“The man might have killed you—you, Adrian, and Mimi.”

“I know, Dad, believe me. I was there. She’ll be happy here, she loves it here. It’s all she’s talked about for days. I have the medical records so she can see a doctor here for the next X-ray. The doctor in DC thinks she’ll be able to have a removable splint in a week or two. It’s a common injury, and minor, so—”

“Minor!”

When her father exploded, Lina held up both hands. “He tried to throw her down the stairs. I couldn’t get to her in time. I couldn’t stop him. If he hadn’t been so stupid, stinking drunk, he’d have pulled that off, and she could have broken her neck instead of her wrist. Believe me, I’m never going to forget that.”

“Dom.” Sophia murmured it, patted her husband’s hand. “How long do you want her to stay with us?”

“For the summer. Look, I know it’s a long time, and I know it’s a lot to ask.”

“We’d love to have her,” Sophia said simply. “You’re wrong to do this. You’re wrong, Lina, to leave her now. But we’ll keep her safe and happy.”

“I appreciate it. She’s basically finished the school year, but Mimi has a few more assignments for her, and instructions for you. When the school year starts up again, this will be behind her, and me, us.”

Her parents said nothing for a moment, only stared at her. Her father’s golden-brown eyes, her mother’s green made her think of how her daughter was so much a blend of these two people.

“Does she know you’re leaving her here?” Dom demanded. “Going back to New York without her?”

“I didn’t say anything because I needed to ask you first.” Lina rose. “I’ll go talk to her now. Mimi and I should get on the road soon.” Lina paused. “I know I’ve disappointed you—again. But I think this is the best thing for everybody. I need time to focus, and I wouldn’t be able to give her the attention she might need right now. Plus, there’s no chance of some reporter getting pictures and slapping her face on a supermarket tabloid if she’s here, with you.”

“But you’ll go after publicity,” Dom reminded her.

“The sort I can control and guide, yeah. You know, Dad, a lot of men aren’t like you. They aren’t kind and loving, and a lot of women end up with bruises on their faces.” She tapped a finger under her eye. “A lot of kids end up with an arm in a cast. You can be damn sure I’ll speak about that issue when I get the chance.”

She stalked away, furious because she believed she was right. And frustrated because she suspected she was wrong.

An hour later, Adrian stood on the porch watching her mother and Mimi drive away.

“He hurt everybody because of me, so she doesn’t want me around.”

Dom folded himself down from his considerable height, laid his hands gently on her shoulders until she met his eyes.

“That’s not true. None of this is your fault, and your mom’s letting you stay with us because she’s going to be so busy.”

“She’s always busy. Mimi watches me anyway.”

“We all thought you’d like to spend the summer with us.” Sophia ran a hand down Adrian’s hair. “If you’re not happy—let’s say in one week—Popi and I will drive you up to New York ourselves.”

“You would?”

“That’s right. But for a week, we get to have our favorite granddaughter with us. We’ll have our gioia.” Our joy.

Adrian smiled a little. “I’m your only granddaughter.”

“Still the favorite. And if you stay happy, your popi can teach you how to make ravioli, and I can teach you how to make tiramisu.”

“But you’ll have chores.” Dom tapped a finger on her nose. “Feeding the dogs, helping in the garden.”

“You know I like to do that when I come for visits. They’re not like chores.”

“Happy work is still work.”

“Can I go to the shop and watch you toss pizza dough?”

“This visit, I’ll teach you how to toss the dough. And we can start when your cast comes off. I have to go to the shop now. So you go wash your hands, and you can come with me.”

“Okay!”

When she raced inside, Dom straightened. Sighed. “Children are resilient. She’ll be fine.”

“Yes, she will. But Lina will never get this time back. Well.” Sophia patted Dom’s cheek. “Don’t buy her too much candy.”

“I’ll buy her just enough.”

Raylan Wells sat at a two-top at Rizzo’s doing his stupid homework. The way he looked at it, he already had homework because he had chores at home, so why couldn’t schoolwork stay in stupid school?

At ten, Raylan often felt beleaguered and bewildered by the adult world and the rules laid down for kids.

He’d finished his math, which he found easy because math made sense. Lots of other shit just didn’t. Like answering a bunch of questions about the Civil War. Sure, they lived sort of near Antietam and all that, and the battlefield was cool, but all that was like over.

The Union won, the Confederacy lost. Like Stan Lee said—and Stan Lee was a genius: ’Nuff said.

So Raylan answered a question, then doodled, answered another question, and day-dreamed an epic battle between Spider-Man and Doc Ock.

Since they’d hit what his mom called the lag time—after lunch, before dinner—most of the customers were high school kids coming in to play video games in the back, maybe grab a slice or a Coke.

He couldn’t plug in any quarters himself until he finished his stupid homework. Mom’s rule.

He glanced across the mostly empty dining room, past the counter, and to the big open kitchen where she worked.

Six months earlier, she’d done all her cooking at home in their kitchen. But that was before his father took off.

Now his mom cooked here because they needed to pay bills and stuff. She wore the big red apron with rizzo’s across the front, and had her hair up under the goofy white hat all the cooks and kitchen prep people wore.

She said she liked working here, and he thought she told the truth about that because she looked happy when she worked at that gigantic stove.

And, mostly, he could recognize when she didn’t tell the truth.

Like when she told him and his sister everything was fine, but her eyes didn’t say they were.

He’d been scared at first, but he’d said everything was okay. Maya had cried at first, but she’d only been seven, and a girl. But she got over it.

Mostly.

He figured he was the man of the house now, but he’d learned really fast that didn’t mean he could skip his homework or stay up later on school nights.

So he answered another dumb Civil War question.

Maya had permission to go to her friend Cassie’s house to do homework together. Not that she ever got very much. For him? Permission Denied.

Maybe because he and his best friend and his other two best friends had shot hoops and hung out instead of doing their homework the day before.

And the day before that.

Doc Ock had nothing on Mom Wrath, so now he had to report to Rizzo’s after school instead of hanging out at Mick’s, or at Nate’s or Spencer’s.