Page 37 of Stolen Kisses
I thought it was cool and definitely had that clublike feel.
The idea to turn the place into a club on a Friday night was definitely a Dante thing to do. He loved his music and looking around now I could see this whole set up was a hundred percent him.
I’d decided to bite the bullet and ask for the job. Swallow my pride and just do it.
Slowly, but surely it felt like the past was catching up with me.
Like everything was coming in full circle and hitting me full on.
Yesterday it just all got to me and not for the first time I was reminded that the one friend I’d ever had in this world was Christina. That was what sent me to her graveside. I had to see her. Never thought I’d see Dante too and hearing him tell me he didn’t blame me released that burden of guilt that weighed down on me.
It set a part of me free.
He gave me hope and I couldn’t leave him.
The good feelings however dissipated into the air the minute I got back to Vira’s and she blasted me for coming back late.
Sophia had to go to work so Vira ended up watching Flynn for probably half an hour. The woman cursed me and the anger spilled over into today. I just managed to save Flynn from her heavy hands, because he took one of her breadsticks. She was going to hit him.
Flynn was with Sophia now. I knew I wouldn’t be long, because it was practically a done deal I should have taken days ago. Dante would have given me the job if he knew I needed it.
So here I was again, looking for the owner. Looking for him. It wasn’t that late. Just a little after seven so I thought the place wasn’t going to be busy.
I was completely wrong. It was heaving with people. Downstairs was the restaurant area and upstairs on the second level there was a bar and dance floor. The tables, chairs and pool tables had been moved to open up the floor and this looked like the crowd for the night.
I stood by one of the pillars and looked around. A little smiled tugged at the corners of my lips. Dante really had done extremely well for himself. I was proud of him.
It really was like Vegas.
Franco took me there just before we got married. I’d told him I’d never been and the very next day he whisked me away. We spent four days there. It was there that he first won my heart.
That was only after two months of seeing each other. We met in the restaurant I was working as a waitress. He knew the owner and after a several attempts to get me to go out with him I finally agreed.
He was the first guy I decided I’d take it slowly with. I knew he was rich and powerful in his circles and I knew he had influence. It was the way people behaved around him. After all when you’d lived in Chicago all your life and spent a chunk of your life around mafia guys you got used to certain mannerisms. You could pick up straight away when certain people were considered important.
That was him and it was the first sign that I needed to be careful. I’d never lacked for attention. Never worried about how I looked, because there was always some guy after me. Some guy wanting to claim me. I’d loved it, but after Luc I gained wisdom.
I saw that really wasn’t how things should be.
Christina had been right in her dream of what she wanted—chemistry, attraction, and that feeling of getting lost in each other.
When I met Franco, I tried to feel that. I did feel some of it and I’d thought it was enough.
He took care of me and I fell for him. I figured that if I could do that part then the rest would come. Everything else would have come naturally. It felt like it did at one point. There was the day when we found out I was pregnant with Flynn and Franco was so happy he cried.
I didn’t know what changed, but it felt like he just became a different person overnight, or what it could have been was the fact that I didn’t want to see who he really was. Not until it was too late.
I spotted Gio and Alex coming from the corner beside the bar, it looked like that might have been a storage area, because they both carried crates of drinks.
Knowing they would get me access to Dante I made my way over.
Gio saw me first and smiled.
“Maria, long time.” He beamed giving me a hug.
Alex gave me a hug too. “Here to dance?” he joked.
“I wish,” I replied.
