Alessia (Casella Cousins #4) - Kathryn Shay Page 0,6
in an hour. What did Grandma say?”
“That you can bring somebody, but we have to go over some rules, which I want you to record on your phone then play for Jason. I’ll let your grandparents know what we agree upon.”
He didn’t argue which was a miracle.
They sat at the kitchen table for the discussion. When they finished, they both stood, but he didn’t rush right away from her. “Thank you, Mom.”
“Let me tell you one more thing. I want you to think about how we settled this today. It’s compromise. You don’t have to get mad at me when I disagree with you.”
Her boy looked over at her. He was as tall as she. And lanky, like Billy. Then he did something he hadn’t done in a long time. He threw himself into her arms and hugged her. Her mother’s heart turned over in her chest. “Okay, Mom.”
As he left, she thought, Score one for the good guys.
* * *
“So, Jane Carlin,” Derek asked when they settled into a booth in David’s, an out of the way restaurant, “why Dean of Students at City College? Did you always want to be an administrator?”
Wearing a low-cut, V-neck red sweater, Jane circled the cocktail swirl-stick in her Manhattan. “I always wanted power.”
That took him aback. “Wow, that’s an honest answer.”
“It’s true. Derek, how did you grow up?”
He told his cover story: one sister, nurturing parents, easy success in school, much of which was true.
“I had none of that. My parents were verbally abusive, insisted I do things their way. Basically, they were control freaks.”
“That must have been hard. How’d you get out of that?”
She tucked back her auburn hair. “College was a refuge. I flourished there. But I made sure I was in control of everything. When I got my Masters’ Degree, I taught for a while—teachers have a lot of power—then started working in Administration. I got this job four years ago.”
To Derek, that seemed like a perfect background for a human trafficker. Was she one of that awful lot?
“What do you like best about the power you have now?”
She talked easily about herself. “Mostly, I’m in control of my own time, what I take on, things like that.”
“You have a lot of power over students.”
“Yes, but I use it constructively. I accept the best of the best, but also give the ones struggling a chance to get a degree and make something of themselves.”
“I heard the program does exceptionally well with that demographic.”
“We do.” She looked around David’s. “Have you been here often?”
“Never. I found it for us.”
“How sweet.” She toyed with the gold chain around her neck. “I’ll have to make sure I return the favor tonight.”
“Hmm.” God, sexual favors were the last thing he wanted. From her at least. But he’d made a plan for this. “Maybe I should tell you something. “I, um, lost my wife eight months ago.”
“Your application said you were widowed. I didn’t know it was so recent.”
“Yeah.” He glanced away as if in pain. “I’m still recovering from that. I haven’t accepted any…favors…yet.”
She grinned. “I could be your first.”
“Honestly, that would be great, at some point.” He picked up his menu. He wanted to keep seeing her, but couldn’t quite bring himself to have sex with her.
Especially since she could very well be sucking poor and vulnerable students like Stuart Breed into a life of torture and enslavement.
Chapter 3
* * *
Alessia peered out the curtain of a large anteroom in the back of St. Mary’s, the orthodox Polish church in Brooklyn that Paul’s family belonged to. Julianne and Seth agreed to the location, thinking that since they had no specific religious affiliation, it would fine to be married in the Covitz church.
The pews were starting to fill up. She scanned who was already here. Oh, how sweet. Millie Morrison, Finn’s fiancé sat with Bridget, as Finn was Hayley Best Person. She’d come in wearing a gorgeous navy dress, with lacy cutout on the top. The small group took up only three pews on either side of the aisle.
Someone came through the double doors from the narthex. And Alessia sighed. Derek. He wore a dark suit and his often-tousled hair was combed. His presence was commanding as he took a seat in the back.
From behind her, Kate asked, “Who’s the hunk?”
“Hmm, my date.”
She pulled Alessia away from the ajar door and closed it. “Ali has a plus one,” she announced to the two brides and Liliana.
“Do tell,” Julianne said.
“Today isn’t about me. You