Page 7 of Heartbeats Amidst Chaos: Part 2
They continued cutting through yards until they reached the end of the block where Elio had parked his silver Toyota, a loan from his grandfather that probably traced back to someone who had died a year ago.
Rissa slowed as they approached the vehicle, as if she was having second thoughts about accompanying him. Elio couldn’t blame her.
“Hey, it’s okay,” he said. “I didn’t let you go at the ambulance just to come back and kidnap you now.”
“Go ahead,” he added when she didn’t immediately relax. “Search the car. You’ll find no gun, nobody hiding in the back seat, nothing.”
For a moment, he thought Rissa might take him up on his offer, but after a moment, she simply said, “I’ll drive.”
“Sure.” Elio tossed her the keys. The way his head was spinning, it was probably for the best. “I know a great bakery just a few minutes from here,” he said as they climbed into the car and Rissa started the engine.
He didn’t bother to add that the bakery was owned by his sister. He didn’t see any reason to make his reluctant date even more suspicious.
Rissa appeared relieved when they pulled into the parking lot of the quaint bakery, simply called Gia’s. Even though it was barely six-thirty, an open sign blinked in the window. Elio knew that his sister and her hired help had already been at it for hours, baking the cinnamon rolls, muffins, and other fresh goods that would appear in their front case that day.
He and Rissa crossed the lot, Rissa slowing her step to match his limping gait, and he opened the door and held it for her to go first. She rewarded him with the ghost of a smile.
The aroma of the bakery folded around them, drawing them in like a warm hug.
Gia suddenly appeared from the kitchen in the back. Her thick black hair was pulled up in a messy bun and flour dusted the front of her green apron. She caught sight of Elio and smiled, surprise lighting her dark eyes as they flicked to Rissa and then back to him.
“Elio!” She swept around the glass counter to envelop him in a hug. Gia never watched the news. Though she had no doubtheard something of the bomb—the entire city had been briefly locked down, after all—she had likely heard nothing of Elio’s suspected involvement.
She turned next to Rissa, looking prepared to fold her into a hug as well, but she must have sensed Rissa’s reserve because she grabbed both her hands instead. “And this is?”
“This is Rissa,” Elio said.
He realized the situation was strange. Gia obviously assumed that Rissa was a girlfriend—why else would he have brought her to the bakery? And Rissa, glancing back and forth between them, didn’t seem to know what to think. Elio started to doubt bringing her to the bakery was the best idea, but he figured a public place would make her most comfortable. This was the only one he could be sure was safe for him.
“I’m so happy to meet you, Rissa,” Gia said sincerely. “Elio is a regular around here.” She gave him a sly smile before hurrying back to her place behind the glass case and asking, “What can I get for you all today?”
“You already know my order,” Elio said, then looked at Rissa with an eyebrow raised in question.
“I’ll have whatever he’s having,” she said. “It all smells wonderful.”
Gia beamed at the compliment, and Elio directed Rissa toward a booth tucked away on the back wall just beyond the glass case.They slid onto opposite sides of the table. Gia followed almost immediately with two plates bearing huge, fragrant cinnamon rolls dripping with frosting.
“You two enjoy!” she chirped before whisking off to the back room. Elio was sure he would be in for a quiz the next time he came in, but Gia knew when to make herself scarce. He grinned at the anticipation on Rissa’s face as she picked up her fork and immediately began breaking off her first bite.
For a wild moment, he imagined that everything that had happened up to this moment—the catastrophic series of events that brought him and Rissa to this strange juncture—had never happened at all. They were simply a man and a woman on a date.
His fantasy was allowed to last for the space of time it took Rissa to fork the first bite into her mouth and close her eyes in ecstasy at the taste.
When she opened them, her ice-blue gaze was trained straight on Elio.
“So,” she said. “Last time I’m asking before I walk away. Why were you at my house?”
Elio took a deep breath, lowering his fork to his plate. He wrestled with himself over how much he was going to tell Rissa, but he decided it was best to be as truthful as possible.
“I’m not sure you’re safe,” he said. Rissa cocked her head as she indulged in another bite of cinnamon roll, licking a drop of frosting from her lip.
“Safe from whom?” she asked finally.
“Multiple parties,” Elio said. “The police, maybe. They kept you an awfully long time at the station.”
Rissa did not respond and simply took another bite of her roll.
“My family,” he admitted, gaining a return of Rissa’s piercing gaze. “If you know who they are. . .”
