Page 30 of Karma Kitty Christmas
“Nothing,” Roxy murmured. “In the end, nothing. That was five years ago. As you may guess, it’s getting worse again.” She grimaced. “Brian begged me to quit. I managed to leverage the moment into some extra paid maternity leave, which was good for both of us, but if I hadn’t done that, he might have won that argument.”
“What about Todd?” Luca asked.
Isaac looked away. “Todd actually wrote my letter of resignation. He picked me up from the hospital, and it was all written, on official stationery, and notarized. All I wanted was a fucking hug, and he put a pen in my hand.” Isaac snorted. “I almost stabbed him with it.” He paused and remembered what Luca had said about remembering the good things too, and suddenly, he saw Todd’s handsome, patrician-featured face, with the strain around overbright, red-rimmed eyes. “We didn’t talk for a week. It took me that long to recover from theconcussion, and by then I’d figured out that he’d been worried about me. Yeah, taking time to write the stupid letter while I was waiting in the ER was a douchebag move, but… you know. I think his heart was in the right place.”
“It’s a good thing you waited a week to tell me that,” Roxy muttered. “My blood was so hot by then, the only thing that kept me from coming over to stab Todd with a pen myself was that I was on bed rest.” She gave half a laugh. “I begged Brian to do it—I seem to recall referencingStrangers on a Train. Nobody would suspect him—it would be the perfect alibi. He went out and got us both cookies and ice cream instead.”
“Ben & Jerry’s,” Isaac remembered with a fond smile. “And E.L. Fudge. He put them in my lap himself when I was sitting on the couch, and then he went to fetch a spoon. Todd just stared at him, but Brian gave me a napkin and winked and told me to come visit you as soon as I felt better and then left.” He gave Roxy a grateful look. “It’s a good thing he’s a keeper, because otherwise, you need to tell him to stop getting you pregnant.”
Roxy cackled. “Nope. We want a basketball team with a bench player. It’s a goal.”
There was general laughter, but the story had brought the tone down a little, and it was getting late.
When they got out to their vehicles, Roxy drove away first, and Allegra got in the passenger’s side of Luca’s truck. Luca walked over to where Isaac was setting his leftovers on the console and waited for him to stand up to speak.
“What’s up?” Isaac asked. “We’re still on for tomorrow, right?”
“Oh yeah. Uhm, Allegra was wondering if we could bring Nonna and Pop Pop over too. That way I could show them how the house is going, and you and Nonna and Allegra could do the yarn thing, and they could get out of the old folks’ home for aday. I can cook, if you like. I’ve got a pesto dish that’s a pain in the ass, but if I’m cooking for five of us, it’ll be worth it.”
“Cook?” Isaac asked, suddenly absolutely pleased.
“Well,yeah. You cook for us all the time. My apartment’s tiny, but, you know—”
“That would be awesome,” Isaac said, staring up at him. The day had been warm, but a breeze had picked up, and it fluttered Luca’s toffee-brown hair, riffling it just a tad. His eyes—that dark, dark brown that could appear black in some light—hadn’t strayed from Isaac’s face, and Isaac was suddenly assailed by his warmth, pulled into the sphere of this nice man who was bringing laughter and family into his life, with barely a kiss on the cheek as encouragement.
God, he was beautiful.
And then he smiled, and his beauty grew exponentially. “I look forward to it,” he murmured, and then, without warning, he dipped his head and captured Isaac’s lips. Isaac gasped, leaning forward, and before he could have the predictable tiny war with himself, Luca pulled back.
“Isaac?”
“Yeah?”
“You said something nice about Todd tonight.”
Isaac shrugged. “He couldn’t have beenallbad.” But inside, he felt the enormity of that.
“You spent ten years with him. It’s okay if you talk about him. Remember that, okay?”
Isaac nodded, his lips tingling. “Okay,” he whispered.
Another kiss—lingering, aching, and sweet.
This time, when Luca pulled back, he said, “You and me, we can be a thing. An amazing thing. It can happen. Todd’s always going to be there, but, you know… in time he’ll be less important than he is now.”
Isaac gazed into his eyes. “He’s already faded,” Isaac murmured. “All I can see is you.”
One more kiss, longer, Luca’s tongue invading his mouth, Isaac clinging to his collared shirt, and then Luca pulled away. “So sweet,” he murmured, rubbing Isaac’s lower lip with his thumb. “See you tomorrow.”
Isaac watched him hop into his truck, and he saw Allegra’s joyful thumbs-up as they drove away.
He took an extra minute, though, staring at the pink sky of late spring, smelling cut grass and the river, which was close by.
It didn’t smellbrand-new, pinks and crocuses new, and the mustard flowers and almond blossoms had long since come and gone.
But it smelled ripe new. Summer hay new. Sleepy afternoons and dappled shadows new. Fall was a long way off, and winter but a fluttered harbinger of rain.
Isaac turned his face to that promise of summer and smiled.
