Acts of Violets (26 page)

“When I have time.” Which was never.

“Have some more wine,” Francesca said, filling my glass to the brim. “It’s a Barolo, my favorite.”

I had no problem with that, especially given the pressure I was under.

Suddenly Gina’s eyes got wide and her skin turned ashen. She nudged her mother, who immediately slid off the bench and let her dash to the bathroom.

Without missing a beat Marco said, “She’d better not be contagious.”

“Your sister is not sick,” Francesca said. “We were going to wait until after dessert, but I’d better tell you now so you don’t worry. Gina went to the doctor today. She’s going to have a baby!”

Thank heavens
that
wasn’t contagious.

“Is she happy about it?” Marco asked, probably because of the marital trouble Gina had been having.

“What kind of question is that? Of course she’s happy,” Francesca said, ignoring the sound of Gina being sick in the background. “Now little Christopher will have a brother or sister.” With a wink, she leaned toward her son. “You’ll have to hurry if you’re going to catch up with her, eh, Marco?”

He didn’t answer, but he did look slightly green around the gills.

Francesca reached for the wine bottle to top off our glasses. “I’ve decided to throw Gina a baby shower before I go back home. We can have it a week from Sunday, at your bar. Just a small, family affair. It is her second baby. Abby, we should have table decorations from your flower shop. You and I will have to meet soon and decide what to use, eh?”

Poor Marco. If he turned any greener, he’d croak.

A
n hour and a half later, with my stomach pouched out from all the food and my mind a bit on the fuzzy side from the wine, I stumbled out to Marco’s car and let him help me tackle that door handle, which was proving difficult to work.

“I’ll take you home,” he told me, buckling the seat belt, elusive devil that it was. “You’re in no condition to drive.”

“And you, kind sir? What condition are you in?” I lifted my eyebrows suggestively. At least I think I did, but they seemed to be moving independently of my wishes.

“That wine really got to you, didn’t it?”

“You can’t take me all the way home. What about my car? I don’t want to leave it in the public parking lot all night.”

“I’ll take care of it.”

Aw.
My fearless knight, coming to my rescue, just like old times. I giggled as it occurred to me that both of us were knights, only mine was spelled with a big
K
.

“What’s so funny?”

“You have a small
k
.” I dissolved into a puddle of laughter.

“I don’t even want to know what that means.”

I wiped the moisture from my eyes, growing pensive. “I’m glad you invited me tonight. I was beginning to think you didn’t want me to meet your mother.”

“She can come on a little strong. Thanks for being a good sport.”

“I loved her lasagna, and her bread, and the wine.” With a contented sigh, I leaned my head against the headrest. “Wasn’t that sweet of her to ask me to do the flowers for Gina’s baby shower? She could have asked anybody, but she asked me. I feel so honored. I really love your mom.”

“You don’t have a clue what you’re getting yourself into, do you?”

“Don’t be such a stick-in-the-mud. It’ll be fun.”

“Have you ever seen the movie
My Big Fat Greek Wedding
?”

“I loved that movie.” At that moment I loved the world. I was feeling quite expansive.

“Sunshine, my family could
be
that movie—the Italian American version.”

I pointed a finger at Marco—the Marco on the left. I didn’t like the way his twin on the right was leering at me. “The way I see it, if you can handle my family, I can handle yours.”

“Now I know you’re blitzed.”

My eyes kept closing on the ride home, so we seemed to get there with amazing speed. Marco helped me out of the car and into the apartment building; then we stood in front of the old elevator until I remembered it was out of order. Nice of the superintendent to put up a sign. We took the stairs—even though they were leaning dangerously to one side and I had to brace a hand against the wall to keep from falling against it. Eventually, though, we made it to the second floor. I’d have to call the super about those steps in the morning. Someone could get hurt.

Though it tried to elude me by hiding under my wallet, I found my key but couldn’t manage to slip it into the lock. “You know, they just don’t make things like they used to.”

“There’s nothing wrong with your lock.” Marco opened the door, then stood back to let me enter. Simon sat just inside, his long white tail sweeping the floor, his pointed ears forward in a
hello, how are you? Now feed me
pose.

I stooped to give him a pat on the head, but he sniffed the air, then backed away from me as though I were a rancid dish of cat food. “Fine. Be that way.” I rose unsteadily. “So what are you saying, Marco? That I can’t work a simple lock because of a mere two glasses of wine?”

He laughed. “Two? My mother refilled your glass at least three times. She probably would have given you more, but I cut you off.”

“Why would she want to get me sloshed?”

“She was testing you to see how good you are at holding your liquor. The more you can hold, the lower your score.”

“Marco, I stink at tests. Did I ever tell you how many tests I flunked in law school?”

“Don’t worry about it. You passed this one.”

“That’s a first.” My knees began to go numb, so I leaned against the nearest source of support, which, happily, turned out to be Marco. I gazed up into his incredibly handsome face and felt my heart expand twofold. “Did I tell you how much I love your mother?”

“Yes, Sunshine, you did.”

“And did I tell you how much I love
you
?”
Whoa. Had I said that out loud?

He swept me into his arms just as the floor began to suck me down. “Good timing,” I said, laying my head on his shoulder as he carried me into my bedroom and deposited me gently on the bed. I lifted my head and patted the spot next to me. “Room for two, mister.”

He covered me with the bottom half of the bedspread. “I think I’ll take a rain check on that.”

“Why? The night is young.”

“You need to sleep off that buzz, and I need to check on things at Down the Hatch anyway. Want anything before I go? Water? Antacid? A bucket?”

I tried to form my lips into a pucker, but they’d obviously been talking to my eyebrows. “How about a kiss . . . and maybe a glass of water?”

“I’ll be right back with the water.”

“Don’t forget the kiss.” I closed my eyes and smiled. A kiss from my knight. What else could a maiden ask for?

Then my stomach did a full rotation, followed by a somersault, then a few lurches, and suddenly that bucket sounded mighty good. I rolled off the bed and stumbled toward the hallway, using the door jamb for support as I catapulted myself into the bathroom. I gave the door a shove and just made it to my knees in front of the commode before my gut heaved. Then I sat back on my knees while the room swam around me.

“Abby?” Marco rapped on the door. “You okay?”

My voice came out as a croak. “I’ll be fine.” In a few weeks, perhaps—if I was lucky.

“Need any help?”

And have him see me like this? “No, thanks. I’m just going to rest here a while.”

“I put your water on the nightstand. Call me tomorrow, okay?”

“Okay.” I crawled to the sink, felt for the faucet, got a palm full of cold water, and splashed it over my face. Then I curled up next to the tub, regretting every sip of wine I’d ever had, and finally fell asleep with the terry cloth bath mat rolled under my head.

Only a moment later, or so it felt, Nikki shook my shoulder. “Abby, are you sick or drunk?”

“Neither. Well, maybe both.”

“Tell me you didn’t drive home.”

“Marco brought me. He’s my knight with a small
k
.”

“How did your car get back to the parking lot?”

“Marco said he’d bring it. Guess what, Nik? He finally invited me over to his apartment. And I got to meet his mother and eat her lasagna, and meet his sister Gina and be interrogated. She made this big Italian meal, Nikki. His mother, not his sister, because Gina was sick. Well, not sick so much as pregnant. Anyway, this lasagna was the best I’ve ever had in my life, with lots of crusty bread and wine and . . . Okay, I can’t think about it anymore or I’ll puke.”

“Want me to help you back to bed?”

I closed my eyes and felt myself drifting off to sleep. “No need. I’m comfortable right where I am.”

“You’re going to regret that decision in the morning.”

“I have few regrets in this life, Nikki.”

“Now you sound like Grace. Good night.”

 

The morning sun was streaming through the tiny bathroom window when I opened my eyes again. I squinted and saw Nikki’s pointy blond head peering down at me. “Are you still here?” I croaked.

“No. I was in bed, sound asleep, but Lottie called and woke me up. She wants you to phone her at the shop right away.”

I tried to bring Nikki’s face into focus but the bright light hurt my eyes. In fact, blinking hurt my eyes, and every muscle in my body hurt, but maybe that was from sleeping on a hard floor. “Did she say why she wanted me to call?”

“No.”

“What time is it?”

“Nine o’clock in the morning.” Nikki perched on the toilet as I pushed myself to a sitting position. “You had quite an evening, didn’t you?”

“You’ll never guess what Mrs. Salvare was like. A sixty-year-old Sophia Loren.”

“Honest?”

I leaned my back against the tub, holding my aching skull between my hands. “She was gorgeous and friendly and the best cook ever—and she liked my womanly figure.”

“Ew. She didn’t really say that, did she?”

“Yes, she really did. She also asked how much I weighed.”

“You didn’t tell her, did you?”

“Of course not. But she seemed to like me anyway.”

“I’m sure that made Marco happy.”

“I guess so, although he wasn’t too pleased that she kept refilling my wineglass. He said she was testing me. The good news is that I passed her test. You want to know why? Because I can’t hold my liquor. How great is that?”

“Wonderful.” She rolled her eyes. “I hope you didn’t puke in front of her.”

“I was fine until the ride home. I have a vague recollection of being carried to my bedroom . . .” I gasped as I remembered more details of the evening. “Oh, no! I think I told Marco I loved him.”

“So?”

“You know that’s the kiss of death to a budding relationship. What should I do?”

“Nothing. He’ll know it was the wine talking.”

“Will he, Nikki?” I clasped her wrist. “Will he?” She peeled off my fingers and gave me a glass of ginger ale to sip. “You’d better call Lottie.”

I took one sniff of the contents and set the glass on the floor as my stomach threatened a revolt. “I have a feeling this is going to be a bad, bad day.”

 

I called Bloomers, and Lottie answered on the first ring. As soon as she heard my voice she said, “Now, there’s nothing to panic about, sweetie. We’ve got a water leak. A pipe burst under the kitchen floor and ran down into the basement. I’ve got a plumber on the way.”

I sagged in relief “Okay. That’s not so bad.”

“Well . . .”

Whenever someone started a sentence with
Well
. . . , there was no way the rest of it could be good. “There’s more?”

“You know the boxes we put in the basement yesterday?”

I swallowed. “The frames and fans?”

“They’re soaking wet.”

I fell back on the bed with a moan. I should have known I’d be punished for putting those things in the basement. “Okay, Lottie. I’ll be in as soon as I shower and have breakfast—wait, never mind the breakfast. I’ll figure out something to do in the meantime.”

“You’d better think fast. Today is Thursday, and you know what that means.”

Yikes. On Thursdays, Mom usually dropped by the flower shop. My day of reckoning had arrived. I let the phone fall onto the bedspread.

“What happened?” Nikki asked.

“A water pipe burst and what was left of Mom’s feathered artwork got soaked. What kind of daughter hides her mother’s art in a basement? What was I thinking? And she’s due to stop by the shop today. Do me a favor. Hold the pillow over my face and end my misery.”

“Can’t you dry everything before she gets there? Here’s an idea. Put them on the roof. It’s so hot you could bake a cake up there.”

I lay still a moment, considering her suggestion. We did have a flat roof, and the sun was out . . . “That might work. I can spread everything out and let the sun do the job for me. Nikki, you’re a genius. I love you.”