Gio shook his head, not sure how to respond, then her already dark eyes got even more serious. “I’m sure you’ve heard this a million times, Giovanni. But you really can’t blame yourself. Even if it hadn’t happened under the circumstances that it did—an arranged fight that he completely agreed to—when it’s your time, it’s your time.” She reached across the table and touched his hand. “There’s only one higher power that decides these things. Believe it or not, you had nothing to do with his time being up.”
Everyone including his mother, Jack and the guys had all tried to get him to see the situation for it was—a tragic event that couldn’t be helped. But hearing Bianca put it this way made him actually believe it for once. “I’m sorry about what happened to your grandparents and your dad. That really sucks. But I’m glad it wasn’t their time so early on.”
“And see, that’s just the thing,” she said squeezing Gio’s hand now. “It sucks that this guy was so young, yes. But it was his time.”
Gio glanced down at her delicate hand. Funny how such a simple gesture could go so far. Her touch was soothing—calming. “He had an untreated aneurism. He should’ve never been in the ring. The doctor that cleared him is actually under investigation right now.” Her hand stroked his now and the pent up emotion he’d held in for so long was back. “His wife is pregnant. She’s real young, too. I thought about her when I saw a few couples on the slopes today with their little kids. That’s what’s bothered me the most about all this. Losing my dad was the worst thing I’d ever gone through, but at least I had my dad for thirteen years. This kid is never even gonna know his dad.”
He didn’t know why he was telling her all this but it felt good to finally let it out. For so long he’d refused to really tell anyone what he was thinking—feeling. He’d hid away in that garage for weeks; barely speaking to anyone that came and sat with him.
Without warning, Bianca stood up and came around the table, sliding in on his side. She took his hand and leaned her head against his shoulder, giving Gio a heavenly whiff of her hair. “It’s okay to feel sad for his child. As long as you’re not blaming yourself for it.” She lifted her head to face him. Gio refused to move. If he did he’d have to fight the urge to put his arm around her and then…instead he looked in her big concerned eyes. “If we believe my grandma’s theory, and I really do, as much as it sucks ass, that kid was never meant to meet his dad. It’s just how things were meant to be.”
As heavy as what she just said was, Gio couldn’t help but chuckle. “Sucks ass? Really?”
Her eyes brightened instantly and she pulled away from him, humor already dancing in her eyes. “My grandma says that all the time.”
That made Gio laugh even more and just like that she was laughing with him. “She sounds like my grandma then. Whenever she caught us playing with her things—things we weren’t supposed to be touching, like her expensive china, she’d tell us to ‘Go play with your culo!’” Bianca burst out laughing now and even though Gio had heard his grandmother say that so many times, it sounded hilarious now to him, too. Between laughing he explained. “My mom used to get pissed. She hated the way it sounded. But that didn’t stop my grandma.” Gio smiled remembering something else. “My mom’s always been big on not ruining your appetite between meals with junk but my grandma didn’t care what of time a day or how close our next mealtime was. If I or any of my sisters were ever sad about anything she’d load us up with ice cream.”
Bianca smiled big. “That’s so cool. So you totally get why we women go running to good ‘ole Häagan-Dazs with a giant spoon when we’re down instead of crying into our beer like you guys supposedly do when you’re down.”
“Absolutely,” Gio agreed, lifting his mug. “Beer’s for the good times. But ain’t nothing like a big ass bowl of ice cream with all the trimmings to chase the blues away for me.”
He told her a little more about his grandma and he was so close to pulling her food over to his side so she wouldn’t go back to sitting on the other side. He liked her right where she was. As disappointing as it was when she did move back to sit across from him he knew it was for the best.
Gio had never really been much of a talker, especially with girls. It was rare for him to open up to anyone else but his close friends but Bianca made it so easy. The conversation just flowed so comfortably as if it hadn’t been years since they’d last seen each other.
When they were finished with lunch Bianca suddenly looked up at him; her excitement was irrefutable. Instantly, Gio felt the big goofy smile he’d worn all day on his face again. “What?”
“You wanna meet my grandma?”
This was completely unexpected. “When?”
“Today. My mom too, actually.” She stood up and he stood with her. “If we take the back way to the resort we’ll pass right by the shop. I don’t usually go even a day without seeing them and I was planning on going straight back to the cabin after we boarded but since it’s on the way, maybe we can stop by?”
The thought of meeting her mom and grandmother made him a little uneasy. Especially knowing her grandmother was the type of woman that said ‘sucks ass’ all the time. Gio had never met any parents of the girls he’d gone out with. Of course, he wasn’t the one seeing Bianca. Still, it made him nervous, but after seeing her excitement about such a simple request there was no way he’d refuse. “Sure, we can do that.”