Page 9 of Beguiled and Broken

“Wow. That’s so crazy. I mean, good for her. She wanted something so she went after it. That’s admirable. School isn’t easy, especially at our age. So, when’s she leaving?”

“She said it could be a month or a year. I guess it just depends on how quickly she can find a job. It’s a little late in life I feel like to be a nanny. She’s what?…36…” I shook my head.

“Listen…you can do anything you want at any age. I’m convinced of that. There’s no rules, Vinny. People get to change their minds as many times as they want if it means finding happiness. I honestly think things’ll work in her favor because she’s experienced with life and she’s mature, being older and everything…” Bianca looked like she was thinking something.

“What are you thinking about?” I asked.

“Nothin’.” Just thinking about her being a nanny. Good for her.”

“Hmmm. Yeah, good for her. Let’s get some sleep, baby. Roll over and lemme spoon you.”

“Aren’t you so cute. You wanna spoooon?”

“Shut up and turn over, woman.” Bianca laughed and rolled over as I wrapped my arms around her. What can I say? She’s my woman. My one and only. Always.

Chapter 7

Vinny, 39 y.o. | Bianca, 37 y.o.

Vinny

I missed the days when Bianca and I got along all the time. Things were stressful right after Devina died and I was investing a lot of time at the pizzeria. Things got better after I started to balance my time between the pizzeria and home. That allowed us more time to heal from Devina’s death and gave me more time to be there for Hudson. Then, Bianca and I were doing great for a while. Recently though, all we did was fight over everything. She was stressed out from keeping up with the kids and trying to go through the process of opening her own boutique.

Bianca was tired. Tired of being at home and said she felt like she lost herself somewhere along the way while being a wife and a mother. I didn’t understand it because the restaurant was something she’d wanted too. Sure, it had been my idea, but she was excited about it as much as I was. Anyway, one day she came to me and told me she wanted more. She wanted herownstore. It made sense after I thought about it more. Bianca is fashionable and stunning in any light, but she loved getting her nails done, hair done, and dressing nice the most. I could see the appeal of wanting to help others with their fashion sense. Plus, she was great at it, but then, shereallyhit me with it and said, “Vinny, I want to hire a nanny.” I thought,What? She wanted to hire someone else to take care of our kids.

I didn’t even look up from my making my coffee. “Why Bianca? We don’t need someone else takin’ care of our kids. We take care of ourownkids.”

“You know, I’m trying to open my own boutique. It’s getting increasingly harder to manage everything. I just need a little help. You’re at the restaurant all the time. I’m here…” She paused like she wanted to say more.

“What is it? You’re thinkin’ something, so just come out with it.” I’d been annoyed with the conversation.

“Let’s hire Catarina. She’s still looking and that was a year ago that she mentioned she wanted to move on. She still hasn’t found any work yet, right? She’s still at the restaurant. Let’s hire her. She already knows the kids from them running around the restaurant. It’s perfect.” She was excited. I was not.

“Nah, that won’t work. She wants a live-in job.”

“So, she can have the guest room. I could use a lot of help. If you remember, starting a new business took up a lot of your time. I’m going to need help around the house. Will you just think about it? She’ll acclimate well to the kids’ schedule. I just know it. Don’t say no, Vinny. Just think about it. It’s like we’re helping each other. If anything, she’ll get a ton of experience from working with us before landing something more permanent.” She was biting her lower lip and looking at me with hopeful eyes.

“Don’t bite your lip. I’ll think about it. But right now, I gotta get to the restaurant.” I walked over to her, gave her a kiss on the cheek, and headed out for the day.

*

Bianca

A week later, I was guiding the kids around the grocery store and trying to keep them wrangled while I did our grocery shopping. It was usually pretty easy, but they had been on ten that day. “Angelo, hold your sister’s hand. Come on.”

My mind was consumed with how we were going to make it all work. I wanted Catarina’s help, and I wasn’t sure why Vinny seemed so opposed to it. Maybe it’s having someone live in our home or having just a little less privacy, but I felt like we could work it out so that we all got the privacy we needed.

I’d been staring at the same two boxes of cereal for five minutes when I realized my kids were too quiet. I pulled myself out of the trance I was in and looked down to see they were gone.

“Angelo! Gianna!” I frantically pushed the cart down the aisle looking for them. I told myself they must’ve gone another aisle over, just being curious. Then I turned the corner and scanned briefly before turning down another aisle. My heartrate picked up at that point and I could hear it thundering in my ears. I grabbed my purse, abandoned my cart, and walked faster down the aisle. “Angelo! Gianna!”

When I reached the end of aisle, I turned left and stopped in my tracks. There were my children, safe. They were laughing. They were ok. I felt a lump in my throat and tried to hold back the tears. I exhaled and walked up to them. “Catarina!”

“Hi Bianca. I was just talking with the kiddos, here.”

I kneeled down next to the kids, grabbing each of them by their arms gently, giving them a light squeeze, “I see that. My babies, you shouldn’t have left my side. I was worried when I couldn’t find you.” I looked into their little eyes, and they looked down to the ground. “Never do that again, ok? You scared your mama.” They leaned in, hugging me and then I stood up and turned my attention to Catarina.

“Catarina, thank you for keeping them busy. I’m glad they were with you and not in the hands of some stranger.”

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