The Woman from the Past (Grassi Framily)

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Cammie

I honestly didn’t know if I was supposed to be obsessing as much about the Massimo situation as I was.

It had been so long since I’d been with someone, and longer still since I’d been with someone I wasn’t already in a relationship with, that I felt really uncertain and out of my depths.

I mean, for all I knew, it was a one-time thing, and all my obsessing was a complete and utter waste of time.

At least it was time well wasted, though. It kept me distracted from the sad reality of my life.

A life that, if all went according to plan, was going to change drastically in a short amount of time.

It was killing me, not being able to tell Nicky and Lucas about how close we were to having whatever we wanted. But not telling them put them at less risk. Which was the most important part. I was willing to take all the risks on myself, but I wasn’t going to do that to them.

I was anxious about the, you know,eventitself. But my whole part in it was relatively easy.

Lock the doors.

Hide in the bathtub.

Even if something went sideways, there was no way for Colin to know it was me who brought assassins into his home, so it would make sense if I heard gunshots and went to hide in the bathtub.

I mean, I couldn’t even let myself think about it going wrong. Because if it went wrong, that meant something could happen to Massimo. Or his brothers.

And I couldn’t entertain a possibility of that.

It simply had to go right.

Case closed.

I was going to choose to focus on positivity. And not why there was a strange pit in my stomach that seemed to get larger and larger with each passing hour.

It was probably as silly as knowing Massimo was out of town for a few hours. It was absurd, of course. I’d been alone in this life of mine for much longer than I’d had Massimo in it. But I couldn’t seem to help feeling weird about it.

Maybe it was just the disruption in my schedule.

Saturday was supposed to be a long, boring day at home alone in my apartment. But that had gotten interrupted early in the morning by a knock at my door and Lucas telling me that Rizzo wanted me at the deli, that Carmine wasn’t feeling well, and she needed help with the afternoon rush.

I should have been happy about it, glad for the distraction, but that pit in my stomach just kept getting bigger and bigger as I got myself ready and followed my brother out to the car.

“Does Colin know?” I asked.

“Where do you think the order came from?” Lucas asked, giving me a strange look.

“Right,” I said, shaking my head. “Sorry. I’m feeling a little off today,” I admitted. “I didn’t sleep well last night.”

“It sounds like it will be a short shift. They close by five on Saturdays.”

That was true.

It would go fast if we were busy, too. Then I would get home, have dinner, and finally get to hear from Massimo again, which would reassure me that everything was going to be alright.

From there, I just had to get through Sunday.

Then it would all be over.

Life could start again.