CHAPTER 25

After making sure Rose was spending the night over a girlfriend’s Grace spent Saturday night at Sal’s. She hadn’t spent the night at his place, since the past Sunday and she was really beginning to hate saying goodbye every night. That wasn’t even the main reason. Fear of him dropping her off and Frank’s car being parked outside of her building had a lot to do with it. The last thing she wanted was for him to get upset over such a non-issue.

Of course, Sal was more than happy to have her stay with him. He’d been saying things all week like, “I got you your own toothbrush and I cleaned out a space for you in the closet.” Leave it to her mother to dampen the euphoria she’d felt all week by laying on the guilt about her being gone so much.

They’d just finished showering, after an incredible morning in bed. Sal walked up behind Grace as she finished combing her hair and wrapped his arms around her. Both had the day off and they were taking a champagne brunch cruise off the marina with Angel, Sarah, Sofia and her fiancé Eric. It was part pleasure and part research. Angel and Sarah were thinking of doing something similar with their restaurant—offer brunch cruises on Sundays. Sal said he’d taken a dinner cruise before, but it was a long time ago and he hadn’t been paying attention to any of the details.

“Almost ready?”

Grace nodded. “You think…” Sal stared at her through the mirror. “You think it would be okay if my sister came with us today?”

His expression wasn’t a good one and she wondered if he’d expected this to be more a romantic thing. “Let me call Angel and see if he can get her in. He booked this earlier in the week. You should’ve said something sooner, babe.” He pulled his phone out of his holster and kissed her on the cheek before dialing. “Your sister’s welcome to tag along with us anytime, Grace.”

After checking with Angel, then waiting for him to call back, Rose was in. Grace hugged him as soon as he was off the phone. “And we’ll have time to pick her up?”

Sal glanced at his watch. “Yeah, there’s plenty of time.”

Grace kissed him then hurried to her phone. She called Rose instead of texting and explained she needed to hurry and get ready. Rose sounded excited when she heard the word cruise. This would be a first for both of them. Grace made sure to text Rose after she’d hung up and asked her if by any chance Frank was still there. To her relief, he’d only been there a short while last night and left.

They arrived at the marina a bit early and had some time to kill so they spent it in Angel’s restaurant. The men went to the back office. Angel wanted to show them specs online about the cruise services he’d looked into. Grace sat at a booth with Sarah, Rose, and Sofia. Sarah had the waiter bring them drinks.

Sofia’s expression changed now that the girls were alone, and she suddenly grinned. “So what have you done to my brother, Grace? I’ve never seen him like this. I even caught him humming the other day in the back room.” She laughed.

Grace smiled, feeling a sudden heat. “I’ve never been happier myself.”

“I’m so happy for you two.” Sarah smiled. “This is what Sal needed. Everybody’s noticed the change in him.”

“But I don’t want him to change,” Grace said quickly.

“For the better, Grace,” Sofia assured her. “Trust me. He was getting way too uptight. He nitpicked about the smallest things. He’s always been Mr. Do-It-Right-or-Don’t-Do-It-All. Which is fine, especially when you’re running a business. We need at least one person to be that way. But he was a little too much sometimes. Ever since you’ve been around he’s eased up a lot.”

“Most importantly, I think you proved his theory wrong, too,” Sarah added, stretching her neck to see if the guys were on their way back yet. “He was driving Angel crazy—adamant about not hiring any cooks with too little experience. He’s since hired two for us that I don’t think he would’ve ever considered before you came along and they’re doing fine.”

Grace couldn’t help grinning. “I thought one of the guys that was here the day I showed them how to make the new recipes was a little young.”

“We’re all happy about this, Grace.” Sofia reached over and squeezed her arm. “The only one I think is a little jealous is mom. Even though she makes her remarks about Valerie barely being able to put a tuna sandwich together, I think she secretly likes that Alex still comes over so often to eat her food. But with you, she knows you’ll give her a run for her money in the kitchen.”

Sarah laughed. “I’m not much of a cook either. Thank God we own a restaurant or Angel wouldn’t be eating very well either.”

They all turned when they heard the laughter and the guys coming from the back office. “You girls ready?” Angel asked.

They slid out of the booth and made their way out of the restaurant.

The cruise was exactly what Grace needed. The food was excellent, and the champagne relaxed Grace when she discovered being out in the ocean made her a little nervous. Most importantly, Rose had a blast and the time they spent together, especially the laughs Rose got at Grace’s expense when she admitted the moving boat made her nervous was priceless. Grace hadn’t had that much fun with her sister in a while. Sal promised they’d do something similar again soon.

After the cruise, Sal invited the gang over to his place to hang out and maybe barbeque. He called Romero and somehow convinced Alex and Valerie too, along with the babies.