Hunting the Bachelor (HoliDATE Series Book 3)

by Heather Young-Nichols

  “That’s what I’m afraid of,” he said back. “Plus she wouldn’t be learning anything useful.”

  “Oh I don’t know about that,” Bailey said while trying not to laugh at the scowl he gave her. “I feel like Cash is still teaching her lots of useful things. It’s only been a few months. But I’m sure he wouldn’t be able to go. He wouldn’t even stay with me while they were gone.”

  “What?” Sal roared in a way was almost too adorable to stand. As if he had anything to worry about when it came to Bailey.

  “Calm down,” she said and patted his back as she passed him. “I wanted to have a slumber party but he said no. He had to work.”

  “Smart man.”

  Bailey and I broke out into a fit of laughter. Sal liked to sound mean and dangerous and I’d bet he could’ve been if he wanted to but there were two things that were for sure Sal. One, he knew Bailey would never cheat on him with anyone for any reason. And two, that knowledge didn’t help his insecurity from slipping through now and again.

  “Anyway,” Bailey kept talking. “What’re you doing here so early? Did you run out on Gio, leaving him in your nice warm bed?”

  “No.” I shook my head as I answered. “He’s at work.”

  “He doesn’t work today,” Bailey said, his head cocked to the side in confusion. “I just looked at the schedule because I couldn’t remember who was on delivery this weekend.”

  My stomach twisted into a knot. That was exactly what I’d said. “I guess he’s covering for Joe.”

  Sal raised his eyebrows and I wasn’t sure if he was surprised or confused. I tried not to be either. Though another thing I knew for sure about those guys. They’d cover for each other to the death. With only a few exceptions since knowing them, they didn’t spill each other’s secrets.

  Maybe I’d stop into Romano’s just to… no. I trusted Gio. He wouldn’t lie to me.

  “But,” I continued. “He left this note saying he’d see me later but I have to follow the clues.” My gaze fell directly on Sal. “What’s he up to?”

  “No clue,” he said too quickly. My jaw tightened. Why did I bother asking? They’d cover for each other to the death. “He’ll be at dinner tonight, right?” I nodded. “Well, ask him there.”

  Not good enough. I didn’t think Gio was out with some other woman. That wasn’t even something that crossed my mind. But that didn’t mean he wasn’t up to something else and I wanted to know what now not later.

  The restaurant closes early for the holiday but Gramps made it a point to be open as much as possible. We even paid a premium to any staff that wanted to work it which usually meant we had more volunteers than we needed. I thought again that I’d head straight there but again, thought better of it. If Gio went to the trouble of planning something for me, I’d let it play out. This wasn’t really like him so if that was the case, it was something he really wanted to do.

  “Well, I guess I’m heading out to the pond and hope there isn’t a murderer waiting for me,” I told them then pushed up from the chair.

  “If you wait for me to get dressed, I’ll go with you,” Bailey offered. “You and me together could fight off any attacker. Even a bear. Plus I kind of want to see where this goes.”

  “There aren’t any bears around here,” Sal countered.

  “Hush you.”

  I nodded and appreciated the offer. Going by myself would’ve been fine but going with my best friend would be more fun. And since I had no idea what I was in for, I wanted to take the fun route.

  Sal sat there, drinking his coffee and scrolling through his phone as if I wasn’t still standing there. Which made me more suspicious. He’d never been a big talker but in the months he’d lived in Harbor Point full-time, we’d gotten really close. Silence didn’t normally hang between us. It was weird. Silence made me suspicious.

  Chapter Four

  With a quick kiss for Sal, Bailey grabbed her jacket and we headed to my car. Harbor Point at Easter wasn’t frigid cold, actually we hardly ever got super cold, but there was still enough of a chill in the air to need the jackets.

  Since Easter fell before the tourist season, the drove would be easy because the town wasn’t so busy. A lot of the townies would be at church for Easter Sunday services but that wasn’t something my family ever did.

  I drove us out to Johnsons’ where I hadn’t been since the night Gio and I had sex in his truck out there. That was a great memory. But it was before the shit hit the fan, I discovered what really brought him to town and we broke up. Thankfully we managed to do cleanup on the situation and repair what he’d broken. I couldn’t imagine life without him and I didn’t like the small glimpse I’d gotten in our time apart.

  “So why are we here?” I asked no one in particular when we got out of the car.

  “Does this place hold any special meaning to the two of you?” Bailey asked.

  I sucked my bottom lip between my teeth and held it. “Well… “

  “You sketchy whore,” she said but then laughed. “You had sex out here with Gio Diamati? Did Johnson find you? Why do I not know this?”

  Once my giggles subsided, I said, “Yes, no, and I honestly thought I’d told you. It was before he went back to Chicago for the first time. Or rather, the first time I knew he was going. No idea how many times he went before that.”

  “Well, well, well, Miss Secret-Keeper.” She nudged my arm with her elbow. Honestly me not telling her was just that I didn’t think of it. Otherwise we told each other everything. “I think that might be for you.” I glanced at Bailey but she was pointing at the doc where a pink balloon bobbed in the air.

  “What the hell is he doing?” I asked under my breath not really expecting an answer as we walked slowly down the dock. “Wait,” I turned to her. “Do you know what’s going on? Am I pregnant and he hasn’t told me?”

  She giggled quietly. “I think you’d know first. Are you?”

  “No.” I gave a full body shiver. “Hell no. I couldn’t even imagine.” Not yet anyway. This was all still somewhat new. Gio first came to Harbor Point almost two years ago. But we’d only been fully together just over a year. I wanted more time with him.

  “I can.”

  “You can imagine me pregnant?” I asked her with a smirk.

  “Well… yes.” She chuckled. “But that’s not what I meant. I meant me.”

  I stopped walking and moved in closer to her. “You want to have a baby?”

  “Fuck no.” Then she shrugged. “Not now anyway. But yeah, sometimes I can imagine Sal and me having a kid. Him being a dad.”

  I snorted. “He’d be a fucking train wreck. They both would be.”

  She nodded. Anyone who knew Sal knew I was telling the truth. “He’d probably go out of his mind. While I was pregnant. When the kid got here. Every single day of being a father. But I can also envision the good side.” We began walking toward the balloon again.

  “They’re very skittish about that idea.” Gio and I hadn’t talked about kids in the future in any real way. More in an abstract way and I couldn’t imagine any different from Bailey and Sal. Given how they’d grown up, it wasn’t a topic they enjoyed.

  “Yeah. He seems to think that because he had a shitty father that he’d be a shitty father. I say it’s the opposite but also he said it’d kill him if he ever had a girl. Knowing the things he’d done to some other man’s little girl.”

  Ouch. Yeah. Given all the things they’d done to other people’s daughters, having one of their own could make the guilt they already felt worse.

  “To be clear, they weren’t little girls at the time,” I added because the way she’d said it made them sound like pedophiles and that wasn’t even close to being accurate.

  “Obviously. But he said they’re always their dad’s little girl.”

  I swallowed hard wishing we’d never broached this subject. “Well, I guess it’s good neither of us want kids anytime soon.”

  “Exactly,” she agreed.

  We
approached the balloon, which was tied to the railing on the doc, and found another envelope tucked behind the knot. I slid it out slowly with a scowl on my face. Once I opened the card, it was more like a memory than a clue. It was as if he was sending me on a scavenger hunt but not with clues. Like a walk down Memory Lane.

  Gio wrote about the first time we kissed once we got back together. How beautiful the stars were and what it felt to finally have his lips on me. His words, while not necessarily eloquent, evoked memories I hadn’t thought of for a while and brought a tear to my eye.

  We’d earned that kiss. Still, I’d have to give him a smack later for making me, someone who doesn’t cry much, tear up at the details he remembered from that night.

  But that meant the pier was our next stop.

  “What’s this one say?” Bailey asked once I finished reading it. I handed the card over to her as we climbed back into the car. “Wow,” she said quietly. “Who knew Gio could be this sweet?”

  “I did,” I said back while carefully maneuvering the car through the wooded area that would lead us back out to the road.

  Chapter Five

  For some reason it took us longer than it should have to get to the pier where Gio and I had been for what I liked to think of as our first kiss. He’d asked permission because of everything we’d been through. In a way. He told me he wanted to kiss me and I replied that he should do it. That was his way of asking. I’d wanted that kiss from him so badly. He didn’t have to ask but still, I knew that he did because consent was huge for him. He’d never done anything to anyone against their will but he’d done things against his.

  Finally, I pulled into the parking lot nearest the pier and we both got out.

  “So what’s the fantastic memory here?” Bailey asked.

  “This was where he first kissed me after they put their parents in prison.”

  “Oh, shit,” he muttered. “It’s a big one then?”

  I nodded as we walked the length of the pier. At first I didn’t see anything. I thought maybe it’d blown away which would mean going directly to Romano’s to ask him where I was supposed to go next.

  But when I was about to give up, Bailey pointed to the corner and said, “There it is.”

  We scurried forward and squatted down so I could untie the ribbon holding both the card and a beautiful daisy, my favorite, down. Then I sat with my legs dangling off the pier. Bailey followed in beside me.

  “Why do you think he’s doing this?” she asked.

  I’d been thinking about that all morning. “No idea. Maybe he wanted to keep us busy today.”

  “Us?”

  “Oh come on.” I nudged her with my elbow. “He’d have to know I’d drag you along with me. If he wanted to keep my busy then he wanted to keep you busy. Which means Sal probably knows what he’s up to.”

  “True,” she said, nodding. “But Sal hasn’t said a word about anything Gio might be up to.”

  “Yeah, but you know they’d cover for each other.”

  “Also true.” She snapped her fingers. “Hey, maybe it’s a test run for a new reality show.”

  I giggled. “Like what?” I put on my best game show voice. “Figure out what the fuck he’s thinking.”

  Bailey laughed into the wind. “Searching for the Bachelor,” she countered.

  Then we both stopped and said, “Hunting the Bachelor.” Then fell into a fit of giggles.

  “But seriously,” she began once we calmed down. “Has he been acting weird?” I shook my head. “Maybe he got you some great gift and is making you work for it. A trip maybe?”

  “Oh,” I moaned. “I’d love a vacation. Something more than Chicago. Don’t get me wrong. I love going there but they—”

  “Always work,” she finished. “Yeah. I know.” Bailey wet her lips with her tongue and took a deep breath. “I wish they’d sell the company.”

  “Me too. Though Gio does far less than Sal. Yet another thing he feels guilty about.”

  “Do you ever think about it,” she asked. “About the things they’ve done? With other women?”

  I bit back a smile. “Bailey Baker are you jealous of all the women Sal De Luca has bedded?”

  “No,” she said quickly. “Not really. I just… I sometimes think about him during that time I guess.”

  “I get that.” “I just can’t imagine them that way. That’s not how we know them and Sal had it worse than Gio.” Being the first to do something had many, many drawbacks.

  “Gemma had the worst of them all.”

  “She did.” Because having sex on command to further your families business wouldn’t have been fun for any of them. But for Gemma, the things that were done to her and the fact that she wasn’t allowed to say no would haunt me forever. “Well, let’s see where he leads us next.”

  I ripped open the envelope and pulled out the latest card. Reading over his words about playing pool and having fun with friends and I knew he meant Bill’s. That’s where we’d gone and still go so often. As a group and even just the two of us.

  We’d already gone past lunch and my stomach began to remind me that I’d barely eaten breakfast this morning either. Which meant I was only going to Bill’s then getting something to eat. Maybe even Romano’s. Give Gio some hell.

  “You know,” I finally said as we pulled up in front of Bill’s. “We really should plan a vacation. All six of us. I haven’t had one in forever other than going to see my parents and I don’t think they’ve ever had one.”

  “I love it,” Bailey agreed immediately. “Where?”

  “Well, where was your favorite place?” I asked because she’d been across the world already.

  “Oh, that’s hard.” Bailey pulled the door to the bar open. “London was fantastic. Paris, beautiful. Rome you can’t miss. I’m not sure I could choose.”

  “Bianca,” Bill called out. “What brings you by?”

  “I think you know,” I said back with a big smile.

  He transformed his friendly face into a scowl. “No. Kitchen’s not open yet.”

  “Yeah, I’ve been coming here my entire life. I know when the kitchen opens.” I hoisted myself up onto a bar stool. “But Gio has me on a wild goose chase and the last clue led here so I’m guessing you have something for me?”

  “Oh right.” He snapped his fingers. “Here ya go.”

  This time I tore right into the envelope.

  Gio wrote about the first time we’d almost had sex. The time he turned me down and I, embarrassed as I was, made some bumbling excuses and got myself out of there. Funny thing being that it was my own apartment that I’d stormed out of. While awful at the time, looking back it was funny as hell.

  “Thanks, Bill,” I called out as Bailey and I made our way to the door. “I need food.”

  “Oh, same,” she replied right away. “Where do you want to go?”

  “Romano’s.”

  Bailey smirked at me as if she’d known what I was thinking the whole time. Now we walked over since it was just down the block. Grabbed a table where I’d be able to see into the kitchen but they likely wouldn’t even glance my way.

  We placed our order then were in for a wait. The kitchen was behind, I was told.

  “I’ll be right back,” I told Bailey before heading for the kitchen.

  Joe was in there with a couple of the college guys who worked for us, pounding away at some dough. But Joe being Joe he grumbled at the guys the entire time. By now, Gio was the only one he could work with without losing his temper at least once.

  “Hey, Joe,” I said to not startle him. “Need any help catching up?”

  “Bianca,” he glanced over his shoulder, “You’re not on today.”

  “I know. Bailey and I are here for lunch.”

  “Don’t worry. We’ll get to it.” He slid another pie into the oven.

  “I’m not worried. I’m offering to help.” But those words fell on deaf ears, as they say. He kept working as if he didn’t even hear me. “Hey, Joe…
did you get done whatever you needed the morning for?”

  He turned to me with his eyebrows down. “What’d you mean. I opened. Been here for hours.”

  “Gio didn’t cover for you?” I asked.

  “Have you ever known me to ask that kid to cover for me?”

  Grumpy Joe. Always the same. He talked a lot of smack about Gio but in the end they were actually friends. Even if Joe didn’t want to acknowledge it. But shit. If Gio wasn’t actually at Romano’s than why did he leave so early in the morning and why did he send me on this hunt?

  “No,” I said quietly. “I guess not.”

  Instead of getting into it any further with Joe, I headed back into the dining room to Bailey to wait patiently for our food but I told her what I’d learned from Joe. That Gio hadn’t been there at all.

  “Where the fuck did he go then?” she asked as if I would know.

  “I don’t know.”

  We ate quickly, talking about the very memories that Gio evoked in his last message. When I’d left my apartment that first night, I’d gone directly to Bailey’s because she’d let me stay there without me having to wonder. I had to make sure Gio was gone before going back there because I’d thought that night was it between us.

  Thankfully, it wasn’t.

  “Why don’t we hit them all?” I asked as we drove the short distance to the apartment in Gramps’ garage.

  “Hit them all?”

  “London, Paris, Rome. Our vacation. Take a couple weeks?” I reminded her of our earlier conversation.

  “You know I’m game. We just have to convince the killjoys.”

  “Oh come on. They aren’t killjoys and you know it.”

  Mom and Dad were staying in the apartment while they visited so it was weird to go there knowing one or both might be inside. When I arrived, though, I found very quickly that I didn’t need to go inside. An envelope laid on the sidewalk right outside the door and I knew exactly what that was in reference to.

  The night I’d found out that Gio’s parents had sent him here basically to seduce me so that they could takeover the restaurant and commandeer the sauce, I’d kicked him out of my apartment and cried like a crazy person. Gio had sat outside my door the entire night listening to me as his own punishment. He didn’t have to do that but he did it anyway.