Page 42 of The Deadly Candies

“You should go,” she started to leave the booth.

“I was a stupid kid. Jealous of this bakery and how much my father loved coming here. It made my mother cry—a lot. I didn’t understand what was going on between my father and your mother. I thought… I thought if I caused trouble or made you get hurt, it would change things, and he would focus on my mom. But it didn’t. It just made everything worse. He hates me, hates the family, hates all of us, and he’s dead or deadish, or just the fucking bastard he has always been.”

Sandra pulled her arm back as if his words had physically stung her. “You’re saying you caused some accident that I never had.”

“Not on purpose,” he said quickly, though he knew it didn’t make much difference. “I was just a kid. We were eleven, and I’ve carried the guilt ever since. Your mother—Aunt Kathy—she forgave me. She understood. But my father… he never looked at me the same after that day.”

Sandra sat back; her arms crossed over her chest as if to shield herself from his words. “Are you saying my mother had an affair with your father?”

Nicolas lowered his gaze. “I would never say that about Aunt Kathy. Your mother was a very sweet person. She did her best to save this bakery, and her and my Mom were friends in the end. My father. He was… not sweet; he was the man everyone was afraid of, except Aunt Kathy. He was obsessed with her. If it weren’t for Aunt Kathy, I don’t know how I would have made it through some tough times.”

He looked up at her and gave a sad smile. “I wouldn’t disrespect Aunt Kathy to say they had an affair. My father moved out of our home the moment your mother and you came to town, and I was too young to know why. We saw him less and less. Each time my mother would bring him back to our home, we saw how much he didn’t want to be with us. He did try at first, after the accident with you, but he never really put that level of effort into being a good father to us again. Ma would plead with him to be a family. That went on for years. But—he just wouldn’t come back. I don’t know what happened, but I do know my father… wasn’t a father to me. After the accident, the church gave my father the divorce he demanded. And then I don’t know what happened between your mother and him. Not really. Because I stopped seeing him.”

“Why are you telling me this now? Why is everybody so interested in my memory?” Sandra asked.

Nicolas ran a hand through his hair. “Because you have something my father was trying to find. I heard him and Matteo when my uncle got out of prison. They said you had to remember. This was before he died. There is something my uncle Matteo wants, and I need you to tell me what it is. You can’t trust anyone. My father trusted no one, and I understand why.”

“And I’m supposed to trust you?” She studied him for a long moment, her expression unreadable. Then she stood. “We’re done now. I need time to process… all of this.”

Nicolas nodded, eased out of the booth. “I understand. But if you want to talk, if you want to know more… I have access to my father’s house and his things. Some things I want to show you.” He scribbled his number on a napkin and handed it to her. “Call me. I love my dad. There are reasons heisthe way heis. Reasons I’m guessing you might know better than me. I want to know what happened to my father, and what uncle Matteo is up to.”

“Is?”

Nicolas frowned.

“You saidisinstead ofwas. As if he’s alive?” she asked.

“Like I said, call me,” he replied and eased out of the booth.

She took the napkin, her fingers brushing against his for the briefest moment. “I’ll think about it,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper.

As he walked out of the bakery, Nicolas couldn’t shake the feeling that he’d opened a door neither of them was ready to walk through. But it was too late to turn back now. The past had a way of catching up to you, no matter how fast you ran. Someone should have told his father that before he decided to burn the Ricci empire to the ground.

* * *

“Goodbye, Sandra,”said Lily and Sam, the last of her staff to leave the bakery. She looked up from the register and smiled, having agreed to close out the system and lock up the safe. As they stepped out, her cousin Daphne returned. Sandra greeted her with another smile, and Daphne exchanged a few words with Sam and Lily before locking the door behind them.

“You ready, cuz?” Daphne asked.

“Yeah. What do you want to eat for dinner? We can stop by Ms. Bee’s and grab a plate, then head home to watchBaby I’m Back. It comes on tonight.”

“I love that show,” Daphne said, pouting playfully.

Sandra headed to the safe in the back of the bakery, Daphne trailing behind. “Can’t, though. Ma called Ms. Gladys’s house. She’s calling a family meeting. After I drop you off, I’ve got to hit the streets and find Junior. She wants us all at the house in an hour.”

“Really? What’s wrong now?” Sandra asked.

Daphne shrugged. “My guess? It’s something Junior’s done.”

Sandra began shutting off the lights. She went to the safe, the one she’d seen her mother lock and unlock for years. She took her time and put up the cash and receipts for her Uncle Brother to come and collect when he did his bank rounds.

“How was your day? I mean, the lawyer, then working the bakery without Auntie here?” Daphne asked. “I just feel sad every time I walk inside here.”

“Me too,” Sandra said. “But today kept me from crying or reading diaries. It made me feel like maybe there’s hope.”

“Hope, yeah, we need that now,” Daphne mumbled.

“Oh, and I had a visitor,” Sandra chirped.

---