friend? Because that was something to discuss with my wife, not me.
“I have a ton of family,” I said. “You can have one of them.” I grinned, trying to make a joke, but she didn’t.
She shrugged. “It would have been nice, you know, to just…share something with someone. Something familiar.”
“You mean like blood,” I said.
“Yeah.” She stopped fussing with the kid’s hair and really looked at me. Almost studying me. “Someone with a similar feature or two. Someone who is supposed to be there no matter what.” She nodded toward Alcina and Anna, who were squishing Eleonora between them, before Fabrizio took the picture. “You have a beautiful family.”
I tapped the kid on the head. “I’d say you do, too.”
She grinned this time. “I do.” She hesitated a minute. “Do you have any brothers or sisters?”
I sighed. “No.”
“Oh. You said you had a big family, so I assumed.” She shrugged. “I guess you’re pretty much alone then, too.”
“Define alone.”
“I get it,” she said, smiling this time. “You probably have a lot of cousins. Like Saverio and Eleonora.”
“Ele,” I said. “Everyone else calls her Ele but me.”
Mari’s smile grew even wider. “Ele and I have that in common then. We both have someone special to say our names.” She looked down at her jean shorts, picking at something there. “It’s nice to have a parent that does that. Calls you something special.”
She said the words quietly, but I heard her. She scooped her son up and held him close to her chest, kissing his head.
Alcina came over to us with Eleonora. She sat between Mari and me. She handed me Eleonora. Even though she didn’t cry this time, she stared at her mamma with wide eyes, wanting her. I stroked her head, settling the small tufts of hair she had, while putting my arm behind Alcina’s back. She leaned into me, getting comfortable.
“It is such a beautiful day,” Alcina said, sighing.
I stared at her face. Maybe she believed it, but there was always something underneath the surface lately. She said the words, like she was forcing herself to believe them, even if she didn’t feel they were true. She was battling the demons to get to the place where she could believe and feel it.
“You can’t escape me!” Anna pointed at me. “I know you don’t like pictures, but just this once. I want to get you all together.”
Alcina pulled even closer to me, taking Eleonora’s hand, and then she reached out for Mari.
“Closer!” Anna said, keeping her eye to the camera, using her hand to direct Mari. “He does not stink. I would say he doesn’t bite, but he does.”
Mari looked at me and then settled her son on her lap before she moved closer to Alcina.
“On the count of three!”
On three, I looked to my right when I noticed the kid I was supposed to meet. He was waiting at our agreed spot. After eye contact, he’d go to another secluded area in the park.
“You were looking away!” Anna said, looking at the picture on the screen.
“Good enough,” I said. I kissed Eleonora on the head, handed her back to Alcina, kissed her, and then went for a walk around the park.
Adriano came with me to meet the kid.
He huffed as he tried to keep up with me.
“I smell the pastrami on you,” I said. “You’re fucking sweating it out.”
He looked like he wanted to respond, but he didn’t want to waste his breath. Either way, he would have been. He either took responsibility for his situation or he knew I’d start calling him “Excuses” until he got his shit together.
There was only did or didn’t. Yes or no. Anytime there was a “but” attached, it was a fucking excuse.
“Is that the kid?” Adriano narrowed his eyes, stuck a hand over his eyebrows, and then blew out a hot breath.
I followed the line of his sight. “Yeah, that’s him. He said he’d be wearing a black turtleneck.”
“In this fucking heat?” He scrunched his face up, narrowing his eyes even more. “He looks like a mini version of Roy Orbison. Even down to the glasses and the fucking hair.”
“You going to run out of breath if you keep talking and walking,” I said.
“I’m easily susceptible to things,” he said. “That’s why I have to take steroids sometimes.”
“More of a reason to take care of yourself then,” I said.
“I still can’t get over this guy,” he said, staring at the kid again. “He’s Roy Orbison the remake. CRYING!” he started to