Page 65 of Delivery After Dark
“Did you ever get caught?”
“Not once. Ever.”
“Impressive. What’d you get up to on these jaunts?”
“This. That. The other thing.”
“In other words, anything and everything you could get away with.”
“That’s right.”
“Where’d you grow up?”
“Providence. My grandparents owned a restaurant on Federal Hill, the Italian neighborhood, and both my parents worked there, so they were gone a lot at night.”
“I know Federal Hill. That was my dad’s first stop any time we were on the mainland. He loved Mancini’s. Do you know that one?”
Sierra laughed. “You could say that. My dad now owns the restaurant his grandparents founded. It’s an institution on the Hill.”
“It sure is. Wow. I’m impressed. We all looked forward to eating there any chance we got.”
“I’m glad you enjoyed it. I miss it when I’m away for too long.”
“Do you get back often?”
“Every couple of months. Not enough for my dad, but he comes out to visit whenever he can get away for a day or two. We make do with FaceTime in between visits.”
“You’re close to him?”
“He’s my best friend in the whole world.”
“That’s so sweet. Do you have siblings?”
“Nope, just me. My mom died about ten years ago, so it’s just us two and a wild bunch of aunts, uncles and cousins who keep us from being alone. My cousins are the ones who taught me how to sneak out.”
“Another note to self.” He held up his pretend notebook again. “Keep kids away from cousins.”
Sierra laughed. “That’s a good rule. We had all the fun together, but we’re lucky we survived adolescence.”
“I, for one, am glad you survived. I would’ve hated to miss out on meeting you.”
She fanned her face. “You’re good at this.”
Again with the raised brows. “At what?”
“This.” She gestured between them. “Whatever it is we’re doing here.”
He reached for her hand and brought it to his lips in a gesture that nearly had her swooning, for crying out loud. Sierra Mancini did not swoon. Ever.
“Whatever this is, I’m enjoying the hell out of it.”
She cleared the emotion from her throat. “I am, too.”
Chapter 14
“I want to see baby Dylan,” Stephanie said to her husband, Grant, when he came in for dinner at the bar, as he did most nights when she was working at the restaurant. By this point in December, they were usually counting down to their great escape to Southern California for the winter. Normally, they left right after Christmas with their families. This year, they’d be staying home to wait for their baby boy to arrive in January. They hadn’t told anyone that he was a boy, nor had they disclosed the name they’d chosen for him: Oren Charles McCarthy.
Grace and Evan’s baby was due in February, and they didn’t want to miss that arrival either.
