love nothing more than to stay here and let you feed me pasta until I’m too big to roll down the runway at the airport. But my best friend is making her big debut, so I need to be there.”
“Wait, your trip isn’t just a day trip to the countryside? You’re going home?” Strega’s voice is harsher with shock.
Strega knows more about my family history than probably anyone else does.
Maybe that’s weird, to have shared something so personal with someone I met just two months ago.
But Strega has a way about her that pries open your heart. I’ve seen it time and time again. People come in for a cup of coffee, and hours later, Strega is patting their back as they tearfully spill their guts.
It’s basically verbatim to what happened to me. So she knows that stepping foot on US soil and risking running into my parents is basically my worst nightmare.
“No, I’ll be in NYC, but I won’t see my parents. Emma promised to keep my visit a secret.” I bite my lip, still nervous.
I’m imagining some crazy scene on a sidewalk where I run into Mom and Dad, we all stop, mouths dropping in shock, but Dad recovering first because of course, he would.
Would he blow up at me, yelling scathing insults designed to hurt?
Or would he just grab Mom’s hand and walk past me, ignoring his only daughter?
I’m not sure which would hurt more, their scorn or their attack.
Strega sits down at the table beside me. “Okay, Tesoro. Here’s what you do. You take your trip, celebrate with your friend, and do not under any circumstances contact your parents. No matter what happens. You have worked too hard. Capisce?”
I nod.
But Strega isn’t done. “When you first came to me, you were like a lost child, wind blowing you as you tried to stuff as much experience into every day as possible to make up for what you never had as a girl. Like lasagna with beef, chicken, and sausage all jammed in with cheese in every layer. Lasagna is good—well, mine is, but you know that—but when you overdo it, you lose the specialness. That is what you were doing.”
She smiles, arms spread wide. “But look at you now. Instead of trying to do it all at once, you take every day for what it is. And that is where the real growth happened. You know who you are now and have a foundation that is pure, Carly, not those people who birthed you.”
She fakes spitting on the floor at the mention of my parents, and I love her that much more for being staunchly on my side.
“You’re right. I am so much more . . . me! And I won’t do anything to jeopardize who I am now. I like who I am, a badass bitch who controls her own destiny,” I say sassily.
Strega laughs but gently pops my hand as she chastises, “Bad girl, don’t use filthy language like that. Men don’t want a dirty-mouthed girl.”
I smirk. “Oh, Strega, you have no idea. Men love a girl who’ll say dirty things.” I waggle my eyebrows teasingly.
She harrumphs, as if she’s never said a few juicy things in Italian in range of my hearing. “Well, not any suitor worth your time. But at this point, perhaps it would do you well to date at all.”
“Not this again,” I say, rolling my eyes. “You know I just haven’t been ready.”
“Well, time it is a’passing, whether you are ready or not. Don’t let one poor Richard ruin your future.” She nods like she’s imparting great wisdom.
“His name was Robert, not Richard,” I correct. “And it wasn’t his bank account that made me end it.”
Her smile is sly, and she grins. “I know. And perhaps I do not have a dirty mouth like some people, but I do know that Richard comes with a rather specific nickname in the US. As I said, do not let a Richard like Robert ruin your future.”
I laugh. She’s just irresistible. “Well-played, Strega. Fine, fine, I won’t let a dick like Robert have any effect on my life, dating or otherwise. But it’s not like men are just crawling out of the woodwork for me.”
She makes a dismissive sound. “You are in Italy. There is love everywhere, all around you, if you only open your eyes. And we know real love, not all that screeching and playacting like those idiots, the French.”
I nod my agreement, knowing that though I still have doubts