Page 136 of The Wrong Vintage
“About what?”
“Alba!”
She chuckles and raises both her hands palms up. “Short answer, no.” Her tone becomes somber. “Look this isn’t about Fontana—but what an asshole, right? Or Matteo’s job or even Papà. This is aboutyouragency. You feel the way you feel because Nico decided,repeatedly, that you could not handle the truth.”
Nico’s sins are not accidental. He didn’t just forget to tell me what was going on with Matteo and my father’s machinations; he made a choice toprotectme, but I have a feeling he was protecting himself, avoiding conflict with me.
“If Matteo told me not to tell anyone, would I listen to him?” I muse.
“Matteo is your mentor, not Nico’s,” Alba responds. “Look, Nico doesn’t like conflict, and that’s that. I think he does fine in a business setting when he knows he has the power but when he isn’t sure about the outcome he believes discretion is the better part of valor.”
I narrow my eyes. “How do you know my husband so well?”
This time, she bursts out laughing. “He’s my boss’s boss. I know how he thinks, Alessia.”
I hold up my hand. “Okay, going on a tangent here. What’s going on between Toni and Renzo?”
Alba puts a hand on her heart. “You saw that, too?”
“He’s allcarathis andcarathat.” I shake my head. “He’s ten years older than her.”
“Andhe’s her mentor.”
Webothshake our heads.
“He’s hot, though,” Alba interjects.
I nod wearily. “Almost as hot as Nico.”
“Can we really blame Toni for hitting that?”
I drag a hand down my face and groan. “Thanks for that visual! Now I need bleach to wash it out of my mind.”
“Oh please, you and Nico have been fucking like rabbits, and you have a problem with Toni getting some?”
“She’s like my kid,” I protest mildly and give Alba a measured look. “Speaking of sex, when was the last time you got laid?”
My sister straightens. “We need wine.”
“How long?” I persist, my eyes narrowed with suspicion.
She gives me a pained look. “Not since…him.”
My eyes widen. “That was like?—”
“I know. You don’t have to remind me. Now, will you open some wine, or do you want to know how many cobwebs are growing downthere?”
I burst out laughing at the image she conjures. “I’ll open a 2020 100% Cab Franc.”
“That was a damn good vintage,” Alba says as she sinks into the couch. “If we’re going to talk about your fabulous sex life while I’m in a long-term relationship with my rabbit, we need some of that.”
We spend half the night talking, and then we sleep, certain that we’ve found our footing again as sisters.
I know it won’t be nearly so simple to make things right with Nico.
31
NICO
