Lavished with Lavender - Valerie Comer Page 0,22

and he wasn’t that close with Dominic or Basil, who’d driven out from Seattle for the weekend. Everyone else lived in town, and they could visit any time.

By two o’clock, some of the families with little kids had headed home for naps. Others had trooped across the street to the basketball courts for some three-on-three. The uncles had put away many of the tables, and the aunts chattered in the kitchen as they cleaned up from the meal.

Tony could shoot some hoops or even grab some quiet time before heading down to Antonio’s for his evening shift. Instead, he took a seat at Nonna’s right while her sons sat across the table, swapping stories. Times like this he missed Uncle Al. Two years had gone by since his untimely death.

“Pastor Tomas made arrangements to visit Kenji Ito one day this week,” Uncle Ray announced. “What a surprise to see him here. Did you know he was coming, Mamma?”

Nonna shook her head but said nothing. Her cheeks seemed a little flushed, but it might be all the excitement.

“He’s kept to himself for years,” put in Uncle Franco. He grinned at his mother. “Maybe he’s got a spark for you.”

Nonna mumbled something in Italian. Her sons laughed. Tony raised his eyebrows at his dad across the table.

“Mamma, I noticed lots of the furniture from the house is gone. What happened to it?” Dad folded his hands on the table in front of him.

This. This was what Tony had been waiting for.

Nonna frowned. “I’m not sure.”

Uncle Ray snapped his fingers. “Grace told me about that. She and the others moved things downstairs, and I was supposed to talk to you about it.”

“What is to discuss?” Nonna’s tone was frosty.

“It’s crowded into Tony’s space in the basement,” Dad went on. “Mamma, I think we should have a garage sale and get rid of some of those things. There’s just too much.”

Nonna glared, straightened, then winced and sagged.

Tony felt just a tiny bit guilty, but not a lot. He touched Nonna’s arm gently. “It is pretty crowded downstairs. One of the drawers was full of Nonni’s socks.”

She angled a narrowed gaze at him.

He pushed ahead. “And there really is a lot of extra furniture.”

She threw up her free hand. “Fine. You take advantage of an old woman who cannot fend for herself. You take all her memories and throw them in the trash.”

“That’s not what we’re talking about, Mamma,” put in Uncle Dino. “We’re talking about sorting things. Betta told me she can take a few days off this week and help.”

Nonna’s lips quivered, but really, this was going better than Tony had expected.

“Connie and I can stay a few days, too,” said Dad. “And Winnie says she’s in.”

Tony leaned back in his chair, letting his gaze slide past Nonna to Kenna. Would the nurse be thrilled to facilitate some cleanup, or would it disturb her precious schedule too much? Looked like she was holding her breath as her gaze flitted over the men across the table. Then she caught Tony staring and raised her eyebrows at him.

He raised his back with a little smile. Didn’t matter what she thought. She was only around for a short while. Longer than first expected, true, but she’d be gone long before Christmas. The family was going to be present all of Nonna’s life and beyond. It would be a whole lot easier sorting her excess belongings while she could offer information and direction than facing the whole situation after she died. Not that he hoped she would pass away for a very long time.

Kenna’s eyes softened, and her mouth twitched just a little. Was that actually a smile? Like, with humor?

He hadn’t known she’d recognize an ironic situation if she tripped over it. Tony let his smile widen, just to see if her response had been his imagination. It hadn’t been. Her lips definitely curved just a little.

Well. It would be nice to see eye-to-eye on something rather than feeling at loggerheads all the time. Not that they were going to be friends or anything like that. Still, not being enemies on every front would be a nice change.

9

The things Kenna did for her clients. The old woman had insisted she was well enough to attend church, even after such a big day yesterday with the birthday party. It was likely partly because she wanted to show off her visiting out-of-town family. And it was Kenna’s duty to facilitate Marietta’s wishes, even if it was way out