Page 77 of And Everything In Between

A beat passed.

“She call you, or you volunteer?”

“She called. She didn’t want to, though.” Giovanni offered a small laugh. “But I’d have come either way.”

He didn’t say it out loud, but her hesitation stuck in his chest. Not because it hurt, but because he wanted her to know she could call him. That she should. He wasn’t trying to be just some soft place to land—he was trying to be herdamn foundation. And part of him worried she hadn’t figured that out yet.

Perry studied him now, longer this time. Paige didn’t need him testing or threatening anybody, she was grown. But he knew his absence had something to do with her hesitancy, and he needed Giovanni to be patient with her.

“She don’t ask for help often,” Perry said, voice a little softer. “So be patient with her.”

“I know that, too.”

More silence.

Perry nodded. “She’s had to carry more than most. For a long time. She won’t say it, but I know I’m part of that weight.”

“She’s not bitter about it,” Giovanni replied.

Another pause. Then Perry asked, “You love her?”

Giovanni didn’t flinch. Didn’t look away. “Yeah. I do.”

He reclined back then, hands folded over his stomach. “One day, I’m gonna ask her if I can do this for life.”

“You’d better, if you know what you’ve got.”

They didn’t say anything after that. They didn’t need to. They were two men with no time for posturing. Giovanni would be around, period. And Perry had just given him his blessing.

Perry dozed off shortly after, and Giovanni sat still, keeping watch. His thoughts never left Paige.

A couple hours later, once Perry had finished dialysis and gathered his strength, he made it clear—he wasn’t ready to be alone. Giovanni didn’t argue. He took him to get something to eat, then brought him by the shop for a change of scenery.

They’d been hanging out and talking shit until Paige pulled up. She stepped out, heart tugging at the scene. Her father hadn’t looked this relaxed in weeks.

“You good, Daddy?”

“I’m alright,” Perry said, with a genuine smile. “Wasn’t ready to go home just yet.”

“That’s fine,” she said, scanning him. “Y’all been out here all day?”

“We stopped for burgers after dialysis,” Giovanni said, coming over to her. “He said he didn’t feel like sittin’ in the house, so we pulled up here. I figured he could chill, talk cars and shit.”

Perry gave a soft grunt. “Boy knows his way around an engine, I’ll give him that. That’s rare. Doing something more with his hands than destruction.”

Paige looked between the two of them, “So y’all best friends now?”

“Basically,” they said in unison, causing her to laugh.

“You ready for me to take you home?”

“Yeah, I wanted a change of pace. I appreciate him for doing that.”

She nodded, touched her dad’s shoulder, then turned to Giovanni.

“Thank you,” she said low.

He placed a kiss on her hairline, voice low. “Say the word, and I’m there.”

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