Page 169 of Ruin Me Gently

I love you, Lassi.

I swallowed hard, glancing at her. Her eyes were closed, head resting on her folded arms.

“Ti voglio bene, Mamma.”

“That must have been hard.”

“It was what it was.” I shrugged. “She’s great though. She did everything she could for us. She never stopped trying, never gave up, even when things were rough.”

She didn’t say anything right away. Just watched me, like she was picking apart what I wasn’t saying. But instead of pushing, she tilted her head. “You have two sisters?”

I nodded. “Vittoria’s the middle one, she’s a teacher. Married. Has a son, Nico. Quiet but so damn smart. Politest kid I’ve ever met. Probably the only nine-year-old I’ve met who thanks the waiter at a restaurant without being prompted.”

A soft smile pulled at her mouth. “And your other sister?”

I huffed out a laugh. “Giulietta’s the youngest. She’s married too, has five kids, and somehow more energy than anyone else I know. Her whole family is a cat-five hurricane, but they keep things… interesting.”

The last time I’d seen them, I’d barely made it through the door before I was under siege. One set of twins had wrapped themselves around my legs, and the other set were shoving LEGO spaceships in my face. Gigi had appeared in the chaos and thrown a crying toddler into my arms like he was a misplaced handbag.

“So you have a boatload of nieces and nephews?”

“Yeah. They’re a handful, but they’re great kids. I don’t get to see them as much as I’d like. They live back home. But I show up when I can.”

I left it at that. Didn’t tell her that every time I left, I swore I’d go back sooner. That I had no reasonnotto visit more. We were all just so busy now we were older.

The kids were growing up fast too, and I was missing it.

Maybe I should take Lilith with me next time I visit.

I knew they’d love her.

Mamma would fuss over her like crazy—pull her into a hug before she even got her coat off, start trying to feed her within the first five minutes.

And the kids would swarm her. No doubt about it.

And my sisters… they’d be obsessed.

“So you’re not from Seattle then?” Lilith asked, pulling me from my thoughts.

I took a sip of coffee. “Nope.”

“Whereareyou from?”

“Originally?” I leaned back in my chair. “Colorado. Born and raised.”

I let the flicker of confusion hang on her face for a second, then smirked. “That was a lie.”

She huffed out a laugh. “Yeah, no shit.”

“I’m from Bolognina, in Northern Italy.”

“But you moved here?”

“Yeah. When I was eight. Mamma wanted a better life for us. She was already working herself into the ground, and she figured if she was going to be exhausted all the time, it might as well be in a country where we had more opportunities. So we landed in Colorado.”

Not exactly the kind of big, amazing American life people imagined when they left Italy. Too open. Too quiet. No street vendors, no motorbikes weaving through traffic. Just empty roads and a sky too big for a kid used to crowded alleyways.

And no Nonna and Nonno.

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