by Lily Zante
Memories of her last time here, at that fateful dinner, swept over her, dampening her mood further.
Rona grabbed Ava’s arm and slowed her down while Elsa and Carlos ambled around with the stroller, soaking in the atmosphere in the courtyard.
“So, tell me some more about this Nico guy.”
“You’ve seen him. He’s nice, kind.”
“He looks like a playboy and if his daddy owns the hotel, you just hit yourself with the double no-no: a rich playboy.”
“I didn’t know you could get poor playboys.”
The edge was starting to creep into Rona’s voice. “I don’t get how you can come here with the so-called intention of clearing your mind”—she used her fingers to illustrate speech marks—“and end up falling for some rich Italian.”
“I didn’t come looking for him. We just found each other.”
“Aaah. It sounds so romantic.” Rona’s tone was sarcastic.
“Do you have a problem with him?” Ava shot back.
“My problem is that I don’t want you getting hurt again. It’s only been a few months since Connor ditched you.”
“Can you please stop going on about that?”
“I’m looking out for you!”
“I can see that. So much so that you had to fly all the way out here. Did it ever occur to you to call me?”
“Mom said you were staying on for another few weeks.”
“Yes, but that was two weeks ago. I was coming home this week.” No need to tell her sister that she had actually considered extending even longer.
“Well, we’re here now and we might as well make the most of it. It’s lovely, out here. It’s all the things you said.”
“You were the one who told me to be wary of Italian men and that it was a dangerous place for single women.”
“Don’t say I didn’t warn you. I’m here to save you from another failed relationship.”
“I don’t need saving.”
“Seriously? Are you and him going to lead to anything? Long-distance? Hello?”
Nico’s ploy had worked. Rona giving Ava the third degree about her “impossible” relationship was not as bad as Rona questioning Ava about what had gone wrong in her relationship, a conversation she would have been embroiled in had it not been for Nico’s intervention.
At least in the eyes of her family, she and Nico were an item. She was thankful to him for having the foresight to think ahead.
The more Rona droned on and on about things she did not like about Nico, and all the things that were wrong with their “relationship,” the more Ava got to thinking about their relationship, now that it was dead in the water.
She had pushed all thoughts about them to the back of her mind. Only, having to pretend they were an item meant she was forced to think about it even more. How could it work across two continents? He was busy, so was she. It no longer mattered, because she and Nico were no more.
She could put up with the charade of a relationship for a little longer. It would be easier to confess to the breakup once she had returned to Denver.
Rona carried on. “Just saying. You might want to think this out carefully before you go making any more crazy plans of yours.”
“I was here more for business than anything else,” Ava cried out.
Rona gave her a leisurely glance. “Yeah, I bet that’s what you’ve been telling yourself.”
Ava fumed. What was it with her sister? Had motherhood and the confines of staying at home with the baby turned her all bitter and twisted?
“Know what I think, Rona? I don’t think you’re much interested in my welfare. I think you just needed an excuse to get away.”
“After your failed wedding attempt, I think you need looking after.” Rona stopped, and glanced up at the building in front of her. “Is this it?” she asked, looking up at the balcony.
“It’s the Casa di Giulietta—Juliet’s balcony. Mom wanted to see Verona’s best loved attraction.”
“Right,” said Carlos. He stared up at it with a lost expression. “It’s just a balcony.”
Elsa stepped forward and stared at it, fascinated. “So romantic,” she said softly. “I’ve read about this. And I’ve rubbed Juliet’s breast for good luck, too.”
“Mom, you didn’t,” Ava gasped.
Rona screwed her face up in disgust. “Awww, get a grip, Mom. Since when did you turn into such a romantic?”
But Elsa was lost in her own little reverie. “Come on,” she said, giggling with excitement. “Let’s go inside and take a proper look.”
Ava hesitated. But the expression on her mother’s face removed any reservations she might have had about revisiting the room where she and Nico had last dined.
Chapter 15
“They have an offer which interests me a great deal.”
“You said you wouldn’t sell out, Papa! You already rejected Luxuriant’s offer. Why would you now consider Tambini’s?”
Edmondo Cazale sat back in his chair and looked calmly at his son. Nico paced around the room, his face tinged red as his anger got the better of him.
“Calm down, Son. You have a lot to learn. Doing a war dance isn’t going to prepare you well for meetings with others.”
Nico stopped and glared at his father. “I know how to behave in meetings.” He forced himself to take a seat in front of his father’s desk.
“You promised me that you wouldn’t be selling out. I told you I can do this. You know I’m delivering results. Why are you so set on selling everything you’ve worked so hard for?”
“Because I am being offered a very good deal. Too good to pass up.”
Nico rubbed his hands over his face. The cuffs of his shirt were rolled up and wisps of dark hair flecked his bare forearms.
Did his father consider him to be such a failure that he wouldn’t consider letting him have the reins?
“No offer should be good enough, not if you want to leave a legacy.”
“A legacy? To whom?”
Nico forced back the growl that threatened to flare up. “It’s not even the money, Papa. It’s that you spent your life building this, took time away from me and Mama to build this.” He threw his arms up, gesturing at the empty space all around him. “And now you say you’ve had a good enough offer to sell it all to someone? We missed out on a life with you for so many years, just so you can sell out now because you have an offer that’s too good to refuse?” The disgust in his voice was palpable.
Nico carried on, unfazed, striking while the iron was hot. “You were never in it for the money. Maybe when I was a boy and Mama lived a sad life without you. We wanted so much for your business to take off. Now you’re successful and you have the money, how much more do you need? Isn’t it all about leaving something behind?”
The older Cazale slumped back and his shoulders drooped. Yet still he said nothing. Nico sniffed defeat. “We go back and forth, arguing about this the whole time. Why won’t you believe me when I tell you that I’m learning? That I’m working hard? That I’m trying to prove myself to you? The hotel capacity is more or less full all year round, not just in the peak seasons. We should be expanding, not selling out.”
“If I reject Tambini’s offer, what then?”
Nico looked at his father steadily, his hands poised just under his chin. “What then? Exactly what we discussed a few weeks ago, Papa. We move forward. We refurbish the other Cazale hotels and we buy new ones as we see them. We expand, Papa.”
Nico loved his father, had the utmost respect for him, but his father tested his patience most of the time. They were two completely different creatures. It had been hard for his mother, he remembered with sadness, trying to be the one beacon of peace between them both.
“Ava’s family seems pleasant enough.” His father changed the subject completely. “I like her, as well. She seems to be a good influence on you.”
Nico shifted in his seat and brought his foot down from his knee. He sat forward.
“Sh
e is.”
That her family had turned up unannounced was not such a bad thing. He wasn’t so sure that Ava saw it that way, though. She had been so angry this morning and he wasn’t sure that it was all to do with him. In any case, with them here it meant Ava would stay on a while.
Any extra time was a bonus, whether she was talking to him or not. It meant he still had time to make things up with her.
He looked directly into his father’s eyes; he wanted to say more, but the words didn’t come. Something about a legacy and his plans for a possible future with Ava, but the two ideas evaporated as soon as they started to mesh together in his thoughts.
He turned his attention to business matters instead.
“I’m going to look at the Cazale Riccione soon, get it to the same standard as here. There’s also a hotel near there that I want to check out.” He waited patiently for his father’s response. Seeing the hard line of his father’s lips, Nico braced himself.
“I know you have ideas about expanding, Son, but I am not so sure. It’s a huge risk. And I’m not one for taking so much risk, not at my age.” His father became silent again, weighing up his words carefully. “But I don’t see the harm in having a look. Report back to me with your findings.”
Nico nodded at his father appreciatively. “I’ll do that,” he said, trying not to let his excitement show.
Chapter 16
Sun streamed into the glass conservatory at the Casa Adriana and lifted everyone’s spirits. Verona beckoned for the Ramirez family, and Ava’s daily routine had shifted focus dramatically with their appearance.
They had checked out of the Casa Adriana and Nico had arranged for them to stay in the pensione next door to Ava’s. They could all have stayed with Ava, since that pensione was large and could have easily accommodated the rest of her family. But Nico had put them in a separate one.
For this Ava was grateful. It was hard enough having to spend two weeks with them all here, let alone to share the same living quarters as well. She had a feeling that Nico preferred her to have her own space, too, for reasons of his own.
Maybe he hoped there would be a reconciliation soon. Ava was more determined than ever to let the boundaries stay, now that she had taken the difficult first step of erecting a wall between the two of them. Ever since their last exchange, when she had flung her scribbled note with her address at him, their paths hadn’t crossed.
Her family was grateful for Nico’s generosity, even Rona who actually admitted to liking Nico for being so generous.
“We could have just shared with you, Ava. I don’t like putting your young man to so much trouble,” Elsa said.
“No, Mom. It’s better you all have your own space.”
Because I need my own space.
Rona eyed Ava suspiciously. “Yeah, right.” A comment Ava chose to ignore completely. But the next words from Rona’s mouth had them all entranced.
“Connor?” A blanket of total confusion swept over Rona’s face. The same blanket now shared by Connor. “Rona? This is turning into quite a family reunion.” A heap of questions lined his face, but he said nothing.
In all the commotion of recent events, Ava hadn’t thought to mention news about Connor to her family.
“You’re not family,” Ava snapped, as she walked past him. “Come on, Mom. Let me show you the gardens. Carlos and Tori are already out there.” She grabbed her mom’s arm and left, leaving Connor alone with Rona. Being out in the gardens also meant she had less chance of bumping into Nico.
Elsa nodded briefly at Connor, who seemed almost embarrassed to have seen her. Barely a word was exchanged between the two of them.
* * *
Rona and Connor glanced at each other warily. Rona surveyed him with the cool gaze of a lioness sizing up her prey. If she was wary around Nico, she hated Connor a hundred times more.
“You’re here? What gives?” She circled around the rather bewildered-looking Connor, who stood next to a table, holding onto the back of a chair for dear life.
“I came looking for her.”
Immediately, her bullshit detector was on full alert. “The bride you ditched?” The sarcasm in Rona’s voice was toxic.
Connor uttered something, but the words disappeared before they made it over to Rona.
“What makes you think my sister’s crazy enough to have any feelings left for you?” She jabbed a finger at him.
“The same thing that brought you out here, after her.” Connor was cool and composed, almost back in his lawyer role.
Rona readied herself to expel a string of choice words with the sole intent of reducing him to a quivering wreck. But a tall, gazelle-like blonde trotted in, with an enormous pair of sunglasses resting on top of her hair.
“Connor!” The words sang out of her mouth.
“Silvia.”
Dark, pouty lips air kissed each side of Connor’s cheeks. Rona looked on, dumbstruck, as the woman ran a perfectly manicured fingernail gently across his face. It was only then that the woman appeared to notice Rona for the first time.
Pouty lips voiced, “And you are?”
Rona had forgotten to breathe, and now she choked on her own breath. She gave Connor the filthiest look and ignored the woman completely. “And you came out looking for who?” She stormed out.
No matter that she and Ava didn’t see eye to eye, Rona really did mean to look out for her younger sister. She was so consumed by anger at the sheer gall of Connor not only being here but also flaunting his latest floozy with him, that she walked head first into Nico.
One look at his tall and toned body in his charcoal gray suit and his sharply chiseled features had Rona doing a double-take. Her pulse quickened at her annoyance. She didn’t like her reaction to Ava’s man, that no-good, playboy Italian.
But, dammit, he was to die for. Could she really blame her sister for tripping over her high heels for someone like him?
“Good morning, Rona.”
She had to give it to him: the man was polite, if nothing else. But she had him figured out, that slimy, slick air he put on. He might be good looking but she could see past him.
She was tempted to give him a cutting reply, take him down a peg or two, but she quickly remembered that this man had put them up in a pensione and he had been more than gracious to her family. She gave a rudimentary shake of her head as they both found themselves standing opposite each other, caught in an uncomfortable deadlock, with nothing much to say.
Nico smiled and Rona did not.
“Nice place you have here.” She went for the polite angle.
“Thank you.”
“Please don’t go giving my sister any crazy idea about romance.” She cut quickly to the chase. There was no point wasting time on frivolous small talk.
She watched Nico’s jaw tighten, thrilled that she had one-upped him.
He glared back; she had ruffled his feathers all right. He clearly didn’t want her meddling around in his business, telling him what to do with his love life. But heck, Ava was her sister and she was only looking out for her. This well-oiled, moneyed smarty pants was not going to get into her sister’s panties—or stay there too long, now that he was probably in them. Not if she could help it.
Besides, she hadn’t such a great night with Tori not sleeping properly ever since they’d arrived. Rona was definitely looking for someone to take her anger out on. Nico looked a worthy shot.
But as they eyed each other across the checked and marbled lobby floor, Silvia and Connor walked right past them.
Silvia jabbered away, and Connor seemed captivated by each word she uttered. Nico raised an eyebrow, and without knowing the reason why, Rona could tell he was more than a little pissed off himself at the sight of them.
Why was he so bothered by them?
“This gets more surreal with each passing day,” Rona muttered to herself.
***
“Quite a family.” The ever calm and serene Gina beamed at Nico over her computer screen. From
her vantage point at the reception desk, hidden behind the screen, she had a great window for witnessing the hellos, goodbyes and other dramas that were played out daily in this lobby.
She knew almost everything that was said and done here. And in that respect she was all-knowing.
Nico walked toward her, looking more frazzled than she had seen him in a long time. She had a feeling that romance and relationships, two ‘R’s that Nico had readily avoided up until now, were starting to take their toll on him.
She waited until he was at her side. “At least Ava will be around a little longer. That’s got to be a good thing?” She wanted him to open up to her, because from what she could tell, he had nobody else to turn to. He shrugged his shoulders helplessly.
He played it cool and smooth, as if he didn’t care, when his face said otherwise. Things always went according to Nico Cazale’s plans.
Except now he had the Ramirez family, his ex-girlfriend, and his new girlfriend’s ex-fiancé all within close range.
This was better than daytime TV.
Chapter 17
Silvia sounded like a fast-forwarded recording when she was in full flow. She strode around the hotel car park, screeching rapid-fire Italian into her cell phone.
Connor hovered around her silver Mercedes Benz convertible, blowing imaginary dust off the sleek leather headrest. For a man who was used to only thinking about himself, Ava found it a complete 180-degree turn to find him now keeping watch on Silvia’s car while pretending to be invisible so that she could talk on the phone.
He had never been like that around her.
Engrossed as he was by the cleanliness of the convertible, he did not notice Ava walking toward him. Catching Connor almost alone without Silvia’s handcuffs was a rare event these days. Ava welcomed the chance to have a quiet word with him, while Elsa waited inside. Being outside also meant she would be away from Nico, who was probably in his office. It didn’t help that every waking moment of her day was filled with thoughts of him. She was lost and in limbo and she could not even go home.
