remember the little girl with the braid in her hair and her dresses which made her look like a doll. She still looks like that now with the same hairstyle.
“You and those cookies principessa,” I say.
“My mother always told me they helped,” she answers with a little smile. “People can’t say no to sugar. It’s a way of testing sadness. Cookies are supposed to make you feel better no matter what happens to you. But…if a person were to refuse then I’d know the heart is truly broken. As long as they accept there is hope.”
“Thank you for being in our lives. I swear to God you keep us from slipping into the dark.”
I take a bite of the cookie and she gives me a grateful smile.
“And you all help me too.”
I look her over and think long and hard about what’s been happening over the last few months.
She’s never gone far from Massimo. In her mind he was the one who saved her from death, so she’s always stayed close to him. Even when she went to college.
Just after he married Emelia, she got a job at a school and I thought maybe she was getting better. Then all the death happened, and it put her right back at square one. She stuck with Massimo, working for him in his home, then at the company.
That was our idea to give her some kind of career because she’s qualified for something more than cleaning our homes.
She’s here now, far, far, away from Massimo. The only reason she would have dared to come this far was Dominic.
“You knew it was serious, didn’t you?” I ask and she nods.
“Yeah, I did. I just didn’t know how serious it was or what was happening to him.”
I recall how she looked when we were about to board the jet to take us here. She was worried about him and as much as I knew her request to be here for Isabella was genuine, I knew she had to have been over worried about Dominic to offer to come with us.
“How long has it been happening?”
“I think since the end of last year, so eight months. I hate saying this but it’s true… he only notices me when he wants something. He comes back to me when he realizes I specifically can do something for him. I keep the secrets in our group, so he knew when he was stuck one night in a club downtown, high off his face, I was the person to call.” She pulls her knees to her chest and continues. “At first, I thought he was drunk, but then I suspected it couldn’t have been that, even though he was drinking. He was drinking heavily so it was a good mask. But you know when you just have a bad feeling about something?”
Jesus… I can’t believe what she’s saying to me. I nod, knowing exactly what she means.
“What happened after that?”
“I took him home and watched him all night. His behavior was just completely outlandish. I didn’t know what people behaved like when they’re on drugs until I saw him and it was then I knew he couldn’t have just been drunk. It happened again a few months later, that time he got robbed. Maybe I was stupid to finally have his attention that I never wanted to believe what was wrong with him. I didn’t want to see the obvious when he asked me not to say anything to anyone.” She wipes away a tear with the heel of her hand. “He only asked me to help him because he knew I wouldn’t say anything. There wasn’t any other reason.”
“Candace, I know you mean more to him than that.”
She shakes her head. “I don’t think so, but it doesn’t matter. That doesn’t matter. What matters is I think he needs help. I should have said something well before now.”
“Candace why didn’t you come to me?”
“I didn’t know Tristan, and realistically I still don’t really know. I have seen him sniffing once but it wasn’t long enough for me to establish anything. Just now though? The truth was in his eyes and he had a nosebleed after you left.”
Fuck… I don’t know what the fuck I’m supposed to do here and not when Dominic is telling you he’s doing nothing and telling me to get away from him.
“We’ll figure it out,” I say, but I don’t know where to start so I pull her into my arms.