Jared never made me feel a fraction of what Milo does just by smiling at me.

  That thought fills me with a certain amount of despair at realizing I could’ve married him without knowing something so much better was possible.

  “What can I get you to drink, honey?” Elena asks, rousing me out of my thoughts.

  “Is white wine an option?”

  “Sure is. I’ve got Chardonnay, Pinot Grigio and Sauvignon Blanc.”

  “I’ll do the Chardonnay, please.”

  “Coming right up.” She pats me on the arm. “Go say hi to Milo. He was so happy to hear you were coming.”

  “I will. Thanks.”

  The Giordinos are always so nice and welcoming toward me. I’ve spent so much time in their presence at the hospital that it was no big deal to come to Milo’s house to see him, knowing the whole family would be there to welcome him home.

  “Hey, Gianna,” Maria says from her post on the sofa. She has her feet up on an ottoman and her hand on her expanding abdomen.

  “How’re you feeling?” I ask her.

  “Fat and uncomfortable. My ankles swelled up today at work—and yes, they tested my blood pressure before I left. All good.”

  “That’s a relief.”

  “I know.”

  “Quit hogging her, Maria,” Milo says. “She came to see me.”

  “My baby brother is getting impatient to see you,” Maria says, rolling her eyes. “Don’t let me keep you.”

  I love this family and the way they spar with affection. In my family, the sparring is rarely affectionate. I hope we’ll get there as my brothers get older and stop resenting me for being the legal adult who kept them out of foster care after our parents died. And yes, I’ve reminded them of that. They were unmoved.

  Milo extends a hand to me. “There you are.”

  I take hold of his hand as if that’s the most natural thing in the world, as if I’ve been holding hands with him for years rather than occasionally over the last few weeks.

  “Is she your girlfriend, Funcle Milo?” Everly asks in a singsong voice.

  “I’d really like her to be.”

  “She’s pretty.”

  “Isn’t she?”

  “I can hear you guys talking about me,” I tell them, smiling.

  Everly giggles.

  Nico appears with a chair for me that he places next to the chaise where Milo is holding court.

  “Thank you.”

  “Welcome.”

  He’s gone as quickly as he appeared.

  “Don’t mind him,” Milo says as I take a seat. “He’s still a mess.”

  “I like your house.”

  “It’s his house. I’m just the tenant.”

  Sofia comes over with a plate of appetizers, cheese and crackers for us. “You’re much more than a tenant to him—and me.”

  “Thanks,” he says, smiling at her. “You can quit looking so traumatized. I’m home, and everything is fine.”

  “Keep telling me, okay?” she asks in accented English.

  “As often as you need to hear it.”

  “Thank you for not dying. It would’ve ruined your brother’s life—and mine.”

  “I’m glad to still be here for many reasons, but mostly because I want you two to be happy together. Don’t worry about me. I’m fine.”

  She leans in to kiss his cheek. “I’m so glad,” she says tearfully as she leaves to tend to other guests.

  Mateo comes to fetch his pal Everly.

  “See you later, Funcle Milo,” she calls over her shoulder as she takes off with Mateo.

  “Story of my life,” he says to me. “All the pretty girls leave me for other guys.”

  “They do? Are they crazy?”

  “Most of the time, they do. They want someone who’s going to treat them shitty, and that’s never going to be me.”

  “I know girls like that. I went to high school with them. I never understood that mindset.”

  “I never have either, but it’s been an issue for me. Nice guys finish last, or so they say.”

  When he hands me the plate, I realize I’m still holding his hand and release it to take the plate from him. I’m trying to process what he said about being a nice guy and finishing last. How is that possible? He’s all the things anyone could want in a man.

  Or I should say all the things I want in a man.

  “Do you think less of me after hearing that?”

  “Of course I don’t. I just can’t believe you don’t have a line of women out the door who want to nurse you back to health.”

  “There’s only one woman I want to nurse me back to health.”

  He’s so cute and sincere that I wish we were alone. If we were, I might lean over to kiss him. But since I can’t do that, I just smile at him. “Since you’re my favorite patient ever, I’d be glad to nurse you back to health.”

  “I may have a lot of needs.”

  “Like what?” I ask, playing along.

  “I miss the sponge baths.”

  I sputter with laughter. “Those are over, mister.”

  “Aw, come on. You got me addicted, and then you took them away from me.”

  “Because you’re perfectly able to shower on your own again.”

  “What fun is that?”

  I roll my eyes at him. “I can see you’re going to milk this nursing thing for all it’s worth.”

  “Duh.” He pops a cheese and cracker into his mouth and chases it with a swig from his Marlins glass. “What’s the plan for this trip you’re taking me on?”

  “I have to deliver food to the hospital at nine a.m. on Sunday, and then I can pick you up, if that works for you.”

  “It does. What’s with the food for the hospital?”

  “The nurses cook for the PICU families, and this is my week.”

  “What does PICU stand for?”

  “Pediatric ICU.”

  “Ah, I see. It’s nice that you cook for them.”

  “The nurses at Miami-Dade have been doing it for years. There’re so many of us that we only do it once or twice a year. My date just happened to fall this week, and since the ship doesn’t leave Fort Lauderdale until three, I didn’t bother to switch with someone.”

  “What time do you want me to be ready?”

  “Is ten okay?”

  “Sure. And what’s the dress code?”

  “The dinners are dressy, but everything else is casual.”

  “Got it.”

  “I, um, there’s one other thing…”

  “What’s that?”

  I look around to make sure no one will overhear us. “It’s just that we’ll have to share a bed, and I’m not sure if you’ll mind…”

  His gaze collides with mine, and I feel my face heat from a rush of emotions. “I don’t mind.”

  “This is the craziest thing I’ve ever done, in case you were wondering.”

  “What is? Taking an ex-patient on your honeymoon when we haven’t even been on a date yet?”

  “Yeah. That.”

  He reaches for my hand again and kisses the back of it. “I can’t wait to go with you on your honeymoon. It’ll be the best first date in history.”

  * * *

  ELENA

  I keep half an eye on Milo and Gianna as I prepare dinner for the family in Nico’s kitchen. If I’d gotten my way, I’d be making this meal at my house, but the boys insisted on Milo coming home to Nico’s, so here I am trying to figure out where I went wrong with my eldest son. How can he have only a plastic colander?

  “I know I bought you a stainless steel one when you moved into your first apartment in college.”

  “I think it got crushed when one of my roommates sat on it,” Nico says.

  “Who sits on a colander?”

  Nico gives me the look that’s made women fall at his feet since he was twelve. “Do you honestly want the answer to that question?”

  “No, I don’t. Give me the plastic one if that’s my only option.”

  “I’m sorry you have to work under these conditions.”

  “I’ll cope somehow.” I glance at Milo and see him kiss the back of Gianna’s hand. “Your brother is smitten.”

  “I see that.”

  “Did he tell you about the cruise?”

  “He did.”

  “I don’t like him being out to sea while he’s still recovering.”

  “Jason signed off on it.”

  “Still…”

  “Let him go, Ma. He’s crazy about her, and he deserves to get away from it all after what he’s been through.”

  “What if something happens when he’s far away from medical care?”

  “They have medical facilities on the ship, and he’s going with a nurse. She’ll know what to do if anything comes up.”

  “It makes me anxious to think of him so far from us when he’s still so fragile.”

  “He’s not fragile. He’s fine.”

  “What are we talking about?” Dee asks when she joins us.

  “Gianna invited Milo to go on a cruise with her next week,” Nico says, “and he’s going. Mom thinks it’s too soon for him to travel.”

  “Hmm,” Dee replies. “What did Jason say?”

  “That it’s fine as long as he takes it easy,” Nico says. “Not to mention, he’s going with a nurse.”

  “She can’t help him if he has an emergency in the middle of the ocean,” I remind them.

  “If he was going to have an emergency, wouldn’t he have had it by now?” Dee asks.

  “I suppose. It’s just…”

  “Mom, he’s fine,” Nico says. “And he’s crazy about Gianna. Let him go have a great time. Does anyone deserve that more than he does?”

  Someday they’ll understand, when their injured child wants to do something slightly crazy before they probably should. I hope they’ll look back at this moment and understand how I felt. Until you’re a parent yourself, you can’t possibly understand the many ways a parent worries.

  Dee hugs me. “He’s in good hands with Gianna, Mommy.”

  “I know.”

  “And I’ve never seen him look at anyone the way he looks at her,” Dee adds.

  “I know that, too.” I can’t deny the unmistakable spark between the two of them, and I’d love to see Milo happily settled with a lovely woman like Gianna.

  “It’ll be okay,” my younger daughter assures me. “I promise.”

  I watch as Nico cozies up to Sofia and Dee rejoins Wyatt, who puts an arm around her as he smiles warmly at her. Austin is tending to Maria on the sofa while Everly says something that makes them both laugh.

  And Milo… He’s clearly enchanted by Gianna, which makes my mama heart happy for them.

  My kids grew up way too fast. I feel like I blinked, and they were all adults, running their own lives and falling in love. The shooting was a stark reminder of how quickly everything can change. I suppose it’s going to take some time before I can stand down from the heightened state of alert I’ve been in since that traumatic night.

  Lorenzo comes over to check in with me. “What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing.”

  “Don’t lie to your husband.”

  “Just worrying about Milo going on the cruise.”

  “You won’t be able to talk him out of it no matter what you say, so you might as well let that one go.”

  I sigh as I lean into him, knowing he’s right as usual. “I miss when they had to do what I told them to.”

  Lo laughs. “Right? Those were the days.”

  “Indeed they were, even if they drove us crazy then.”

  “Did they ever. Remember when we threatened to move out if they didn’t clean up their crap?”

  “I remember so many things, mostly the chaos and the joyful noise of having them all at home.”

  “The good news is, we still see them almost every day, but we don’t have to put up with the chaos. How lucky are we? Four great kids, two new grandchildren thanks to Everly and Mateo, two amazing sons-in-law, soon to be a lovely new daughter-in-law and now maybe another wonderful daughter-in-law coming along to love.”

  “We’re very lucky, indeed.”

  “It’s all gonna be fine,” Lorenzo assures me.

  Since he’s usually right, I decide to try to relax about the cruise and wish my sweet Milo bon voyage.

  Chapter 12

  MILO

  Saturday night, Nico gets my suitcase out of the attic and insists on handling most of the packing for me. I hope that by the time I get home from the cruise, he will have chilled the eff out, and things can get back to normal around here. Since that’s not going to happen today, I direct him to my dresser and closet for the clothes I need for the trip while I sit on my bed, propped up by a pile of pillows.

  He’s hardly let me do a thing for myself since I got home last night.

  “Don’t you have to work tonight?” I ask him.

  “Not until later.”

  Sofia is working at the restaurant, and Mateo is having a sleepover with his paternal grandmother—you know, the mother of the man who tried to kill me. Nico isn’t one bit happy about that.

  “Why do you look like you’re going to kill someone?”

  He stops what he’s doing and turns to me. “Do I?”

  “Yeah, you’re super spun up.”

  “I don’t like that Mateo is with Joaquín’s mother. What if one of his criminal friends tries to take off with him or something?”

  “I can’t believe Sofia would let him go there if that was remotely possible.”

  “She says he’s perfectly safe there, but I’m on edge.”

  “Which is understandable in light of all that’s happened.”

  “Yeah. Which bathing suit do you want?”

  “I guess I’ll take them all.”

  He folds everything and places each item into the suitcase until we’re both satisfied I have everything I need. My navy blue sport jacket goes on top, folded neatly in half.

  “Thanks for the help.”

  “No problem. Do you need condoms?”

  “Uh, wouldn’t it be presumptuous to bring them?”

  “Wouldn’t it be worse to need them and not have them?”

  “I guess so.”

  He goes to his room and comes back with an unopened box of the kind we both like. He’s the one who bought me my first box. “I don’t need these anymore. They’re all yours.”

  “Thanks.”

  “You’re welcome.” He checks his watch. “I’d better get going.”

  “Before you do, come here.” I point to the edge of the bed. “Sit.”

  When he’s seated, he gives me a strange look. “What’s up?”

  “I want you to do something for me while I’m gone.”

  “Sure. Anything you need.”

  “I want you to chill the fuck out before you have a stroke or something equally unpleasant.”

  “I’m fine. I’m not—”

  “Nico. Shut up and listen to me. Ever since this happened,” I say, gesturing toward my neck, “you’ve been wound tighter than a drum. And I get why. Of course I do. But you have to find a way to move past this and get back to normal.”

  He stares at the floor.

  “I know this has been rough on you.”

  When he looks up at me, I’m shocked to see tears in his eyes again when I hardly ever saw that before the shooting. “Do you? Do you have any idea what this has been like for me?”

  “I can only imagine how awful it’s been.”

  He shakes his head. “You have no clue what you mean to me, probably because I never thought it was necessary to say the words.”

  “I do know, Nico. How could I not know when you’ve been right there for me my whole life? You don’t have to say the words. Neither of us does. You and me… It just is. You’re my best friend in the whole world, and I’m yours, and that’s just how it’s always gonna be. No matter what.”

  “I have nightmares about it,” he says softly. “About you getting shot and dying and me being left to go on without you, knowing it was my fault you got shot in the first place. All I can think about is how I spent more time busting your balls than I did being nice to you before this happened, and if you’d died, you might not have known…” His voice breaks on that last word.

  “It wasn’t your fault, and I’ve always known. Always, Nico. Just like you can’t bear that I got shot, I can’t bear to see you like this. I’m really worried about you, and I’m not just saying that. We’re all worried.”

  “I’m trying to get past it. I swear I am.”

  “This week, I want you to take some time to decompress and try to relax before you do something stupid like drop dead. Where would that leave me? Unprotected in this terrible world without my big brother to look out for me.”

  “I hate that I wasn’t there when it mattered most.”

  “Nico… Please, you’ve got to stop this. It’s not healthy to put yourself through this any longer.”

  “I know,” he says with a deep sigh. “Sofia says the same thing.”

  “She’s right, and so am I. The people you love the most are all safe. Joaquín and his cousin are in jail, probably for decades. You can let down your guard now.”

  “I’m working on that.”

  “When I get home, it’s back to normal. Ball busting, insults and no more waiting on me like I’m feeble. You got me?”

  He offers a small smile. “Yeah, I got you.”

  “Thank you for taking such good care of me since this happened.”

  “Least I could do.”

  “But we’re done with all that now.”

  “After I carry your suitcase downstairs, you mean.”

  “Yeah, after that.”

  We share a laugh, and for the first time since disaster struck, I feel like we’re on our way back to normal. At least I hope so. “Go to work and leave me alone.”