Lorenzo

There were two possibilities. The first was that Elissa was completely talking out of her ass and she was feeding me this information so that she would have an excuse to see me, or more accurately, stop me from seeing my wife. It had been days. This was bullshit. The second one was that everything she had told me was completely true, and there was something fiendish happening in my dad’s camp.

Elissa was a lot of things—and petty was definitely one of them—but completely disregarding what she said would be just plain irresponsible. Just because she wasn’t a reputable source didn’t mean that what she was saying was false. Maybe there was an inside man with my dad’s guys. Whether or not Elissa was lying, it didn’t hurt to look into it. That was what I was doing over the extra day that I was away from home. Results had been unclear, but it was good to be careful.

Elissa had tried again, blowing my phone up like there was an emergency, trying to get me back out to her house outside the city. I was driving and my phone was ringing nonstop. It was her. I didn’t want to hear her, and I didn’t want the way that I died on the streets of New York City to be because I was distracted talking on the phone with her.

“Elissa, stop calling me.”

Her voice filled the car, and it made me uneasy because it felt like she was in there with me.

“Why don’t you believe me?”

“Elissa, you have never given me that good of a reason to trust you. You lied constantly during our relationship.”

“I’m not lying about this.”

“This is the last time I am going to ask you to stop calling and texting me, Elissa. I am going home to my wife and I want you to stop bothering me.”

“Have you spoken to her lately? Have you heard from each other?”

“I am going to ask politely, just this once. This is the last time. Stop contacting me. If you have some information about my dad’s men, take it to him. Not to me.”

I hung up before she had a chance to say anything back.

Fuck it. I was ready to see my wife. We had been in contact a little bit. Sex over the phone was nice... it was all we could manage being apart, but nothing beat the real thing. That soft, smooth skin. Her hair. The taste of her. Fuck, I was going to jump her when I got home.

I laughed a little thinking about her. I was excited. What had she been doing while I was gone? Had she missed me? I had missed her. Would I find her in the tub, naked and wet? Would she be in the restaurant with her friends? Maybe she had gone and seen my mother.

I didn’t know why, but I hoped she had. I loved my mother, and it was great to think that Isa would try and pursue a relationship with her. Yeah, I was looking forward to doing all the things that I had talked about doing to her on the phone, but I just wanted to see her. I wanted to see her face, her smile. I wanted to sleep in the same bed as her and wake up to find her cooking breakfast for me. I wanted to kiss her and asked her what she had gotten up to while I was away. I wanted to take her on another date. I missed the shit out of her. I really liked her. I had been subjected to too much of Elissa’s aggressive negativity. I needed to see someone who made me happy.

Finally, I hit traffic. It was good to be home. I took Fifth Avenue—even though it was a little out of the way. Isa deserved something nice. Something shiny and expensive to say I was sorry for staying away so long. She never really indicated what she liked and disliked from the things I got her, but a store assistant would help me out. As long as there were enough diamonds, she had to go for it, right?

She was so hard to impress. I had only ever bought diamonds for two other women. My mother and Elissa. My mom was something of a gemstone expert, so she was naturally hard to please, but Elissa had drooled over anything with a karat value over five.

Wasn’t it the thought that counted?

I drove up to Campania. It was still early and lunch service hadn’t begun yet. I walked through the doors and searched the front of the house for someone to talk to. I saw the guy that I had yelled at the last time I had come here looking for Isa spy me from across the floor.

“We aren’t open for service yet, please come back in an hour,” he said icily.

“I’m not here for the food. I just want to know where Isa is. Isa Montorini? My wife. She was executive chef here.”

“We are not yet open for lunch, sir. Please come back in one hour,” he replied.

“Hey, listen. I don’t want any trouble. Is Isa here or not?”

“You know, we were all excited when we heard Isa had gotten married to you, but if the last time you were here is any indication of the kind of man you are, I hope she gets out while she still can.”

I took a deep breath. Either I socked this guy in the nose, or I went to the kitchen to look for her myself. Beating this dude up would have felt good, but I still wouldn’t know whether Isa was here or not.

“Are you going to tell me whether she is back there, or do I have to go and check myself?”

“She isn’t here. Has she hit the road already? Good for her.”

I ignored that.

“What about Maria?”

“Marina? Our hostess? She’s in the back.”

I pushed past him and walked into the kitchen. The conversation and laughter in the kitchen as the chefs prepared for the lunch service immediately stopped as I walked through. Being intimidating was useful, but I knew what they thought of me. They thought I was a monster. I walked into the locker area and found Marina fixing her uniform. She looked up at me and I swear to God the temperature in the room dropped about eighty degrees.

“What are you doing here?”

“Where is Isa?”

“She’s your wife. Why are you asking me?”

“Marina... can you put aside whatever you think about me for a second and just tell me whether you have seen Isa today?”

“Why was this the first place you checked? Don’t you think you would have found her in the same place that you left her?”

I called on a patience I didn’t have but desperately needed in order to continue the conversation.

“I told her to do whatever she wanted to while I was away. I figured she would have come here because she loves this place and she loves to cook. Have you seen her or not?”

“I haven’t. If you had been here the past few days, you would know she hasn’t left the house at all.”

“Is there something wrong with her?”

She slammed her locker shut.

“Why don’t you go home and ask her that yourself.”

People had been telling me that a lot lately. Nobody at Campania had any reason to really like me, but what was with the hostility. It didn’t piss me off, it made me worried. Was there something wrong with Isa? Was there something that had happened when I was away? Was I in trouble?

***

I GOT TO THE HOUSE and I walked through the door and called to her. Silence. I checked the kitchen and she wasn’t there either. I climbed up the stairs and saw the master bedroom door open. I walked in and saw, well, nothing. She wasn’t there either. I entered the room, hearing activity in the closet. There she was, standing over an open suitcase. She was packing.