Spring Kisses by Reina M. Williams

Author:Reina M. Williams
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Italian American families, San Francisco food friendship romance, brooding hero, classic movie fan heroine, holiday romance, weddings
Publisher: Rickrack Books
Published: 2021-03-26T16:00:00+00:00

THAT EVENING, ANNA placed the last dinner plate in the dishwasher. She dampened a cloth, sprayed the counter with cleaner, and scrubbed. Uncle Enzo and his older brother, Vittorio, known to most of the family as Grandpop, were in Uncle Enzo’s sitting room playing chess. Their voices sometimes drifted from under the door. Celeste and Gina had stayed home, for today. Celeste thought it would have more impact on Uncle Enzo if she waited until he’d at least begun to soften his attitude about Kostas before she came home. And she and Gina had planning to do, for Gina’s upcoming wedding.

Over dinner, Anna had tried to convince Uncle Enzo and Grandpop how wrong they were. But she’d only gotten their denials of her truth, and assurances that they knew Kostas better than she did. So she should trust them.

It was Kostas she trusted, and herself. She’d hoped to have heard from him by now. She checked her cell phone again. No calls, no texts. She scrubbed the counter over and over and over. The phone rang. She threw the cloth into the sink and answered without seeing who it was.

“Anna.” Kostas’s rich, deep voice embraced her.

She hurried out and into the living room, sliding the pocket doors closed as best she could with one hand. “I’m here. How are you?” She slid onto a cushy chair and curled up in it.

“I...I’ve been busy. You okay?”

“Yes. I baked with Gina and Celeste down at the bakery, and had dinner with Uncle Enzo and Grandpop.”

On Kostas’s end, there was a clink and a shuffle of papers. “Good. I met with my lawyer. She thinks we can make this work.”

“I don’t know what you mean.”

“Right.” He let out a heavy breath. “My father made certain provisions in his will making it hard for me to access my inheritance from my mom, or sell his businesses and house. But I need to be rid of it all.”

She smiled and sat up. He was changing, at least his outward circumstances. The child in her wanted to run to Uncle Enzo and Grandpop and tell them I told you so. Instead, she focused on Kostas, and what this might mean for him. “Then it’s good your lawyer sees a path forward. What do you want to do?” He and Lee used to talk about owning an architecture firm together. Lee was already beginning, but with Kostas’s cousin Janetta instead of Kostas.

“Be with you.”

She tingled down to her toes. But his tone implied more than she was ready for. “That’s not what I was asking.”

“I know. I talked to Janetta too. She’s going to speak to Lee about me coming in with them in their business.”

Anna sat taller. “That’s great.”

“Don’t get your hopes up.”

“My hope is always up.”

He emitted a short sound, almost a chuckle, but not quite. “I...like that about you.”

“Do you? I’d believed you thought it was annoying.”

“Maybe when you thought I was annoyed, I was just covering up my feelings.” She could picture him, leaning back, speaking in a low tone, as if he didn’t want to admit what he felt.

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