Steve cut a piece of veal. “Evelyn’s working at a salon not far from here,” he said, “and I worked back in Colorado after I was released, but it will be a while before I’m able to work here.”

  “We’re trying to get him Italian citizenship through our marriage,” Evelyn explained, her voice tired. “It’s complicated for him to be able to work here, but we’ll figure it out.”

  “That’s good,” Naomi said, looking back and forth between Evelyn and Steve. It was then that she realized why Evelyn seemed stronger. It was her relationship with Steve. When Naomi had lived with them all those years ago, Evelyn had been the weak one, the dependent one. Now she was the strong one. Steve didn’t overshadow her in any way whatsoever. She was making the money. She was the reason he could live in Italy. Even the way Steve kept looking at her, as if to gain approval—it made Naomi happy to see Evelyn standing so firmly on her own two feet.

  Taking a large gulp of her wine to prepare herself for her next question, Naomi looked Evelyn in the eyes. “Do you ever talk to Eric?” she blurted. “Has he changed at all?”

  Evelyn pursed her lips and set down her fork. “We communicate mostly through letters,” she said with a slight shrug, “but he seemed all right the last time I saw him.”

  “Prison hasn’t been easy on him,” Steve mumbled as he speared a green bean with his fork. “I don’t think he’s ‘all right’ at all.”

  Evelyn wiped her mouth with her napkin and gave Steve a sharp look. “Well, since we’re being honest,” she sighed, and turned back to Naomi. “Yes, he’s having a difficult time. His prison term is a lot longer than ours was, and he hasn’t won any of his appeals for a shorter sentence. He might, eventually, if he keeps trying and doesn’t do anything stupid.”

  Naomi looked down at her food and shifted in her seat. She wasn’t sure if she should feel relieved or guilty. She really had to kick her guilt to the curb, she decided. Especially when it came to Eric. He was the one who had damaged her the most during her kidnapping. But she had held on to her guilt for so long she wasn’t sure it was possible to simply kick it away, even if she managed to get closure with Steve and Evelyn tonight.

  She took a sip of her wine and looked up at the soft yellow lights above. Complete closure meant she would have to face two more people she literally couldn’t get to. She had no idea how to go about visiting Eric in prison, and as for Jesse …

  Where was he now? The last time she had seen him was eleven years ago when he had left her at the airport in Rome. Her heart ached at the memory—at everything she had realized that day. Nobody was what you wanted them to be. You had to accept them as they were. Or not accept them. And that day, she couldn’t accept Jesse as he was. But had he changed since then? Did it matter?

  “Naomi?” Evelyn asked, breaking Naomi out of her thoughts. “Are you all right?”

  Naomi realized she still had her wine glass in her hand and it was now empty. “Oh,” she whispered, and set the glass down. “I’m fine. I was thinking about the last time I saw Jesse, that’s all. I guess nobody can answer my questions about him, though.” A nervous laugh left her throat, and she picked up her fork in an attempt to get some food into her system before the wine went to her head.

  “Why would that be?” Steve asked as he polished off the last of his veal saltimbocca. Naomi had suggested the dish, and was glad to see him enjoying it just as she said he would. “We thought for sure that would be the first thing you’d ask about.”

  Naomi lowered her fork. “What do you mean? Nobody knows where Jesse is. He broke his parole. He ran.”

  Evelyn’s eyes widened. “You mean you don’t know?”

  Naomi’s breath stopped in her throat. “Know what?”

  Evelyn sat back in her chair and gave Steve an incredulous look. He set his napkin over his plate. “Jesse turned himself in a year after he broke parole,” he said.

  Naomi’s hands went cold. “He turned himself in? How did I not know that? My mother …” She looked at Evelyn, her heart pounding. Her mother, who kept on top of everything, should have known about this. And she should have told Naomi about it. But of course she wouldn’t. She hated Jesse and everything he had done to Naomi.

  “Is he still in prison?” Naomi asked, feeling like a stone sinking to the bottom of a river. It was a dreadful feeling knowing her mother had kept such vital information from her. Or maybe, hopefully, her mother simply hadn’t known about it. They had all tried to move on from the past.

  It wasn’t that Naomi wanted to see Jesse again. In her mind he had become someone bad … someone who had chosen lies and crime and deception over her. But he had turned himself in? Again? She had been so busy trying to get over him and forget him those first few years that she had actively tried not to find out anything about him. Anything she might find couldn’t possibly be good. But this …

  Evelyn’s expression grew guarded, as if she expected Naomi to fall apart any second. “He served five years after he turned himself in,” she explained.

  Naomi’s eyes widened.

  “Before you ask,” Steve said over the rim of his wine glass, “he’s in Germany now, working for some US government agency. He wouldn’t tell us any more than that.”

  “What?” Naomi was so confused she felt like the world was tipping upside down. She gripped the edge of the table. “I don’t understand.”

  “He contacted us,” Evelyn explained gently, as if her soft, soothing tone would help make sense of the crazy information she was imparting. “When we moved here he called from Berlin to say hello and ask how we were doing. I thought it was fishy at first, but he didn’t seem to have any hidden agenda. He wanted to make sure there were no hard feelings after everything that had happened—since he was the one who turned us in.”

  “And?” Naomi prompted, flabbergasted at how random everything seemed now. “Do you have hard feelings toward him? Or me, for that matter?”

  Steve shook his head. “That’s why we’ve tried so hard to meet with you. So you understand that we’re not upset and we only wish the best for you. We don’t blame you, and we don’t blame Jesse. We’re all responsible for our own actions. Blaming someone else doesn’t solve anything.”

  Naomi looked at him in surprise, finally realizing for the first time it was possible he and Evelyn truly had changed. “How did he know you were here?” she asked. “How did he contact you?”

  Evelyn smiled and looked down at her plate. “You know Jesse,” she laughed. “He can find anyone. He’s probably working for the FBI or CIA. Wouldn’t take long to find us with those connections, don’t you think?”

  Naomi’s hands slipped from the edge of the table. If Jesse had been able to find Steve and Evelyn so easily, he must know where she was too. The question was did he care?

  Did she?

  VII

  December

  All Naomi could think about was increasing Bella Fonte’s numbers by another fifteen percent. Fifteen percent more traffic. Fifteen percent more profit. Fifteen percent more customer satisfaction. If she kept her focus on the restaurant, then her constant thoughts of Jesse would disappear.

  Or that was the plan, anyway.

  She worked herself from early morning to late evening every day. Most nights she fell into bed so exhausted that she was asleep the second her head hit the pillow. It had to be that way or she would drive herself mad.

  In the few snippets of time she allowed herself to think about something other than the restaurant, her thoughts immediately turned to Jesse. She wondered if he had told Evelyn where she was so Evelyn could find her and tell her about him. Then again, Evelyn had honestly seemed shocked to see her in the market. If he wanted Naomi to know where he was¸ why not contact her himself? The maddening thing was that Jesse had been an enigma since the first second she’d ever met him—the kidnapper who read poetry. She had never truly understood his intentions about anything. Knowing he had turned himself in again after she had broken it off with him didn’t make anything any clearer.

  But why did she care?

  She was over him. She had been for years now.

  So why did she keep thinking about him?

  That was the question she kept asking herself as she worked so hard on the restaurant that she could hardly keep her eyes open during the day. She was in the middle of discussing a future remodel of the dining room with Gianni when her phone rang. It was her mother.

  “Excuse me,” she said to Gianni as he looked up from the ancient blueprints spread across the desk between them. “I have to take this.” He nodded and she stepped into the hallway, closing the door behind her. She put the phone to her ear. “Hi, Mom.”

  “Oh, you answered!” her mother said, her voice upbeat. “I expected to leave a message, but this works. How are you?”

  “Super busy,” Naomi sighed. “I’m assuming you’re in the same boat.”

  Her mother was always busy. She had been born busy.

  “Actually,” her mother drawled as the sound of a pen tapping the edge of a desk came through the line, “I’m in your father’s office in Berlin and I’m bored out of my mind. We planned a few days to ourselves, but he had some issues come up and now our plans are shot. I was wondering if you’d mind me taking an early flight down to you? I’ll stay out of your hair while you’re working, but then maybe we can do a few things?”

  Naomi leaned against the wall, her shoulders slumping. “Oh,” she said as she envisioned her mother in Berlin … Berlin … Berlin … Jesse …

  Jesse had called Evelyn from Berlin. Did that mean he lived there?

  No. No.

  She had to get him out of her mind!

  Banging her head lightly against the wall, she told herself she was crazy for even wanting to try to find Jesse. Was it simple curiosity? Or did she actually want to see him again?

  She didn’t know.

  “So,” her mother kept going, “what do you think? Should I book a hotel? What’s the best place close to your restaurant?”

  “There’s a nice hotel a block from here,” Naomi said quickly, pushing away her sudden urge to go to Berlin. She had too much work to do, and trying to find Jesse would be impossible, anyway. The whole idea was ludicrous. “Hold on, I’ll get you the number.” She lowered the phone from her ear and did a quick search then sent her mother the information. “Okay,” she said, “I’ve texted it to you. When do you think you’ll be here?”

  There was a pause and then the sound of typing. “I just found a last-minute flight leaving here in a few hours. If I can catch it, I’ll be landing at eight o’clock tonight.”

  “A taxi will take about half an hour to get you here from the airport,” Naomi said. “I’ll book one for you.”

  “Thanks, Naomi.” There was a long pause filled with anticipation. “I can’t wait to see you, sweetheart. It’s been too long.”

  Naomi laughed. “It’s only been three months, Mom.”

  “Well, I used to see you almost every day!”

  “I know, I know. I’ll have dinner ready for you when you get here, so don’t eat the airplane food.”

  “Sounds lovely. See you later. I’ll text you my airline information for the taxi.”

  “Okay, bye.”

  *

  “Your father will be so proud!” Naomi’s mother said while pouring more wine into her glass. “A twenty-five percent increase across the board in three months? That’s incredible business management, Naomi. Incredible.” She lowered the wine bottle and tilted her head as she looked at Naomi across the table. “Where did you learn to do that?”

  Naomi smiled as she swallowed a mouthful of pasta and looked around the nearly empty dining room. It was closing time, and the last customers were slowly filtering out.

  “I went to school for business,” Naomi answered, raising an eyebrow. “Remember?”

  Her mother nodded. “I know, I know, but I thought your heart was set on cooking. You went to school for that too. You had it all at La Preferita. You owned that kitchen.”

  “We had this discussion before I left,” Naomi sighed as she twirled spaghetti onto her fork. “I got the chef thing out of my system and realized I love managing even more. I’m so much like Dad it’s ridiculous.”

  Her mother got a faraway look in her eyes. “Yes, you are, but I hope you don’t drive yourself into the ground the way he’s doing right now. Sometimes I wonder if he’ll ever want to retire.”

  Naomi lowered her fork. “What’s going on?” she asked, bemused. “Since when do either of you want to retire? Work is your life. Dad loves the company more than anything. Wasn’t he talking about opening a division in Japan in the next two years? He can’t retire when everything’s going so well. He’s not even sixty yet.”

  “Your father is sixty-two,” her mother chuckled. “Don’t you remember the sixtieth birthday party we threw a couple of years ago? The black balloons? All the teasing?”

  Naomi blinked. “Oh, yeah … I forgot. He doesn’t seem that old.” She reached for her wine glass and then stopped. “Wait, that means you’re going to be sixty next year.”

  “Unfortunately, yes,” her mother laughed, and took another gulp of wine. “But I hope you don’t think of me as old.” She looked down at herself, squinting with disgust. “Do I look that horrible?”

  Naomi rolled her eyes. Her mother was gorgeous. Her face had hardly changed in the past ten years, still smooth with only a few deepening wrinkles. Her shiny blond hair held no hint of gray whatsoever, and she was still as thin as a model. “Let’s just say I hope I look as good as you do when I’m sixty,” she said, meeting her mom’s eyes dead-on. “Seriously.”

  Her mother’s eyes twinkled as she raised her forkful of chicken in a mock toast. “Well, thank you.”

  “Anytime.”

  And that was when Naomi realized she felt a lot closer to her mother now than she ever had—probably because she was finally looking at her as a person and not simply as her controlling, overbearing mother. Maybe it was the wine. Or maybe it was because her mother was looking at her differently as well. Naomi was certainly in her element at Bella Fonte. She felt more comfortable here than she had felt anywhere in her entire life. She belonged here … and the craziest part was that it had all happened because of horrible things.

  “There’s something I need to ask you,” Naomi said, nervous to ruin a perfectly good moment between her and her mother. They happened so rarely.

  Her mother took the last bite of her chicken and looked up from her plate. “Yes?”

  Naomi fidgeted with the napkin on her lap. “I ran into Evelyn here a few weeks ago.”

  The clatter of her mother’s fork against her plate was almost deafening in the otherwise silent dining room. She swallowed and blinked, and then swallowed again. “Evelyn Thompson? That Evelyn?”

  Naomi nodded. “She and Steve live a few miles from here. They had no idea I was here too. It’s a crazy coincidence. Well, maybe not that crazy. Evelyn always planned to move back here eventually.”

  “Have you talked to them?” her mother asked, suddenly not interested in her wine glass anymore. She leaned back in her chair and kept her eyes glued to Naomi.

  “I’ve met with both of them, yes. We ate dinner together, and they told me something … upsetting.”

  Naomi watched her mother carefully. The last thing she wanted was to find out she’d been keeping information about Jesse from her all these years. But she had to know.

  Her mother sniffed and pushed a few strands of hair from her face. “I’m sure speaking with either of those two would bring up a lot of upsetting things,” she sighed. “Please tell me you haven’t agreed to meet them alone or anything. I wouldn’t trust them, even after all this time. They’re probably holding on to some heavy grudges.”

  “I’ve been careful,” Naomi said. “Don’t worry.” She grabbed her wine to take a long, deep swallow before continuing. “When we talked, they told me something about Jesse.” She eyed her mother, searching for any sign that she knew what was coming, but she seemed completely ignorant. Her eyes widened, expectant.

  “What about him?” she asked. “Was he ever caught? I have to admit I was paranoid for almost a year after that whole Italy incident, but when nothing happened and you kept insisting it was over, I stopped looking for information about him. It was horrible what he did to you. We could have lost you forever.”

  Naomi let out a small sigh of relief. So her mother really didn’t know about Jesse. It was true she was a smooth talker in the courtroom, but Naomi doubted she would ever lie to her face about something like this.

  “He turned himself in, Mom,” Naomi explained. “He served a five-year sentence and then he started working for the government or something, I’m not sure. I don’t know if it was a plea deal or an exchange or what. Steve and Evelyn didn’t have much information. They’ve only spoken to him once. They said he called them from Berlin.”

  Her mother’s face paled. “Berlin? How could that possibly—”

  “I know, right?” Naomi leaned forward, her heart pounding in her throat. For the first time in her life, she wanted to tell her mother everything she was feeling—the fear, the confusion, the burning need to find out what had happened to the man she had once loved so desperately.

  Maybe it was because her mother was the only person in front of her to talk to, or maybe it went a lot deeper than that.

  Taking a long breath, she opened her mouth and let her feelings spill out in a few rambling sentences. “I want to see him, Mom. I want to know if he ever met anyone else, if he’s happy, if he’s changed. Steve and Evelyn have changed, even if you don’t want to believe it. And I don’t care if anything I’m feeling is wrong or perverse or twisted, and I don’t care if you judge me for it, but I have to tell you this. I have to tell you how I’m feeling because it’s not going to go away. I had closure with Steve and Evelyn, and now I feel like I need it with Jesse. I need to see him again. I don’t know what it means, but I need to or I’m going to drive myself crazy.”

 

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