She blinked at me a long moment before her stare turned cold and deadly. “No. I don’t think I will.” I followed my sister to the front door where I handed her back the coat I hadn’t relinquished. She looked at me then in a different way, as if noticing something she hadn’t seen before. The tension surrounding us built to force that threatened to crush me, and just before she left, her entire demeanor changed. My brow furrowed at how easily she transformed. Her easy smile came closer and then she was kissing my cheek. She then placed something in my hand and curled my fingers around it. “Look over these, will you?” As she walked out, she called back, “Oh, and I need it by morning.”

She got into her car and drove away with a pleasant wave, and I peered down at what she slid into my hand.

The USB carried an impossible weight and my shoulders drooped. She was so good at getting her way that she made it look like an artform. With a sighed, “Godammit,” I shut the door and got started on dinner knowing I wouldn’t be getting a wink of sleep tonight.

* * *

Ettore

Things didn’t always go to plan and sometimes, an hour of work turned into five hours, three lengthy phone calls and enough paperwork to flatten a fucking field.

Looking at what I had in front of me, I suppose I had neglected more than I originally thought.

When Vittoria knocked on my office door hours ago, I responded with a curt, “What?” but was immediately put in my place when she pushed open the door, standing by it with a small smile, as my two terrors ran in, already bathed and dressed in their pajamas, ready for bed.

I took a moment, hugging and kissing them both, making sure to give them enough of me that they never felt like a burden. And when I stood to walk them to bed, my heart both warmed and cooled at the sight of Vittoria moving forward and the boys taking her hands without hesitancy. “It’s okay. I’ll take them.”

“You don’t even know where their room is.”

Why was I fighting this? It was a good thing, wasn’t it?

Her easy, “They’ll show me,” had my lips thinning. And then it hit me why I was feeling so sore.

After their mom died, I took on the role of both mother and father. I fed them. I did the bathing. I dressed them and put them to bed. And now, I watched my boys hold the hand of a veritable stranger so comfortably. It was as if I wasn’t required anymore. Like I was utterly expendable.

Talk about a solid kick to the nuts.