Page 57 of Prosecco with My Professor
Emma’s gaze darts to him and then back to me. “Professor Romano.” Then her eyes switch back to him, and she says his name again, surprised and actually seeing him this time. She clears her throat. “Professor Offredi. Are you okay?”
“He’ll be okay. We’re going to get him lying down,” Vincente assures her. “The doctor’s coming, but thanks for your concern.”
“Sure. Okay.” Emma steps back into her apartment, but the door doesn’t click shut until we’re almost to mine.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” Vincente hisses.
I wince even harder than I had before, which I didn’t think was possible. Vincente’s voice is angry and a bit hurt.
“Why didn’t you tell me she lives down the hall from you?”
“It’s not a big deal.” I fumble with the keys and open the door while Vincente seethes. He waits to unleash on me until I’m lying down on the couch.
“Tell me she just moved in.”
I sigh. “She moved in at the beginning of the program.”
Vincente paces. “Where are your painkillers?” He retrieves them, and I choke two down. “Here’s what I’m seeing. You took her home one night, ages ago. She moved in down the hall, which you never saw fit to mention to me. That’s awfully suspicious. Why wouldn’t you tell me?”
I close my eyes and put my arm over my face, waiting for the painkillers to kick in. “It didn’t seem like a big deal at the time.”
“Does it seem like onenow?”
“Based on the volume of your voice, yes. Yell a little louder, and don’t forget to enunciate so she can hear you.”
“She doesn’t speak Italian,” Vincente points out. “And I don’t want to know how you know what she can and cannot hear through the walls. She’s two doors down! How loud have you two been?” His voice changes. “Oh god, there’s an apartment between you. Eva. Does she know?”
“Stop,” I snap. “You are blowing things way out of proportion here.”
“Am I? I follow the rules, Santo, and even if it’s been years since I’ve had sex, I don’t act with my cock. Like father, like son.”
He could have punched me, and it wouldn’t have stunned me less. A chill washes over me. Vincente is the one person in my life who knows I have a half-sister.
“Fuck.” Vincente’s not looking at me but, instead, looks out the window. He’s always been faithful to his wife, but I didn’t know it had gotten so bad between them, and now I see our talks about the women I take home in a completely different light.
I close my eyes again. After a few minutes, I hear my friend move. The tap turns on in my kitchen, then off, and there’s a soft clink as he sets a glass on the table beside me. Then my phone, and the rattle of the bottle of pills.
“Should I look for Zola?” he asks quietly.
“No, she’s probably hiding up in her loft.”
“Do you need anything else?”
Because I’m going to leave before you disappoint me even more.
“No.”
A few moments later, the door clicks closed, and I’m alone.
28
Santo
I cometo consciousness with Zola on my chest, purring. That’s not what wakes me, though—my phone buzzing on the table does. It’s Chiara.
“Yes?”
“I’m downstairs. Can your friend let me in?”
