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“She went to see a friend a few days ago. Alone. I flipped. Yelled at Nino all the way from the office to the parking lot.”
“That doesn’t sound like you.”
“I know.”
Milene finally catches a hold of the cat and carries it into the kitchen.
“You eat there!” She points at the bowl in the corner.
The cat looks at her, jumps onto the counter, and then on top of the refrigerator, where it resumes chewing on the sausage. Milene throws her hands up into the air, leaves the cat sitting on the fridge, and comes over to take a seat next to me.
“So, you never told me your mom is a surgeon.” She takes a piece of pastry from the platter in the middle of the table. “That was amazing to watch, Mrs. Ajello. Are you the one who’s always patching up Tore’s men?”
My mother’s eyebrows shoot up on hearing the nickname.
“Salvatore has a general medical practitioner for everyday stuff. They only call me when there are serious wounds,” she says and casts a sideways glance in my direction. “I don’t mind, so long as the bullets I’m digging out are not from inside my son.”
“Yeah, I hear that happens quite often.” Milene stuffs the rest of her pastry into her mouth and gets up from the table. “I’m gonna crash. Do you need me in the office this afternoon?”
“No. I have a meeting with Arturo in an hour that’ll take most of the day,” I say.
“What about sleep? We’ve been up since two.”
“Are you inviting me to join you, cara?”
Her eyes widen before she scrunches her nose at me. “You know the answer to that question.” She turns to Ilaria. “It was nice meeting you, Mrs. Ajello. I hope the next time we see each other will be under less dramatic circumstances.”
The moment Milene is out of sight, my mother crosses her arms and fixes me with her gaze. “Cara?”
“Yes. Why?”
“I’ve never heard you use an endearment for anyone.”
“There is a first time for everything.”
Ilaria’s eyes narrow. “And the two of you are not sleeping together?”
“I don’t see how that is any of your concern.”
“So, you aren’t.”
“No. Not yet.”
“You don’t do relationships, Salvatore. I very much doubt you know how to behave in one. As far as I know, you’ve only used women to fuck, so what’s so different about this girl? You two are already married. Why play roommates?”
“I’ve already taken away all of her choices in life,” I say. “When we do, eventually, sleep together, it’ll be because she’s decided to take that step.”
“What I saw happening in that elevator is not first base action.” She shakes her head. “The air around the two of you is practically buzzing with sexual energy. I have half a mind to lock you two in a room and leave.”
“She’s still mad at me.”
“For marrying her?”
“I don’t think the marriage itself bothers her that much. It’s everything else that goes with it.” I pour myself another coffee. “I made her resign from the hospital where she worked.”
“She didn’t want to leave the job?”
“No. Perhaps if the situation were different, we could have worked something out, but with the Irish on a killing spree, I can’t risk it.”
