Page 41 of Roses are Royal

And so, I eat my burger and tell Shirley about last night and the time I spent with Dante and the tension and draw to him as he spoke about Turnadot. I left out the part about his childhood and Angelo because that felt private and something meant to be kept between just Dante and myself. I even told her how I woke up in bed, fully dressed from the night before, with no recollection of how I got there.

“My guess is that big, strong man of yours carried you to bed,” Shirley stated confidently after I finished my recap of the night.

“That’s what I’m worried about!”

“Worried? Heck, I’d let that man carry me around the diner while I served customers if he wanted to! What’s your concern?”

“He is my client, Shirley. My first client since starting my own company, and I don’t want to screw it up.”

“Do you like him? Do you think there could be something more there?”

“It’s complicated.”

“No, it isn’t. Don’t let some fabricated sense of honor or morality get in the way of your future.”

“What if I give in to this thing between us and it doesn’t work out?”

“What if I took all my clothes off and ran around the diner naked?”

I almost choke on the sip of soda I just took as I snort it up my nose in surprise. “What the hell, Shirley? What does that have to do with anything?”

“My point is, sweetie, you can’t let something that hasn’t even happened yet, and might never happen, get in the way of something that could be great. Why don’t you try to look at it from the other side?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, if you want to play the what-if game, then ask yourself, ‘What if you give in to it and it does work out?’”

“It’s not that easy, Shirley.”

“Sweetheart, if you can overthink the worst, why can’t you overthink the best as well?”

Well, shit. Shirley might have done more work for me in this one lunch than my therapist did for me over three years.

“I guess you might be right,” I confess, my mind still processing the new advice.

“Of course I’m right, sugar. Now, finish your food, and I’ll grab you a coffee to-go so you can shower and get dolled up for your dinner tonight.” Shirley stands with a pat of her hand on mine and heads to the kitchen without giving me a chance to object.

I did agree to dinner with Dante, so it wouldn’t hurt to give this, whatever this thing between us is, a chance to become something more. My work on his house should be completed soon if all the delivery timelines hold, so I don’t see why I can’t let things develop during that time. And once our contract is complete, then I can make a decision. What’s a few more weeks versus the rest of my life?

Taking the offered to-go cup from Shirley, I thank her and say my goodbyes and then hop in my car, heading back to Dante’s house to get ready for dinner.

50

DANTE

One Year Ago

I’ve known Angelo has been sick for a while now and trying to hide it from his inner circle, which is why I’ve spent the last week tailing him. Now that I’ve seen him leave the chemo clinic he has been visiting, I plan to confront him after our meeting this evening. If he is as sick as I suspect, we need to have a plan in place for the organization if something were to happen to him. I guess we all thought he’d just die of old age or from a rival's bullet, but never something like this. And with those scenarios, there are already contingencies in place. But those contingencies always felt so far away that no one took them seriously. He is only in his late sixties, for god’s sake. This is going to make my request to exit the organization even more difficult.

I know Angelo always intended for me to take over, but this isn’t my legacy. I’m just a street kid from the Bronx who was in the wrong place at the wrong time, and took the only way out of the situation—either join his ranks or die in that alley—and I wasn’t ready to die. Even though I’m his second, the organization respects blood over most things, and as much as I wish I could call Angelo my blood, I can’t change my parentage. And once Angelo isn’t the head of the family, I don’t know if I’d have the same security and respect he has afforded me all these years. First, I need to speak with Angelo and then we can figure out next steps together, while planning my exit at the same time.

Present Day

Walking out of the meeting with Angelo, I can’t stop thinking back to when we met all those months ago in this same place when I found out Angelo had a granddaughter named Violetta and that she would be the one to take over the organization. What I wasn’t prepared for was finding out Angelo didn’t know she even existed until recently.

Apparently, Lily had left a note for Angelo in the event something happened to her, and she told him everything. She pleaded in the letter to let Violetta live a normal life and not look for her. Lily didn’t want her daughter to grow up under constant supervision and fear like she had. I know it hurt Angelo to read those words because, besides Liliana’s funeral, watching him discuss the letter was the only other time I’ve seen tears in his eyes. But knowing that the life Lily was raised in ultimately was responsible for her untimely death, Angelo had followed her instructions and didn’t look for his granddaughter—until now.

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