had half an hour on my alarm clock,” Bailey groaned.
“I have to tell you something big.”
They stared at her, waiting, and she gave an excited laugh.
“I found R.”
Bailey dropped into the chair and Pris gasped.
“Tell us everything,” Bailey demanded.
She did.
chapter twenty
Olivia
When I arrived in Positano for my fourth summer, I felt like a tight wad of emotion was fisted in my stomach, lodged there by a nonstop chain of events that challenged my ideas of the world.
I’d decided to tell Mom about Rafe. I knew traipsing off for the summer with Aunt Silvia was a long shot—both my parents had declared no more disappearing overseas for summer break. I was going into my senior college year and ready to make a stand. I figured I’d have a heart-to-heart about my feelings for Rafe and my plans going forward.
But when I sat down to talk, my mother had a different conversation in mind.
She informed me that she was in love with her new boyfriend and getting remarried.
She said the house—the family home I’d grown up in—would be sold and she’d be moving to Boston to be with her new husband.
How had I not noticed how much my mother had changed? Her hair was dyed. She tinkered with makeup and had lost weight. She laughed louder and seemed to always be hurrying off somewhere. I’d just been so engrossed in my own life, I never put the pieces together.
But as I stared, stunned, and my mom went on about an upcoming wedding and how she hoped I’d be happy for her, dread shuddered through me.
She was leaving me behind. The divorce had been brutal, but I’d managed to make some sense of it these past few years. Now she had no problem dumping my ass for a new life she wanted to lead in a new city. When I asked about Dad, she chirped out happily that he knew all about it and was completely supportive. And then she dropped the words that should have made me ecstatically happy.