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“Do you need to make any stops before going home?”
Ari thought for a moment as he held open her door. She wouldn’t feel up to leaving her house the rest of the day and her head was already starting to throb a little. Why not take advantage of having a driver for a little while?
“If you’re not in a huge hurry and wouldn’t mind, could we stop by a drug store?”
“Of course. I’m yours for as long as you need me. Mr. Palazzo was explicit to give you whatever you needed today,” he answered happily as he shut the door and quickly went around to the driver’s side.
Ari’s confusion grew at Mr. Kinsor’s words. Why did Rafe have to be so accommodating and kind one minute and then such a brute the next? Why couldn’t he have been just a regular guy she’d met on her college campus? She hated to have any thoughts of Rafe, wanting to wipe him from her mind, but the more she ran into him, the more she wanted to know about this mysterious man who offered so much, but demanded more than she could bear to give.
“Just the drug store will be fine. I need to get home and take care of things so I can be well enough to go to work tomorrow,” she said when she realized she’d never responded to his last comment.
“Okay. If you do change your mind, just let me know. Would you like to listen to music?”
“No thank you. I’ve got a headache. I’ll just rest my eyes while we’re driving. I’ll feel better after taking a couple Advil’s. ”
Mr. Kinsor was silent as they pulled onto the road. At least they were in a comfortable car that cruised along quietly and without many bumps. It didn’t take them long to stop by the drug store and then reach her home. Ari would miss the presence of other people around her. As she stepped into her apartment she realized how truly alone she was most of the time now.
Chapter Sixteen
“Rafe!”
Rafe braced for impact as his sister threw herself into his arms. A rare smile spread across his face as she jumped up and wrapped herself around him.
“How are you, Rachel?”
“I’ve missed you. It seems like years since I saw you last. ”
Rafe laughed at his baby sister’s enthusiasm. She was eight years younger than him and full of life, certainly the most vibrant young woman he’d ever known, and also one of the few females he had complete respect for. He adored both of his sisters.
“I saw you two months ago. Are you going to let me go now?”
“If you insist,” she pouted as she released him. “Two months may as well be two years. Mom’s a tyrant who never lets me do anything. ”
“You get away with far more than I’d let you get away with. You’re too beautiful to be allowed out in public,” he said only half-teasing. He would slaughter any man who dared even look at his sister wrong. He knew it was slightly ironic how protective he was of his sisters when he had zero respect for other women.
“You drive your poor father and I crazy. I am hardly a tyrant, peste” his mother, Rosabella, said, calling Rachel a brat in Italian before she approached and planted a kiss on his cheek. “How are you, son? You have darker circles beneath your eyes than you had last time I saw you,” she scolded.
“I’m wonderful, mother, even better now that you’re here. What do I owe this surprise visit to?”
“You sounded more stressed than usual the last time we spoke, so I told your father we must come and visit you immediately. It was about time for us to come back to California for a while, anyway. Your father grows restless in Italy if he’s there for too long. I think he just misses working, though he’s promised me he’s retired. ”
“I’m all grown up now, Mom. You don’t have to worry so much about me. To tell you the truth, I think dad sneaks off to work when you’re in the States. I do notice a lot of secret phone calls, and I don’t think any woman is stupid enough to embark in an affair with the man. ”
“No, your father knows I would kill him if he ever tried something so foolish as seeing another woman. Now, as to your comment, obviously, you’re not a parent or you’d never say something so ridiculous. A mother never stops worrying about her child, no matter how grown-up he insists he is. If only you would settle down and start a famiglia, all of your stress would disappear and I’d get to see laugh lines around your beautiful eyes instead of worry lines over your brow. ”
“Mother,” he warned, though his tone wasn’t harsh.
“Don’t you dare try and use your bossy tone with me,” she scolded, before shifting into Italian and calling him a few choice names. He immediately backed down to show her respect. He wouldn’t fight his mother.