He stands to full height, towering over me. The puppy is cradled in his arms, an adorably soft contrast to the corded strength of Luca’s bicepmuscles.
Do not start drooling. Do not start drooling. Do not startdrooling.
As I watch, Luca transfers the puppy to a single arm, so he’s cradled like a football, and reaches into his back pocket to retrieve a slim smartphone. I recognize the cherry red Kate Spade caseinstantly.
“That’s mine!” I exclaim, blinking at him as he offers it to me. “Where on earth did yougetit?”
He’ssilent.
My eyes lock on his suddenly guarded ones. “Please tell me you didn’t do what I thinkyoudid.”
“Seeing as I’m not a mindreader…”
“LucaBuchanan!”
Hisbrowslift.
“Tell me you did not drive to an octogenarian’s house — which, for the record, I’m not even sure how you found, considering I never told you where it was — for the sole purpose of retrieving mycellphone.”
He holds my stare calmly. “I did not drive there to get yourcellphoneback.”
I breathe a sigh of relief. (Prematurely, it turns out, because Luca isn’t finishedspeaking.)
“I drove there to have a little chat with the elderly fucker about the meaning of professionalism as it pertains to his female employees. Specifically, about how he needs to keep his goddamned hands to his goddamned self whenever he’s around those employees, or he won’t have any functioning hands left to grope with by the time I’m through with him.” He shrugs. “Getting your cellphone back was just convenient, since I was alreadythere.”
“Whatthefu—”
“Also,” he adds softly. “On my drive back, I swung by the Mattapan precinct. Had a nice chat with the officers who pulled you over the other night. They won’t be pursuing any charges for reckless driving, oranythingelse.”
“But—”
“And lastly.” He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a thick envelope. “This. Your pay for cleaning that bastard’s house, plus the two weeks’ severance he owes you for creating unsuitable working conditions that cost you an employment opportunity. And possibly a little something extra, as payment for me not putting my foot up his ass.” Luca’s grin has a dark edge, but his eyes are swimming with warmth. “Should be enough there to tide you over, for a while at least. Give you some time to figurethingsout.”
I stare at him, unblinking. Letting all he’s done crash into me like a wave. My hands curl into fists as I struggle to contain the tide of emotions welling up inside me. Try as I might to push them down, to force them back into the confines of my heart where they cannot escape, I can’t seem to contain them. It’stoomuch.
He’stoomuch.
“I…” I suck in a tremulous breath. “Luca, I…you… this…” I can’t form words. They’re sticking in my throat like glue, a tangle of fury and gratitude and utter disbelief blocking my airway and making articulationimpossible.
His brows go up inquestion.
“I cannot believe you!” I explode, finally finding my voice. “You are the most impossible, stubborn, pigheaded, overbearingcavemanI’ve ever had the misfortune of meeting! Making decisions without ever bothering to check what anyone elsemightwant!”
My eyes are stinging precariously and there’s an odd break in my voice I barely recognize. I try to focus on Luca, but it’s like he’s not even there anymore. Like I’m speaking to someone else entirely, someone who isn’t here to take the brunt of my frustration because he bailed on me.Again.
“This is really over the top, even for you! God, what were you thinking?Wereyou thinking? I mean, honestly, did you even consider the repercussions of your actions? The circumstance this would put me in?” I laugh, but it comes out sounding strangely like a sob. “No, of course not. You just show up here, barging in completely uninvited, may I add, and leave me to pick up all the pieces of the mess you made! And don’t even get me started on the freaking dog! I don’t even know what todowith a dog. I’ve never had a pet. The Sinclairs never wanted the commitment of an animal.Noooo, that would be terrible! You can’t take off on a spontaneous trip to Europe when you have a dog, now can you? Feel free to leave the kids behind though, they can feed and waterthemselves.”
“Delilah—”
“No! No. Don’tDelilahme in that soft voice that says everything is going to be all right. Don’t come in here and tell me that everything is fixable. It’snottrue!”
The sane part of me recognizes that this rant has nothing to do with Luca, that it’s entirely about my shithead big brother, that I’m lashing out at the wrong man for no sensible reason at all… but I can’t seem to stop. It’s as though I am a bystander in my own body, watching the chaos unfold but unable to do anythingaboutit.
“I mean, how is it all right he left me with a dog?! A freaking puppy. What do I feed it? How often does it have to pee? What do I do if it gets sick? How am I going to take care of it when I can’t even take care of my damn self? Do I have to get it tennis balls? Where do you evenbuytennis balls? And why is it alwayslooking at me with those damn puppy eyes!?” I glare at the dog in Luca’s arms. “Yes, boy, I’m talking to you! You are a boy, right? I don’t even know, not for sure. How would I? He justleft youhere. Leftmehere. No money, no options. We’re gonna be homeless, pup, sorry to inform you! Maybe we can share a cardboard box in the alley out back, what do you say to that?Huh,Fido?”
Something wet falls onto my bare foot. I flinch at the impact and glance down, surprised to see a tiny droplet of water on my skin. For a ludicrous moment, I consider the possibility that it’s actually started raining inside my apartment… before I realize I’mcrying.
Huge, ugly, unstoppable tears are rolling down mycheeks.