Luckily, slowly but surely, time had helped heal those wounds, had allowed us to come to terms with what had happened.
I got past it thanks to Massimo and his family. Nicky got past it thanks to his mission to help ensure that other kids like him never ended up in sticky situations in the first place.
So, yeah, there was no reason to keep drudging up the past. The future was too bright to go back there.
“Giulia is going to be upset if she learns you didn’t stay for dinner,” I told him.
“I’ll stay. I don’t have to be back until tomorrow. So I’m gonna hang here and see my nephew. And cheer you up.”
“I’m fine!” I insisted, a part of me a little disgusted with myself.
I mean, I’d spent four years pretty much alone in the world.
There was no reason to be so weird about spending a night or two without Massimo.
“It’s okay that you love him so much that you don’t want to be away from him,” Nicky said. “That’s actually kind of relationship goal shit.”
He had a point there.
I missed Massimo because we’d built something real out of something so crazy.
It was a testament to our happiness and love that even a short separation was agonizing.
I survived that first outing, though, thanks to our ever-expanding family.
Massimo - 8 years
I hated leaving.
I never thought I would say that.
Once upon a time, I loved traveling. I liked seeing new places, interacting with new people, trying out different restaurants.
Each time away always made me appreciate being home and seeing my family.
But if I thought it was hard to leave Cammie after she came to live with me, it was even worse when we started our family.
Now, anytime I had to head out of town, a part of me was worried I was going to miss some milestone or that there would be some event that I would have to miss, leaving my kid looking out at the crowd and seeing an empty chair beside their mother.
Except, of course, that the chair would never be empty. Someone would always show up. They would always know they were loved.
There was comfort in that.
But it never made leaving any easier.
I was looking forward to a day when I could hang back more, when one of the young bloods was skilled and dedicated enough to take over my position.
Then I could scale back, only pitch in when a job was big, spend most of my time at home with my family or at the winery.
“Thanks for picking me up,” I said as I climbed into the passenger seat of Nino’s car.
“Anytime. How’d was it?”
“Boring. And long. And irritating. But done.”
“Ready to be done,” Nino said, nodding. “Get that. Been checking in on Cammie and the kids,” he assured me.
He didn’t need to tell me that.