Total pages in book: 59
Estimated words: 55263 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 276(@200wpm)___ 221(@250wpm)___ 184(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 55263 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 276(@200wpm)___ 221(@250wpm)___ 184(@300wpm)
“I like Ren,” he said with a wide grin. “You can call me Mattie. Everybody but Papa does.”
She took his hand and shook it. “It is very nice to officially meet you, Mattie.”
“You too, Ren.”
Her jaw clenched, but her smile stayed fixed in place. “All right, let’s get this show on the road.”
Matteo frowned. “What show?”
She laughed again and slid into the passenger seat. “It’s a saying that’s from way back in the 1900s—traveling circuses used it to indicate the season was officially starting.”
“Cool,” he said after a beat. “Let’s get this show on the road, Papa.”
I laughed, closing Ren’s door and then Matteo’s before I slid behind the steering wheel. The drive to Lucky would take close to an hour, so I settled in for what I expected to be a quiet drive.
My son had other plans. “What’s your favorite color, Ren?”
“It’s red,” she answered with a smile. “What’s yours?”
“Green!” He shouted the answer so loud it echoed inside the vehicle. “How about food?”
She turned with a grin. “Lasagna. I could eat it every single day.”
Matteo groaned. “I love lasagna, but I could eat burgers every day. With lots of ketchup and mustard.”
“Pickles?”
“No way!” He shook his head dramatically. “Pickles are gross.”
“Even though they’re green?” she asked, biting back a smile.
That gave Matteo pause. “I like the color but not the taste.”
She shrugged but still offered a kind smile. “That means extra pickles for me.”
He fell silent for a few minutes before he picked up his interrogation. “Ren?”
“Yes, Mattie?”
“Do you have a favorite animal?”
She gave the question careful consideration before she answered. “I do. I love pigs. They’re so cute and they’re really smart.”
“They are?” he asked, incredulous.
“Yep. Super smart. What’s yours?”
“I love dinosaurs,” he answered in a sing-song voice.
“Dinosaurs are amazing. Can you imagine anything that big?” She sighed heavily and shook her head. “T. rex?”
“Nope, velociraptor.”
“Oh,” she laughed. “That’s a good one. They were also incredibly smart.”
The drive continued in this comfortable rhythm of Matteo asking questions and Serenity happily answering them before volleying them back to him. Bridges were being built with simple facts. My son was being a child, completely ignorant of the looming danger.
“Ren,” he said again, a question in his tone.
“Yeah, Mattie?” She turned around to give him her full attention.
“My mom is dead,” he sighed heavily. “That’s why she’s not here and why I need you.”
For her part, Ren nodded, a sad expression darkening her beautiful features. “I heard, and I am so very sorry for your loss, Mattie. I lost my mom about ten years ago, and it still hurts. Sometimes when I’m having a really good or really bad day, I want to call her, and then I remember…”
“And then what?” Matteo asked, leaning forward to avoid missing a word.
“And then I get sad all over again. Sometimes I cry, but mostly I just tell her anyway. It makes me feel closer to her.”
“You talk to her?” he asked. “How?”
She smiled. “I just… talk. Sometimes I look at her picture and talk to her, other times I just talk like this, out loud, and it helps. You should try it.”
“I’ll feel silly,” he giggled.
“Matteo,” I admonished.
Ren’s hand shot out and rested on my forearm before she realized what she was doing and yanked it back. “It’s okay to feel silly because you won’t feel that way forever. After a few minutes, you’ll forget to feel silly; you’ll just be happy to share your life with her.”
I memorized every word as the miles drifted by. Open roads turned into farmland, and then open fields before a forest appeared. Above us, a wide-open blue sky was dotted with white, puffy clouds. Ren stared out the window, her posture rigid and her hands folded in her lap. Matteo eventually fell asleep with Leo tucked under his chin, leaving a thick silence between us.
She didn’t ask me any questions, though I was sure she had to have at least a few. She remained silent, and so did I, at least until the long, winding road ended just as thick trees appeared on either side of a dirt road. Trees were on all sides, quiet and secluded. Protected on all sides. Luca had thought of everything.
The mansion, disguised as a ranch house, came into view—Italian architecture blended with oversized Texas sprawl. It was big enough for security to move unseen, if necessary, and private enough that no one could get close without alarms going off.
Ren’s quiet gasp hit like a punch. “It’s beautiful,” she whispered.
Matteo stirred awake as I parked. “Are we here?”
“We’re here, buddy.”
He scrambled out and took Serenity’s hand without asking. She didn’t miss a beat, wrapping her hand around his and following him to the door.
Inside, we stepped into a sweeping foyer with wide oak floors, vaulted ceilings, and soft lighting. Ren took it all in with that same quiet awe. Each time, the awe iced over, probably when she remembered where she was. And why.