Chapter 3

THREE

Maria

I was on the phone with Mario when Adam came to pick me up for dinner. I held up a finger indicating I was busy as I opened the door.

"…no, I don't know what you're going to do, but I'm out of town…"

"You said you were taking a few days off, not that you were leaving the state!" Mario sounded annoyed, which annoyed me even more.

"You've been running the restaurant since you were sixteen. What's going on that you suddenly can't handle things?"

"Can Juliet help out?"

"No, she has a life too. She's not going to come running every time the register runs out of tape. Figure it out." I disconnected and made a face. "I swear, they're still like teenagers sometimes. How can he be thirty-six and still so useless?"

"I'd say that men mature more slowly, but I'm thinking by thirty-six, he should have grown up. What's going on?"

"Tony and Mario are getting lazy," she muttered. "They always want someone else to do the hard stuff. They think running a business is about making pizza dough and sauce, and then letting other people take care of all of the other day-to-day details."

"That's not how business works."

"No. And they're pouting because Juliet is spending less time there, even though she's given up half of her salary. She still does payroll, which is the biggest thing no one wants to do, all the supply ordering, and inventory. And of course, she still helps on the floor when she's there. The two of them took the money she subtracted from her salary and added it to their own but don't want to do the extra work."

"What are you going to do?"

"Tonight? I'm going to dinner with a very handsome biker I know." I dropped my voice and hoped it sounded a bit sultry. "We're sneaking off to Vegas to elope."

"Really?" He sounded genuinely surprised. "That's pretty risky, don't you think? You trust him?"

"More than anyone." I wrapped my arms around his neck.

He kissed me, and my world tilted on its axis.

I'd never been kissed like this, and while it had made me a little uncomfortable at first, I'd quickly embraced our physical attraction because I understood how lucky I was. It had never occurred to me I would meet a man I could fall in love with after the death of my husband. He'd been my everything.

We had grown up down the street from each other, were high school sweethearts, and had a long, loving marriage. Even in our forties, when things had gotten a bit stale in the bedroom, we'd decided to spice things up.

Sometimes I still blushed thinking about the first time we'd watched porn together and realized just how many fun things we hadn't been doing. We'd gone from straight missionary to exploring new things and bringing new life to our marriage. Then in the blink of an eye, my husband was gone. Leaving me sexually aware for the first time in my life, and no one to share it with.

Until Adam.

There was so much more to the man beneath the long hair, tattoos, and sordid past. He was kind, gentle, and protective. He was intelligent and soft-spoken, still had the body of a much younger man, and when he drove up on his Harley my insides got warm. We were as different as night and day, and yet he made me happy. There was something comforting about his presence, even though my friends and family thought I'd been insane for allowing a stranger to move into my house. We shared long, leisurely dinners and liked the same reality TV shows.

He'd filled a void I hadn't even realized was there.

Despite the fact that we'd snuck off to do it, I no longer had doubts about marrying him.

"Do you need to call Juliet?" he asked as we walked through the lobby.

"No. Mario and Tony need to figure it out. I'm not always going to be there, and I'm talking about retirement, not death. Juliet and Vaughn are trying to get pregnant, so once she has kids, she's going to cut back even more. They have to be able to do everything. I give them a pass on the accounting since it's taken Juliet years to figure out payroll and all the tax stuff, but other than that? No. They need to manage the restaurant without help or we hire someone else."

"You think they'll be okay with that?"

I laughed. "Not even a little, but it's beyond time for them to sink or swim."

"Parenting adult children is harder than when they're young."

"A hundred percent." We walked through the casino hand-in-hand, and a moment of melancholy washed over me. I was already having so much fun, and it made me sad that my Mario and I had rarely taken the time to travel. Our sole focus had been raising our children and making our restaurant a success. He'd dropped dead of a heart attack working late one night, leaving me to question many of our decisions.

"I want to travel," I said abruptly. "I mean, it doesn't have to be big trips, but Mario and I never did. Once a year we'd go to New York to see family, and we took the kids to Disney a few times, but we were always working, saving money. And for what? He's dead and never got to do any of the things we talked about."

"I hear you." He squeezed my fingers. "And I'd like to travel too. I did a little with the club, but obviously, that was work with very little time to play. I managed to see a few sights like the Golden Gate Bridge and the Alamo, but in general, I've visited forty-eight of the fifty states and can only remember a handful of them."

"We booked a tour to see the Grand Canyon, right?" I asked.

He nodded. "And Hoover Dam."

"Good. We should start a couple of lists. One for domestic travel and one for international."

"What's number one on your international list?"

I grinned. "Duh. Paris."

"And in the US?"

"Hawaii. What about yours?"

He chuckled. "Paris is now my number one because I want to see it with you. As for within the US, I think New York City. I've been there, but it was always quick ins and outs. I want to do the touristy stuff, like the Statue of Liberty and Empire State Building, and I really want to see the 9/11 Memorial."

"It's breathtaking and heartbreaking all at once," I replied softly. "But yes, let's do Manhattan. In fact, let's go right after Christmas, since that's in a couple of weeks."

"What?" He looked startled.

"I love the city around the holidays. It's filled with lights and decorations and magic. If you've never seen the Christmas Spectacular at Radio City…"

"I haven't."

Excited to share my experiences, we talked about New York and all the things I wanted him to see, so I made an impromptu decision to surprise him with plane tickets and hotel reservations. It would be a fun trip and would serve as a second honeymoon since we would only be in Vegas for a few days.

Besides, Christmas was coming and it would be a wonderful gift.

Another bout of indigestion made me escape to the ladies' room, and I made a note in my phone to call my doctor. It was time to get some medication for this because it was starting to become a problem. I popped a tablet in my mouth before heading back out to the table.

Hopefully, the antacid would keep it at bay long enough to get through the wedding night.