Page 17 of Whatever You Need

“She never appreciated you for who you were. I never should have allowed you to date her. She always rubbed me the wrong way. She always seemed so fast and promiscuous. Now your cousin is the stupid one who gets to deal with her.”

A laugh tumbled out of me. “I love you, Mamma.” I pushed my soup bowl to the middle of the table, so I could grab her hand. “I’m worried about you. You look so tired.”

She looked at the linoleum floor before looking back up at me. “The holidays are tough for me. I miss your papa.”

“I know you do. That’s why I think spending Christmas with your sister will help.”

Her lips thinned. “Do you think you’ll find love again? You are so handsome and have so much love to give. You have such a big heart, Marco. You need to share it with somebody.”

“I’m not sure about that. I know I’m not looking for anyone right now.”

She looked disappointed. I didn’t have the heart to tell her that I didn’t want to put myself in a situation where I would develop feelings for someone. Physical feelings were all I was interested in. Relationships were complicated and most of them didn’t last, so why even bother? Why risk going through all the bullshit and risk getting hurt again? Why hand my heart over to someone when it will only get broken in the end? Been there, done that.

Rising to my feet, I pulled her out of her chair. She opened her arms and I fell into them. Her eyes watered over. “Thank you for doing this, Marco. Thank you for being so selfless. Your papa would be so proud.”

I wish more than anything I could bring my father back to her. Very few people have what my parents had. Their love for each other is a tough act to follow.

The moment was interrupted when the kitchen door slammed shut behind Matteo. He shook the cold from his shoulders and stomped the snow from his boots. “Sorry to barge in and break-up your little happy moment.” He smiled, but it fell when he saw our mother wipe her eyes. “Everything okay?”

My mother pushed herself away from me and embraced Matteo, kissing both of his cheeks. “Everything is perfect. It’s good to see you.” She glanced over her shoulder. “Where are Nadine and the kids?”

“They’re home watching movies. I wanted to come check on you and see if you needed anything. I was going to shovel the driveway, but I see the good son already took care of that.”

“Yeah, right.” I rolled my eyes. Like he would lift a goddamn finger. “Let’s pretend that you didn’t time this perfectly.”

“Oh, please. You’re looking a little weak there, little brother. I figured you could use the exercise.”

“How did your driveway get cleared this morning?” I cupped my ear and leaned forward. I was being a wiseass, but I wouldn’t be a good little brother if I didn’t give him shit. “That’s right, you pay your eighty-year-old neighbor down the street to plow yours.”

He grunted. “I’m helping Earl out. Do you know how hard it is to live off of social security?”

“Yeah, you’re really helping the old man out,” I teased. Earl Hennington lived next store in an in-law apartment on his son’s property. Truth was, the old man couldn’t sit still. And the arrangement worked to their mutual benefit.

“Shit, I forgot.” He smirked. “You don’t need to worry about saving for retirement. You have a nice state-paid pension waiting for you in about ten years. Must be nice to be able to retire when you’re forty.”

“Yeah, if I haven’t been killed by then.”

He rolled his eyes in mock amusement. “Dramatic much.”

My mother slapped him in the chest. “Don’t you two even think about fighting.” She walked over to the stove and pointed to the kitchen table. “Sit down while I fix you a bowl of soup.”

“Yes, ma’am.” He complied, taking his coat off and pulling out the chair next to mine. “I see you got home okay last night. It took me almost an hour just to get off the highway. Traffic was backed up all around the city.”

“I actually booked a room at the hotel.” A smile tugged at my lips at the memory.

“That was probably smart. Although those rooms aren’t cheap. I’m sure you weren’t expecting to fork over almost three hundred dollars for a place to lay your head.”

Last night took a completely unexpected turn and I have no complaints on where I ended up. Even if Amelia didn’t credit me back for the room, it still would have been worth every penny.

“It wasn’t bad. Work has been out of control, so it was nice to unwind and take the edge off last night.”

If this were any other woman, I would be filling my brother in on all the gory details from last night. For some reason, which I couldn’t explain, I didn’t want to share the details this time.

“Are you guys any closer to getting that bastard that left those four dead bodies in the warehouse last week?”

I ran my hand through my hair in frustration. “My undercover guy is starting to get a little jumpy. He’s been more paranoid than usual lately, but unfortunately, he’s the only guy we have on the inside at the moment.”

While I wanted to hammer him for answers, I knew I had to be patient. Most of the time I loved my job, but sometimes there was so much red tape in getting things done that it created more problems than it solved.

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