Page 53 of The Fall Affair

I shrugged. “Maybe. I don’t know.”

Matteo was quiet for a long time. I thought he was digesting the story I’d shared, but apparently, he was thinking about something else. “Isabella, my ex-wife, I suspected there may have been someone else. She swore there wasn’t, that she just wanted a different lifestyle than we were building. After she left, I wanted to get to the bottom of what happened and find out the truth. A smart woman talked me out of it.” He looked to me.

“Luciana?”

“No. My sister, she would’ve advised me to hold a grudge for life and insisted we go burn down the house of any man who had done me wrong.”

I laughed. “That sounds more Luciana than forgive and forget.”

“It was your grandmother, Sophia. She told me to let it go. A few weeks after Izzy left, I spent a couple of days repairing a rotted beam in her loggia. At night, she make me dinner in exchange.”

“I guess you were lucky my grandmother knew how to cook and not knit.”

His lip twitched. “Yes, very.”

“What did she say to change your mind?”

“She asked me if it would affect how I felt about Izzy, knowing she had an affair. When I said yes, she told me it wouldn’t matter to Izzy, so why make myself miserable? I deserved to have good memories that were untouched.”

“You realize my grandmother didn’t speak to her own sister for years because she stole her lasagna recipe. She was a grudge holder, yet she advised you to give someone grace.”

Matteo laughed and hung his head. “That is true.”

“I think it was good advice, though. Sometimes what you don’t know won’t hurt you. My situation is a little different, though. Whether I find out the full story or not, it doesn’t erase the fact that I now know my father wasn’t the man I thought he was.”

“Of course. But I think your grandmother’s advice is still valid. Think about what you might find out, and do what is best for you.”

I nodded. “You’re right. I have a lot of thinking to do.”

Luciana appeared at the table, bursting our private little bubble. “Are you making my friend as boring as you are, brother?”

Matteo shook his head.

“It’s my fault,” I told her. “I unloaded all my problems on the poor guy.”

She held out both her hands. “Come dance with me. Both of you. We won’t tell Lorenzo that he’s my brother.”

Matteo’s forehead wrinkled, making me laugh. I guess he didn’t know about his sister’s guy. But Luciana was right. We were at a club in Italy, so we should be dancing. I rebuckled the straps on my shoes and stood, holding out a hand to Matteo.

“Come on.”

Seemed like he would’ve preferred to stay in the booth, at least until his sister spoke again. She waved him off. “No worries. Allegra can find a new dance partner.”

That got him up. And the three of us spent the next two hours dancing.

“I think I’m done,” I finally yelled over the music to Luciana. Matteo had gone back to the booth a half hour ago.

“Go!” she said. “I’m going to piss off Lorenzo some more and then drag him home. He lives nearby.”

“Are you sure? I don’t want to leave you here by yourself.”

“I usually come by myself. Nothing is going to happen to me.” She lifted her eyes to the mirror upstairs. “He watches very closely.”

I smiled. “Okay.”

“You two kids enjoy.” She winked. “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”

Matteo stood when I got back to the table. I smirked. “Anxious to leave?”