Page 76 of Ruthless Secrets
Marco doesn’t come homefor hours.
I try to kid myself that I don’t care that much about where he went, but in reality, I sit in the middle of my bed, feeling sick to my stomach at the thought of him being gone for good. Even bathing and feeding Zoe did little to ease my anxiety, because it only made me think of Marco even more.
Eventually, I give in and go in search of a distraction.
Zoe is fast asleep, and the house feels oddly quiet as I head downstairs.
Thankfully, I find Lila in the kitchen, making what looks to be a batch of chocolate chip cookies.
Her dark hair is pulled back into a ponytail, the end of which looks to be covered in flour, which seems to match the rest of her attire, despite the fact she’s wearing a pink apron.
“Clara? Is everything okay?”
“Uh…I’m not sure.” I head over to where she’s rolling out the dough and take a seat at the island. “Marco got a work call, and he’s been gone for a while. He also left without saying goodbye.”
Lila pauses for a moment, her flour-covered hands bracedon the edge of the island, before she throws her head back and laughs.
I ignore the growing pit in my stomach. “It’s not funny! Something could have happened to him.”
“It’s a little bit funny.” Lila reaches into the bag of flour and sprinkles some more on the countertop. “You like him.”
“I have achildwith him, which automatically means I worry about him.”
“Marco is fine.” she tries to hold back her smile.
“How do you know? Is he with Andre?”
“No, Andre is staying in the city tonight.”
“And you haven’t heard from Marco either?”
Lila shakes her head as she coats her rolling pin in flour and starts rolling out the dough.
I help myself to a handful of chocolate chips from the pack and shove them into my mouth. I guess I’ll just have to stress-eat until he comes back.
“If it makes you feel any better, I might have been married to a De Luca for a while, but I still worry too.”
“How do you cope?”
Lila smiles. “I bake. It’s oddly soothing.”
“Mind if I join?”
Lila chuckles. “I don’t think anyone is going to object to an obscene amount of cookies. There’s another apron in the pantry.”
Lila’s right, bakingdoeshelp.
We distract ourselves by talking about our daughters while simultaneously eating raw cookie dough until we both feel sick. But I’d rather be sick from too much sugar than from worrying about Marco.
Lila puts the cookies in the oven. “It’s been so nice having you and Zoe here. Though I wish it was under different circumstances.”
I sigh. “Me too.”
“But at least now the girls will get to grow up together. That is, if Marco doesn’t piss you off too much.”
I can’t help but laugh.
“We’ll see…” I get to work wiping down the countertops. “But I agree. I love that Zoe will have someone close to her in age that she can rely on. It’s something I always longed for growing up.”
