Total pages in book: 93
Estimated words: 89145 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 446(@200wpm)___ 357(@250wpm)___ 297(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 89145 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 446(@200wpm)___ 357(@250wpm)___ 297(@300wpm)
A stranger and a mobster?
He’d lied to me so much.
The bizarre part was his focus on not revealing who his biological father was. Honestly, I couldn’t care less.
No, that wasn’t true. Rather, I could understand his reasoning—if it were true. If things had occurred the way he’d described them in the messages, there was nothing to forgive. I knew how close he was with his old man. They didn’t talk very often, but they saw each other every week and had a special bond.
The rest, however…
I didn’t know where to begin. Surely my father hadn’t told Alfie anything.
I couldn’t believe that. Every time I tried to think back on those days, on our beginning, when we’d flown out to introduce each other to our parents, I only recalled happiness. I’d been so goddamn happy. Granted, my mother had been on the fence initially, and she’d never warmed up to Alfie as much as she had to my brothers-in-law, but I would know if she or my dad had said anything untoward to Alfie.
Right?
Tension wrapped its tendons around my head, and I blew out a breath and rubbed at my forehead.
I’m fucking lost.
It would’ve made more sense if he’d said my mother had said anything inappropriate. I’d spent years keeping an eye on her uppity ways around my family.
Christ, I needed something. Something. Something to ground me, something that assured me half my life hadn’t been an illusion.
I cleared my throat and picked up my phone again, and I scrolled down to Trip’s number. Perhaps talking to him for a few minutes would help. If they had anything planned today, they shouldn’t have left yet. It was still quite early.
To my relief, he answered on the fourth ring.
“Hello, Dad?”
I exhaled. “Hello, buddy. How are you?”
“I’m good…? I’m great!” He sounded confused as to why I was calling, and no wonder. This wasn’t a habit. We’d given him a phone for emergencies. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” I lied. “I suppose I just wanted to hear your voice and ask how your weekend is going.”
“Oh! Um, we’re going to church without Nonna. She’s not there yet. Dad is taking us.”
I furrowed my brow. What the fuck was happening? Since when did Alfie care about church? Particularly if Giulia wasn’t guilting him into it. That was the only occasion we’d all attended Mass from time to time.
“It’s just you three?” I questioned.
“No, it’s, uh… I think Uncle Finn and Uncle Liam and all those people,” he replied hesitantly. “Um, I’ll ask.” By the sound of things, he was running down the stairs. “Dad? Is Kellan also my uncle? And Finn? He said I could call him that.”
For fuck’s sake.
I heard Alfie chuckle in the background. “It’s totally up to you. But you know how Nonna and Grandpa have cousins I call aunt and uncle? It’s kinda like that. When Finn said you could call him Uncle Finn, he’s just saying we’re all family.”
I stared unseeingly at the countertop, hearing what he was saying but not understanding a fucking word.
The boss of a crime organization had told my son he could call him uncle?
“Are you on the phone?” Alfie asked.
“Yeah, Dad called,” Trip said frankly. “I’ll be ready soon! I just gotta run up and grab my book.” The stomping on the stairs soon followed, and I missed Alfie’s response. Whatever it was, Trip replied, “Okay, I will.” He huffed and puffed, and then he was knocking on a door, presumably Ellie’s. “Ellie! We’re leaving in two minutes!”
“I’ll let you go, son,” I said. “You’re busy.”
“Okay! Can we talk later? I was wondering if we can buy an ice cream machine, or if I can save up for one. Uncle Finn and Auntie Emilia have one, and it was so cool! I had two cones with lots of toppings, and Auntie Emilia even said I could have a third, but I was full. I asked Dad, but he said there’s plenty of ice cream places in the city, and it’s not the same thing.”
I didn’t know what got into me, but I straightened automatically and made up my mind right then and there. “Absolutely. We’ll go out and buy an ice cream machine next weekend.”
Fucking mobsters and ice cream machines. What universe had I fallen into?
“Oh, awesome!”
Trip’s excitement was so loud that I had to hold the phone away for a second.
It did the job, though. He drew a genuine smile from me, and I made a mental note to research ice cream machines.
At this rate, I’d pick up a donut maker for Ellie too.
“Well…have a good time at church,” I chuckled. “Do you have anything fun planned for later?”
“I don’t know about fun, but hopefully tasty,” he said. “We’re getting burgers with CJ and Eddie and Uncle Liam. CJ is very fun because he wants me to teach him stuff. He can almost float now!”