Yvie and Carlo lived in a flat about two hundred yards from Gino’s restaurant, so it was always handy for pre or post-dinner drinks.
‘Thanks, but I’m…’ Emmy thought back to earlier, to the plan she’d abandoned when her dad had shown up at the hospital, then her mind flashed with the image from the app.
Cormac Sweeney’s location is unavailable.
It was so distracting, she almost forgot that Yvie was waiting for an answer. ‘I’m just going to go home and do exactly the same as Minnie. Watch a bit of TV and go to bed.’
She’d leaned down to pull on one of her biker boots, so it was only when she sat back up that she saw Yvie was staring at her, one eyebrow raised much higher than the other.
‘Emmy Ryan, I think you’re lying to me.’
‘I’m not!’ Emmy lied. Again.
‘Swear on the Holy Ryan Reynolds that you’re going home and you are not, in fact, going to spy on your boyfriend at his place of work.’
Emmy tried desperately to deflect the conversation. ‘What’s Ryan Reynolds got to do with this?’
Yvie shrugged. ‘Nothing, but if you’re lying I won’t watchThe Proposalwith you ever again and it’s your favourite.’
Despite everything, that made Emmy giggle. ‘You’re ridiculous, you know that?’
‘I do. And I also know when you’re fibbing.’
‘Okaaaay!’ Emmy conceded, hands up in surrender. ‘I may drive past the station on the way home. Just to see if his car is there. He came to my work today, so I might just drop in on him. Purely as a loving girlfriend. Not to check up on him. Nope. Definitely not for that. Absolutely not.’
‘Why would you do that?’ Yvie challenged her. ‘Don’t you trust him at all?’
‘I do!’ Emmy insisted. ‘But then… I trusted my dad too.’ There it fricking was. It all came back down to that every time, and she could see how unfair that was. Cormac was a good guy and she shouldn’t be doubting him. Cormac loved her and she loved him. The end. ‘You know what, Cormac isn’t my dad and I just need to remember that and trust him. This is so stupid and fricking ridiculous that I’m twenty-nine years old and letting my parents’ split affect me like this. I need to get a grip. You’re right, it’s not fair and I’ve got no business doubting him. So no, I’m not going to the station. I’m going to go home, get into bed, and watch the holy Ryan Reynolds inThe Proposal.’
‘Are you sure? That’s definitely what you’re going to do?’ Yvie asked, doubtfully.
‘It definitely is,’ Emmy replied, with utter conviction.
However, it was utter conviction that she definitely didn’t feel.
She would go home. She would go to bed. She would watch a movie.
But only after she’d made a slight detour on the way.
23
DARIO
Dario did a final round of the restaurant, checking that everything was in order for the celebrations tonight. He didn’t miss the irony of the fact that he had never felt less like celebrating. His son was working in the kitchen, and refusing to even engage in a discussion with him. And right now, his dad was sitting alone at a table over by the window, having his favourite meal of pollo alla cacciatora, even though he said every time that it wasn’t as good as Alicia used to make it. Dario chose never to pass that feedback back to Chef Matty.
It struck Dario how frail his father now looked. Since he was a child, he’d viewed his dad as this irrepressible, joyous force of nature, the very essence of life itself, but now, to see him over there, he was a shadow of his former self. It was as if, when his mother died, she’d taken Gino’s soul with her, leaving the outer shell of the man, but not the passion for life that fuelled him.
It broke Dario’s heart. Not for the first time, he wondered if he was looking at a snapshot of his own future. Alone. In Dario’s case, it would feel like every chance for a normal life had been sacrificed, albeit for a job that he loved.
‘You look deep in thought there,fratello,’ said a new arrival, who had just come in the door.
Despite everything that was weighing him down, the sound of Carlo’s greeting made Dario smile.Fratello. Brother. Carlo was the baby of the family, the surprise, born eighteen years after Dario, and stereotypes would say that he should be a little spoiled or indulged, but the truth was far from that. Like Dario, he had worked in the restaurant from when he was old enough to wash a dish without breaking it, and he’d been a natural. For many years, it was truly a family business, with Gino and Alicia running the show, Dario in the kitchen and Nicky, Carlo and Bruno out on the floor. It was the best of times… but times changed. Death. Divorce. Leaving for faraway shores. And in Carlo’s case, breaking off to set up on his own, but with his family’s blessing.
Even after only a few years, Carlo’s Cafe, over by Glasgow Central Hospital, had already gained a reputation as one of the best eateries in the city. It had a consistent flow through of hospital staff, families of patients, tourists. Unlike the city centre, it didn’t come with crippling rates and a reduced footfall, and unlike Gino’s menu, which, on his dad’s insistence, had barely changed for decades, Carlo had a far more flexible approach, allowing him to work round seasonal price hikes. It had been a great move by hisfratelloand Dario respected him immensely for it.
Dario hugged him, then grabbed two bottles of Messina lager from the bar and beckoned Carlo to follow him.
In the office, Dario sat in his usual chair, while Carlo flopped down on the couch.
