Page 16 of Summer on Sunshine Bay

“Lila and her friend. The one we met in London,” her sister said when Eva looked at her blankly. “David. I saw him on the patio, standing next to Lila.”

Eva hadn’t noticed him. She’d had eyes only for her daughter and James. Then again, Lila’s friend hadn’t made much of an impression on her when she’d met him.

Gia glanced from Eva to their mother. “You two seem unnaturally calm about it.”

Carmen shrugged as the three of them walked hand in hand out of the surf and onto the sand just up from La Dolce Vita. Unlike Windemere, their restaurant was built far enough from the shore to escape the rising tide. The only time the water reached the restaurant’s deck was in a storm.

Gia jiggled Eva’s hand, nodding at their mother with a look on her face that reflected the fear that had gripped Eva’s heart fifteen minutes before. Was that how long it had been? It felt like a lifetime.

At the resigned expression that now came over their mother’s face, Eva’s temper broke through the shock that had blanketed her emotions. “So what, Ma? We’re just supposed to give up now?”

“Our customers have abandoned us. Even my best friend and my granddaughter. People are like rats; they know when a ship is sinking. Maybe it’s time we face reality. We can’t compete with Windemere.”

“We can, and we will,” Eva said, furious at Ruth and Lila. Their defection had wounded Carmen deeply, especially Lila’s. Her daughter’s betrayal was the straw that had broken Carmen’s fighting spirit. Family stuck together through thick and thin. It didn’t matter that James was Lila’s family too. Eva expected better of her daughter, better of James.

“Eva’s right, Ma. We’re not giving up. We’ll figure this out. We’re the Rosettis. We’re unstoppable.”

Their mother let go of their hands as they reached La Dolce Vita’s gray, weathered deck, looking to where a couple sat at one of the tables, a candle flickering between them.

Carmen patted Gia’s cheek and then Eva’s. “I miei curio, my hearts. I love you,” she said, and then she trudged up the stairs, offering the couple a faint smile and a “Buon appetito” as she walked by.

“Oh, Eva, what are we going to do?” her sister asked, her voice thick with emotion.

Eva watched as their mother walked to the far end of the deck and took the set of stairs to her apartment. Eva’s and Gia’s apartments were on either side of hers. They’d raised their daughters here, sharing meals at a table in the corner of the restaurant’s dining room, where later they’d take turns watching through the window as the girls built castles in the sand.

La Dolce Vita was their home, their life, it was who they were. It had been there for them in the good times and the bad times, and Eva would fight for it until her last breath.

“We’ll update the menu, match our hours to Windemere, reward our loyal customers, and hold special events.” Eva listed the ideas by rote. She’d shared them with her mother when they’d first learned about Windemere, but Carmen had refused to change a single thing. They had no choice now. She hoped her mother understood that.

“I was going to say Ma won’t agree to implement any of your ideas—which are excellent, by the way—but she…” Gia swiped a finger under her eye. “I’m worried, Eva. I’ve never seen her like this.”

“She’ll be okay, G. She had a shock, too many for one day. She’ll be herself in the morning.”

Gia bumped her shoulder against Eva’s as they walked up the stairs to the deck. “What about you? You’ve had a shock too.”

Eva nodded, forcing a smile as they walked past the couple eating the day’s special. She’d normally stop and ask if they were enjoying their meal, but her emotions were too close to the surface. Her mother wasn’t the only one hurt by Lila’s betrayal.

Bruno stepped onto the deck. He took one look at them and opened his arms. Gia stepped into them readily, but Eva held back, afraid she’d break down in his warm, sympathetic embrace.

She cleared her throat. “Who told you?”

“Ruth called. She was beside herself.” He held Eva’s gaze. “She mentioned that Lila and James were there.” He kissed Gia on the top of her wet head and then came to Eva. Taking her face between his big hands, he pressed his forehead to hers. “There must be an explanation,cara. Our Lila loves you and La Dolce Vita. Nothing means more to her than her family.”

“James does.”

“He’s her family too. But he’s a good man.” He straightened and chucked her under the chin, no doubt in response to the face she was making. Bruno had always liked James. “He wouldn’t do anything to jeopardize Lila’s relationship with her family or your business.”

“He stole her away from us.”

Bruno sighed. “No, he gave her an opportunity that she couldn’t get here. She’s found a career that she loves. She’s become the woman you wanted her to be—strong and self-reliant. You let her fly, and now she’s come back to you.”

“To put us out of business,” she muttered, even though what Bruno said held a ring of truth. And maybe that was why it hurt so much to think that her daughter would betray them.

Bruno shook his head with a smile. “You’re stubborn like your mother.”

“We’re worried about her, Bruno,” Gia said. “She’s not acting like herself. She’s gone to her apartment.”

His smile faded, and his gaze went to the white-capped waves rolling onto the shore. “She was lucky you two were there. I don’t like to think…” He shook his head as if clearing the image from his mind. Despite Carmen’s having rejected his marriage proposal years before, Bruno still loved her. Eva believed that their mother loved him too in her own way. “I’ll go to her after you both get changed.”

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