Vito’s lips twitch and I can tell he’s holding back a smile. His eyes move over the little containers of powder that have been labeled with flavors. “Strawberry for me,” he says before his gaze flickers over to me.
“Green apple,” I tell her after I inspect the flavors.
It doesn’t take her long to whip up both of them and the second she’s passed them over, Vito ushers me away from the stand. I follow him and the chaos of the party starts to fade as we get further away.
The ground is a little steeper here, moving up into an incline, and I can hear the soft thrum of running water. When we make it to the top of the incline, I spot a large pier sitting over what looks to be a river. There’s a couple of boats anchored to the pier, but it’s empty.
Vito sits down on the wooden deck and I sit next to him. I’ve been nibbling at my cotton candy on the way up, but now I take a bigger bite, letting out a soft moan at the explosion of flavor.
My cheeks warm when I look up and find Vito watching me closely, his pupils dilated. “Good?” he asks.
I nod before panicking and thrusting my cotton candy out towards him.
What the fuck am I doing?
My heart thunders in my chest as he leans forward wrapping his lips around the soft candy. He licks his lips to catch a loose piece and I think my heart is going to fall right out.
Shit.
I look away from him, watching the water. Something in the air feels weird, yet serene.
“Are you enjoying yourself?” Vito asks.
We haven’t been here long, but I nod. “Yeah, I think I like cotton candy the most,” I mutter. “I always wanted to go to the fair or carnival as a kid just for the cotton candy, but my parents…” My heart aches as my mother’s face appears in my head. “It wasn’t in the budget.”
“You never went to the fair?” he asks in shock.
“Richard snuck me in once, but we were only in there for about five minutes before we got caught.” Another person I can’t think of without my heart breaking.
What is my brother doing now that I’m here?
Probably back on drugs.
Maybe dead.
I try to muster more hope that this whole thing wasn’t done in vain, but I know better. And from what I now know, I would have ended up here one way or another.
Giovanni would have made sure of it.
My blood runs cold but I try not to let it show, instead focusing on the here and now. There’s a lot that I need to think about, figure out, but I can’t do it with Vito right here.
“We used to go to the fair every year, Maximo, Gio, and I,” he says and when I look at him, he’s the one gazing out at the water this time. His features are smooth and soft.
“I was there for the food, Maximo got a high from the rides.”
“And Giovanni?”
He chuckles, the noise like music. “I don’t actually know why the fuck Gio went every year, he was miserable the entire time and he typically tried to make everyone else miserable as well. He said the food was bland and that the rides sucked, but anytime he was given the option to stay home, he came anyway.”
Interesting.
I don’t find any of this surprising. Misery seems to be Giovanni’s favorite friend. I can imagine him younger, those same hard eyes and deep frown.
“What’s your favorite childhood memory then?” he asks, turning to look at me this time, his eyes searching my face.
I rub my jaw as I consider it. “I think it has to be when Richard took me to the bookstore for my birthday after I turned fourteen.”
He raises a brow. “You’re not going to elaborate?” he asks.