“Well, you are a great cook, quick to learn. Everyone saw how great you were with Leo, so you could work with kids…” Nico offers, and I nod quietly, my heart splintering at the thought of Little Leo, the precious boy who dug a place into my chest alongside his father.

I do love working with children, and it is something that I do have experience with. But with no education and no references, it will be hard to get started.

I walk to the fridge and grab the large bowl of tiramisu, then serve two heaps and walk them over to where Nico is sitting, plonking down beside him. He scoops up the dessert, and I hear his appreciation.

“MmmmMmmm! Damn, Annie, this is good. Maybe you could open an Italian dessert bar?” he says with a big grin.

I smile as I take a spoonful myself, the coffee hitting my taste buds and awakening my senses. A small flame builds inside of me. For the first time in a long time, I feel the excitement of possibility instead of the dread of a dead end. And while my mind is still firmly on Dante and Leo, and my chest hurts not from the injury, but from my broken heart at losing them both, I know that if this is all I get, if I never see either of them again, then they have given me more than I ever thought possible.

Because now I understand that the possibilities are, in fact, endless.

35

Dante

I watch her as her pink lips puff out with each exhale. They are soft, pouty, and one of my favorite things about her. I squeeze the back of my neck, the small wooden seat I am sitting on making my back ache, but I never leave.

Like a fucking fool, every fucking night, I come here and watch her sleep. During the dark hours of the morning, I sneak in with groceries, the ones I know she likes to cook with, and then I sneak out before she wakes.

She has Nico wrapped around her little finger. Every night when I come, I smell the amazing food she cooks for him, and my heart pounds in time with my stomach rumbles. My food doesn’t taste the same anymore, and I grit my teeth when the burn of my whiskey runs down my throat as I try to dull the ache I have in my chest. It has been there for weeks, and it is showing no signs of leaving.