Yesterday's Stardust

by Becky Melby

  “Tag.” She ran her fingertip down the front of his coat and tried playing dumb. “You see other wom—”

  “What I do is none of your business. We have an agreement. Capisce?”

  “I won’t do it again.”

  He grabbed her chin and jerked her head up. “I know you won’t.” He lifted her hand and slammed the truck onto her palm. “You’ve got a lot to lose, doll. A lot to lose.”

  He turned and strode through the living room, stopping only long enough to lift her coat off the tree and loop it over his arm before walking out the door.

  CHAPTER 15

  Why don’t you buy it from your grandfather?”

  Nicky opened one eye and glared at the clock. Five after eight—a.m. The middle of his night, but he hadn’t slept. Dani’s questions invaded his personal space like swarming honeybees. He turned on his side. “Have you ever thought about striking out on your own?” He angled a pillow to block the light. “Why? Does he drink?” He yanked the sheet free from the foot of the bed.

  He’d read somewhere that people who fell asleep in less than five minutes were sleep deprived. It never took him more than a minute. He’d counted clock ticks and rarely made it past thirty. This morning he could have topped ten thousand.

  Hiring, firing, inventory, and unpaid bills didn’t keep him awake. What gave the girl with hair the color of a sun-licked beach the right to mess with his sleep?

  She’d be a lot easier to dismiss if she only looked good. If she didn’t also make sense. He got up, yanked the door open, and walked across the hall to the bathroom. He drank a glass of water and splashed his face. Trying to trick his body into starting over. But the questions followed him back to bed.

  Footsteps climbed the stairs outside his door. Too heavy to be Rena or Gianna. His father knocked.

  “Yeah?”

  “Can I come in?”

  “Yeah.” Nicky sat up and stuffed two pillows behind his back.

  “I heard you up.” Carlo Fiorini took the rounded-back wood chair from the corner, flipped it around, and straddled it. Thin blue and black lines formed small squares on his short-sleeved white shirt. Why was it he never wore T-shirts? Khaki pants sported a sharp crease. It had never occurred to him before that Gianna ironed his dad’s clothes.

  “What’s your take on things, Nick? Anything I need to know?”

  Your daughter might be involved in a gang. I might have a girlfriend. I’d like to buy the business. “We need to get the new menu printed and think about hiring a new waitress. Maria’s going on maternity leave. Friday night was nuts. Rena wasn’t here and we got two ten-tops…” He rattled off facts as if reciting a grocery list. His father would look thoughtful, nod, slap his knee, and leave.

  “I’ll give it some thought.”

  “Hey. A journalist friend of mine was asking about our history. I was wondering if we had any old letters or anything.”

  “You have a friend who’s a journalist?” A thick black eyebrow, scattered with gray, peaked. “Sal’s got all that stuff.”

  “Why?”

  “Why does Sal do anything? He’s the oldest. He can call the shots. He can walk away and start his own place and still call himself a partner. He can bad-mouth our business and tell people it was my son’s fault his—”

  “Dad. So tell me what you know about the early days, about your grandfather. You used to tell stories.” Nicky cleared his throat.

  His father rested his chin on his arms on the back of the chair. His eyes lost their dullness. “This was a place full of music. My grandfather and his three brothers took turns cooking and singing. They played the vihuela, the guittaron, the trumpet. They say my grandfather had a voice to make ladies swoon. If my grandmother caught him serenading a particular lady, she’d pull him back to the kitchen by his apron strings. Can you imagine the laughter?”

  Yes. I can. Maybe we should try that with you. “We should try live music.”

  Carlo Fiorini laughed. “No one wants that these days. They want to eat fast and get on with their lives. People don’t linger anymore. My grandmother used to tell of meals when she was growing up in Bracciano. Meals that didn’t start until eight o’clock at night and lasted two hours.”

  “Is that what they tried to recreate when they moved here?”

  “No. Americans were too busy, even back then. Even Italian Americans. They had to adapt to a whole new way of life. And remember, they opened during Prohibition. The words my grandfather used to describe the idiocy of an Italian restaurant that couldn’t serve vino, I would never repeat.”

  “So they didn’t serve drinks?”

  “Never a drop of alcohol in this building. My nonna would not allow it. Her father was an alcoholic. An angry drunk. She joined the Women’s Temperance Union as soon as they moved here. So”—he slapped his knee—“Friday night was good, huh? Things are looking up.” He stood. “Go back to sleep. But maybe later we can talk, huh?”

  “Friday was nuts, Dad. We got buried. Alonzo and I can’t keep this up. We need another cook.” To take your place.

  His father chewed on the inside of his cheek and nodded. “That won’t be necessary.”

  Nicky scrunched the sheet with the hand his father couldn’t see. “Why’s that?” Stupid to ask when he knew the answer.

  “It won’t be necessary. I’m going to be staying home more.”

  Sure, Dad, whatever you say. Now, about that new cook…

  “Dani!”

  The laughing voice floating across the church parking lot stretched Dani’s smile. “You do exist!” She waved as Anna broke her connection to Jon’s arm and ran toward her.

  Anna, three inches taller than Dani before the three-inch heels, engulfed her in a citrusy scented hug. Strange that the girl who had it all dabbed her pulse points with Covet.

  Sunlight concentrated on a square diamond as Anna pulled away. Dani shielded her eyes. “You just destroyed my retinas.”

  Anna laughed. “Oh, I’ve missed you. I’m so sorry I’ve been hard to get in touch with. Mom and I have been trying to pack as much as we can into—what happened to your arm?”

  Dani tugged at her shirtsleeve and covered the gauze peeking out just above her elbow. She lifted her shoulders and let them drop. “It’s nothing. I ran into a tree branch while I was covering a story on Friday. So what did you and your mom get done?”

  “I took her over to the hall and we figured out where everything’s going to be and took pictures of the chapel and—”

  Jon cleared his throat.

  “Let’s save the details for this afternoon over dress patterns.” Anna waved as Evan walked toward them. “Where should we go for lunch?”

  “Applebee’s? Olive Garden?” Dani positioned herself between Anna and Evan. Anywhere but—

  Evan stepped next to her. “Dani found a cute little Italian place about ten blocks from here I’d like to check out.”

  “Love Italian. Let’s go.”

  “I…um.” Dani lagged a yard behind Evan as they headed for the H1. I wanted to…wash my hair…do my nails… She slid her hand into her purse in search of the prayer list in the church bulletin. There must be someone in the hospital she needed to visit.

  Evan stopped and waited for her. “You okay with this?” He leaned down, forcing her to look at him. “Is it dangerous for us to be in that neighborhood after Friday night? Will anyone recognize us?”

  “I don’t know.” That was the least of her concerns. She hadn’t had a chance to tell Anna or Evan about Nicky. Evan might not catch on, but Anna’s radar would pick up the heat, and she’d ask questions. So many questions. She glanced at her watch. Nicky would sleep for another hour. Maybe he’d go for a run after that. Maybe he’d run far, far away from Bracciano.

  She pictured the dynamics of the gorgeous Italian walking into the dining room like a grid of laser beams. Dani staring at Nicky. Nicky staring back. Evan watching her then Nicky. Anna gaping at Nicky then her. Draw another line between Rena and Evan and
what she had was a diagram of a mess.

  “It said on the sign they have cinnamon rolls.”

  “Mm.” Butter slid across the soft dough of her mind. Cinnamon drifted like gold through royal fingers. She tried to swallow but couldn’t. “Delicious.”

  “Nicky!”

  Rena’s voice clawed through layers of exhaustion. Nicky woke feeling exactly like he should after four hours of sleep. “What?”

  “The fryer’s overheating.”

  “Is Dad still here?”

  “He said to wake you. We’re in the weeds.”

  And he’s cooking? What was happening to his nice, predictably dysfunctional family? His father was cooking at noon on a Sunday. “Eighty-six the fried stuff and drain the oil. Give everybody a fifty-cent discount and apologize profusely.” In the latest ad, he’d posted testimonials about Bracciano’s calamari and fried eggplant. Now they couldn’t deliver. “I’ll be down in a minute.”

  A shower would feel good. A run first would be even better. He picked up his jeans from the floor and stumbled into them. If he owned the place he would have replaced the fryer months ago. If his dad had to actually pay for repairs, he would have gotten rid of it. But repairs were free. Go wake Nicky.

  He took time to brush his teeth. A small act of rebellion. He’d fix the thing but on his terms. Frank Sinatra sang in his head. I did it my way….

  In the storeroom, he set his toolbox on the wrought-iron table then took down a box of hi-limits, thermopiles, and gas valves. He shouldn’t have to keep all of this on hand. By the end of the weekend, he’d show his dad the jump in revenue since he put out the ad. That amount was going toward a new fryer.

  Right.

  He nodded at the three-legged chair the way he’d acknowledge an old friend. He needed think time. Hand on the light switch, he stared at a patch of wallpaper. Did Nonna Renata decorate this place as a refuge from the busyness or a respite from the man who serenaded customers a little too intently? He called up his one dim memory of his great-grandmother. Bumpy white hands with blue veins that reminded him, at six or seven, of angleworms. “Dominick,” she’d whispered, her accent thick, “you have the light of God in your eyes. Never let it go out.” One hand had lifted slowly and rested on top of his head as she prayed for him in Italian.

  His father had translated the prayer. His mother wrote it down. He still had the paper, framed and tucked away in a drawer. Heavenly Father, give Your angels charge over Dominick. Keep him safe from harm and the evils of this world. Show him the special gift You have given him. May he walk in Your ways always and may his children and theirs acknowledge You. In the name of Your son, Amen.

  A week later she died, with her hands folded on her Bible. Beneath her hand they’d found a card with the names of her children, their wives, their children, and their children’s children. Her prayer list.

  Her prayers had not kept her grandchildren’s children from harm.

  Locking the door he’d entered, Nicky walked through the one that led to the kitchen. His father looked up. “Morning.” The man smiled as natural as if being there was what he did every Sunday. “The pilot must be shot.”

  Not likely. Nicky knelt beside the five-gallon can filling with hot oil. He reset the hi-limit and relit the pilot. It stayed lit. “It’s the thermostat.” Again.

  “Got another one?”

  “Of course. I keep a box of—”

  “Nicky!” Rena popped through the swinging doors along with his name. “There’s somebody out here who wants to compliment the baker.”

  “A regular?” He was in no mood to face the chatty, Sunday-dressed crowd.

  “No. She was here once before. Actually, she’s been here a few times.” She giggled. “She says the cinnamon rolls are fit for a king.”

  “Do you cater?”

  Dani watched Anna’s mouth form the words then followed her gaze to Rena’s bobbing head.

  “What’s the occasion?” A silver butterfly bounced amid the rings on Rena’s left ear.

  “Our rehearsal dinner. We have the venue, but we haven’t decided on the menu. Everything here is so yummy.”

  As they volleyed food words—vermicelli, mostaccioli, parmesan, and penne—over her head, Dani stared at the house across the street and contemplated how and why every aspect of her life seemed entwined, like a ridiculous strand of spaghetti that began and ended at Bracciano.

  Movement caught her eye across the street. A man walked out of the downstairs apartment where China had lived. He pushed a FOR RENT sign into the ground. Without a conscious reason for her action, Dani entered the number on the sign into her phone.

  “I’ll go see if my dad’s free to talk to you.” Rena’s voice brought her back into the moment. “Not sure Nicky’s going to show. He’s in the middle of fixing our fryer.”

  Dani nodded. It had been Rena’s suggestion, not hers, to compliment the baker face-to-face.

  Rena left and Anna leaned forward. “Who’s Nicky?”

  Swallow. Speak. “Rena’s older brother. He’s one of the cooks. I met him while I was doing a story.”

  Anna flipped flat-ironed platinum bangs. “You are so going to tell me everything this aft—”

  “Benvenuto.”

  A man in his late forties or early fifties stepped up to the table between Anna and Jon. “I’m Carlo Fiorini. So glad you could join us today. My daughter tells me there is going to be a wedding. Which one of you beautiful women is the bride?”

  Dark eyes framed by thick black lashes stared out of a face lined with life experience. If Nicky looked like this in twenty-plus years, he’d still be causing women to tumble out of their shoes.

  Anna raised her left hand and wiggled her fingers. Even inside, the square rock attracted sunlight.

  “Congratulazioni.”

  “We’re looking for a caterer for a rehearsal dinner. About forty people in all.”

  “Wonderful. My son and I would love to sit down with you and—and here he is.”

  The room tilted as Dani stared up at damp hair combed straight back from a perfectly chiseled face.

  Rena popped up behind him with a pitcher of water. She bent low as she filled Dani’s glass. “World’s fastest showerer.”

  The room righted. “N—Nicky, I’d like you to meet my friend Anna Nelson and her fiancé, Jon Weber, and this is Evan Carr, he’s a pho…tog…”

  Across the street, the man who’d put up the sign held his hand out to a girl with long black hair.

  Dani pushed back her chair and stood. “Excuse me.”

  “Don’t.” Nicky’s hand clamped on her arm.

  She tried to pull away. “I’ll be back in a minute.”

  “Or dead.” Eyes locked on hers, he let her go.

  CHAPTER 16

  One foot off the curb, Dani waited for a line of cars. As the last one neared, China looked up.

  Stay there. Dani darted toward the back fender of the passing car and stepped into the street half a breath behind the rear bumper.

  The man hammered the top of the sign. China turned her chin to the right and folded her arms across her belly.

  Dani slowed her strides, kept her arms down, palms up. Four feet away, she stopped. “Are you okay?”

  Tears gathered. No mascara rimmed the reddened eyes. Seconds passed. China turned, gaze landing on Dani’s arm. “Are you?”

  “I’m fine.”

  The man walked back toward the house.

  “Turned my keys in.”

  Dani nodded. “I was afraid you’d be in juvie. I’m glad—”

  “Miguel wasn’t a bad person.” Dark tendrils framing China’s face quivered. Her breath shuddered. “No one ever loved him until me. He didn’t know how to give back. I thought I could show him. I thought I could make him feel whole. But it didn’t work. I couldn’t—”

  “It wasn’t your job.” Dani took a step toward her.

  “It was his mother’s job. A mother should love her child no matter what. No matter what peopl
e tell her, she should love her baby.” She looked up, eyes glazed, her face expressionless.

  “China, Miguel was—”

  “Maybe it was my job to make him whole, and I just didn’t do it right. Maybe I didn’t listen like I should. Maybe if I’d heard things he wasn’t saying, picked up on things, I could have made it all right. If I had more time…”

  “No one can do that for another person. It’s not our place to make someone else feel whole.” She sucked in a breath. “Only God can do that.”

  China raised her chin. Tears coursed down pale cheeks. Dull eyes met Dani’s. “Then why didn’t He?”

  Dani opened her mouth, took another step, and stretched out her hand.

  “You think you have the answers. You don’t.” China shook her head then turned and ran.

  Strong hands grasped Dani’s shoulders.

  Evan. Always there when I—

  “You said what she needed to hear.”

  Nicky. His breath feathered her cheek. Heart slamming her ribs, she didn’t move, just breathed in the fresh-showered smell of him.

  “I shouldn’t have tried to stop you. You knew what you were doing. This time.”

  “I wish.”

  “You did the right thing.” He paused. A long, breath-tickling-cheek moment. “But you still don’t have any street smarts.”

  She heard the smile in his voice. “It takes a woman making a fool of herself to make you smile.”

  His grip tightened. “Not this time. This time it took a woman doing what she believes in.”

  “Whoooo is he?”

  Anna stood in the doorway of her apartment, not bothering to invite Dani in or even to waste breath on common courtesies like “Hello.”

  “He’s just a guy who’s giving me some info for a story.”

  “Right. And Jon’s just a guy I hang out with once in a while.” Anna stepped back, opening the door wide. “You have approximately ten minutes until my mother gets back to tell me how you met, how many times you’ve seen him, every word he’s said, and what his intentions are.”