Page 63 of The Sting of Love
“Thank you. She… died many years ago,” he answers confirming my thoughts.
“I’m sorry for your loss.”
“Thank you. I appreciate that. My Evelyn was a firm believer doing whatever she could, no matter how small it may be to make life better. Even something as small as a cup of the best hot chocolate you will ever taste in your life.”
I smile at that. “This is definitely the best hot chocolate I’ll ever taste. Thank you for making it for me.”
He dips his head reverently. “How are you feeling?”
My hands tense and I set the cup back on the table. “Okay. I’m okay.”
“Cuts and bruises okay?”
“Yeah,” I answer. Those were hardly worth mentioning. My knees still hurt but I’ll be fine. I’m trusting that I need to be here, but my mind keeps going back to Lurlene. “I’m still worried about my aunt, Armand. She’s like a second mother to me. Actually, she’s more like my mom than my actual mother. That’s why I came to Italy.”
“She will be okay. I can assure you that Donny wouldn’t have left her with anyone who couldn’t take care of her if trouble came knocking on the door.”
“I just um… wish she was aware of what was going on. That’s all. You can be more careful when you know.”
“My dear girl, I completely understand, but if your aunt knew what was going on, or if you had told her what do you think would happen?” He raises a brow.
I would be very stupid if I didn’t factor in all that could happen. “She would have gone crazy with worry and sent the police to get me.” That’s exactly what Lurlene would have done.
He narrows his eyes slightly and I realize it’s because I mentioned the police. I’m sure it goes without saying that you never mention cops to people like Armand.
“I won’t tell anybody. I just meant I know she would.”
“I believe you,” he says. “But that is why we didn’t allow you to call her. I’m sure prior to today you would have told her exactly what was happening.”
He holds my gaze and I can’t lie. “Yes… I was… scared.”
“That is understandable.”
“The people after Donny… what’s happening? I just want to know.”
“It’s being dealt with as best as possible,” he answers but that doesn’t really tell me much.
“He said someone set him up.”
“He told you that?” He looks me over with curious eyes.
“Yeah.”
He releases a heavy sigh. “Sometimes things happen in our world we don’t have much control of. It means death if you make the wrong move by certain people’s opinions. One day things could be fine, the next you’d be lucky to see nightfall.”
“Your world sounds hard.” It feels like I’m talking to an alien. I guess though I’m not far off since their world is alien to me. “How do you do it?”
“We just do. But, mostly we don’t allow fear to stop us from living. At least we try not to.” He sits and temples his fingers, intensifying his stare on me. “The secret I suppose is allowing your heart to guide you.”
Something about the way he said that grips me and I think about how I feel about Donny. My heart refuses to let go of him. All this time it continues to hold on.
If I truly allowed my heart to guide me and pursued whatever I have with him, would my life be like this? With the worry of danger and death hanging over me every day?
“Drink up and get some rest,” he says with a nod. “It’s been a long day.”
“Yeah… it has.” I finish off the hot chocolate and Armand refills the jug of water, adding ice and a plate with slices of lemon.
We bid each other goodnight and I make my way back up to Donny’s room.
