“It feels good,” I said with a giggle.
“I wanted to call you with the news I had.”
“Oh? What’s going on?”
“The Italian police caught Gianni.”
“Oh my gosh, they did? Where was he?”
“In one of his Tuscan villas out where all of the vineyards are. It was under a previous wife’s name, but they found him and arrested him, and he’ll be locked away for a long time.”
“You have no idea how relieved I am to hear that.”
“Oh, I think maybe I do,” he said with a chuckle.
I felt a warmth spread through my chest as I relaxed back into my chair at my small desk.
“How have you been since we got back?” Kevin asked.
“It’s been a process. I’ve got a bit of work I’m pounding out, but nothing special.”
“How’s that book coming along?”
“It’s about seventy-five percent there,” I said.
“That’s good. That’s a good chunk.”
“Yep. Then there’s the editing and the re-editing and the never being fully satisfied with the outcome.”
“You’re a wonderful writer. I’m sure it’ll be great,” he said.
“Thanks.”
The silence was awkward, and I wasn’t sure if it was my place to ask. I had overheard the phone conversation on the plane he’d with the children’s mother. I wanted to ask him how things were going on that front; if they were patching things up and trying to be a family again.
But part of me didn’t want to know the answer.
“The kids miss you,” Kevin said.
“They do? Well, I miss them, too. Tell them for me, okay?”
; “I will. Or—”
“Or, what?” I asked.
“You could tell them yourself, if you wanted. Over dinner.”
“Dinner,” I repeated.
“Yeah. You know, that thing you eat while the sun goes down, like after your day is finished.”
“But my days never get fully finished,” I said with a grin.
“Then that thing you eat at two in the morning when you’ve been up working way too late and have neglected to nourish yourself.”
“Ah, that meal. Got it. I vaguely remember it.”