One more false accusation against Martha will be the end of her tenure here. And sheisvery good at cleaning. She’s so… efficient. She works her butt off and never complains, even that one time I left dishes in the sink.
But I also don’t want her here if she’s stealing our stuff. There are other people who are good at cleaning anddon’tsteal your money. Plus, I’ve never felt quite comfortable around her.
“Maybe I took the money out,” Enzo says thoughtfully. “I think I did. I am just not sure.”
“Enzo,” I say. “Can we talk about Nicolas?”
He slides the drawer closed. He juts out his chin in a defensive expression, and I can already see how this conversation will go. “What is there to talk about? This is unfair.”
“It’s not unfair. He punched a kid in the face.”
It bothers me that this makes Enzo smile. “A boy is being mean to a girl, and he stood up for her. Good for him!”
“He shouldn’t be breaking other kids’ noses.”
“The principal says the nose is not broken,” he reminds me. We did get an email from the principal, informing us of this. Thank God, because we can’t afford a lawsuit. “Just bruised, right? Is nothing.”
It also bothers me that Enzo seems a little disappointed that the kid’s nose wasn’t broken. “That’s not the point.”
“He’s a boy. This is what boys do. They fight. I did this all the time when I was a boy.”
“You punched kids in the face when you were a boy?”
“Sometimes.”
Okay, well, that’s interesting to hear. I don’t know if he is exaggerating or if he really means it. Like I’ve said, Enzo has studiously avoided talking about his life before he came to this country. But I do know one thing: he had to flee Italy because he beat a man half to death with his bare hands.
Although in his opinion, the man very much deserved it.
Even so, I have always looked at my husband as the more stable one of the two of us. I can be hotheaded, but he thinks things through. When he assaulted that man, he didn’t do it in a fit of passion. That man was his brother-in-law and used to beat his sister regularly until he finally killed her. He found the man, beat him to a bloody pulp, then hopped on a plane to LaGuardia that evening. Enzo knew exactly what he was doing.
He was exacting revenge.
“He got suspended, Enzo,” I remind him. “This is a big deal.”
“Third-grade suspension is not a big deal.”
It’s frustrating that Enzo is refusing to acknowledge that this is a big deal. It makes me wonder even more about his younger days and what he used to be like. Did he really used to get into fights like that all the time? Maybe he did. After all, he managed to assault his brother-in-law without any injury to himself. You don’t do that the first time you ever throw a punch.
Enzo Accardi is a good man. I believe that with all my heart. He has taken good care of our family.
But more and more, I wonder about his past. I wonder what he has done and what he is capable of doing.
TWENTY-EIGHT
I don’t want Nico moping around the house. He might be grounded, but I also want him to have some socialization aside from tagging along with Enzo to a few of his jobs or sitting in my office at work. So the next morning, while Nico stays behind in his room, I walk Ada to the bus stop so that I can arrange a playdate with Spencer.
As expected, Janice shows up to the bus stop with Spencer, who has his leash firmly attached to his backpack. She nods cordially at me, although I recognize I’m not her favorite person. But the boys are good friends at least.
After the kids board the bus and it zooms them away to school, I clear my throat and offer Janice my best smile. “Hey, any interest in a playdate after school today?”
She snorts. “A playdate? You have got to be kidding me, Millie.”
Based on the vehemence of her response, I should probably just drop it. But I can’t help myself. “Why not?”
“Nico wassuspended.” She is wearing a bathrobe on top of a long nightgown, and she wraps it more tightly around her bony frame. “Forfighting.”
“He was defending a girl who was being bullied.” I sound like Enzo, but he did have a valid point.
