I’m finally revisiting the characters from The River City Chronicles nine years after their original timeline. I’ll be running the series weekly here on my blog, and then will release it in book form at the end of the run. Hope you enjoy catching up with all your faves and all their new secrets!
Today, Gio comes home from Italy with Stella and Sole, and gets a big surprise…
< Read Chapter 61
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Chapter Sixty-Two
Coming Home
Gio hugged Dante tightly. “Thanks for going on this adventure with me.” Getting to know Dante as a man had been worth the trip.
He’d said goodbye to his aunt Valentina and his cousin Bianca earlier in the day. Dante had driven him to the airport in Bologna—and he’d survived his cousin’s race-car driver antics once again. Now Gio was ready to get on a plane with Stella and Sole and head back home. It had been a whirlwind trip, but he’d found everything he was looking for. And more.
“I wouldn’t have missed it. But I wish we could’ve have gone to the Ducati Museum. We were so close.”
Gio laughed. “Come visit me in Sacramento sometime and I’ll take you to some real museums, in San Francisco.” He let go and kissed his cousin goodbye Italian style, three times, cheek to cheek to cheek.
“I’ll take you up on that.” Dante flashed his white teeth and waved. “Ci vediamo, cugino.” Then he was gone.
See you soon. Gio turned back to his other cousin—Sole—and his other aunt Stella. I have a wealth of new family. “Are you two nervous about the trip?”
Sole shook her head. “I’ve always wanted to go to gli Stati Uniti.”
“I’ve been there once, to New York. I wasn’t impressed.” And yet, Stella was practically shaking with suppressed excitement. Sometimes she reminded him so much of his mother that it hurt.
“I have so many things to show you. Sacramento’s such an amazing place.” He hadn’t thought so at first, but it had worked its magic on him. “It seems boring at first, but it grows on you… you’ll see.”
Stella rolled her eyes. “So you say. Come on. They’re boarding now.”
Gio grinned in spite of himself. Soon he’d see Papà and Babbo again.
Seventeen hours and two stops later—in Washington DC and San Francisco—they stumbled out of the terminal together, exhausted.
Gio barely had the energy to make the introductions between Diego and Matteo and Stella and Sole before they dragged him and his luggage back to the car, a bright red SUV Diego must have borrowed from someone else for the airport pick-up. They did have a lot of luggage.
He fell into a deep slumber on the way home, and had only a vague memory of climbing up the stairs to his own bedroom before crashing into a dreamless sleep.
#
He woke up the next morning—or maybe the next afternoon—feeling a little more human. He stared up at the ceiling where his Papà Diego had pasted glow in the dark stars when he’d first moved in. He’d been far too old for such things—what seventeen-year-old had plastic stars on his ceiling?—but now he treasured them.
“Sei sveglio?”
Gio’s head snapped around to find Diego sitting at Gio’s desk, the chair turned around to face the bed. “Papà , you scared me.”
Diego chuckled. “Sorry. Did not mean to. I am so glad to have you home safe. I watched over you half the night.”
That should have been creepy, but somehow it was sweet. You were worried about me. “I’m glad too. I’ve missed this place.”
Diego folded his arms. “You have to move out.”
Gio sat up. “What?” He realized he’d been sleeping naked, and pulled his sheets up a little higher to cover himself. “What do you mean, I have to move out?”
“You can take a month or so, until you find your own place.” He held out his arms in entreaty. “Gio, you’re twenty-six. You shouldn’t live with your parents anymore. Also, I’m letting you go from Ragazzi.”
What the hell? Gio stared at his father as if the man had gone insane. “Papà , what did I do? You can’t just throw me out like this. I… I’ve never lived anywhere else but here.” Was Diego mad that he’d gone in search of his mother? That he’d brought home his aunt and his cousin?
His father chuckled. He turned around to pick up a piece of paper from the desk behind him, and handed it over to Gio. “Nothing like that. I couldn’t be prouder of the man you is become. But your babbo and I talked this over. You need to spread your wings.”
Gio took the paper and looked at it. It was a lease. For a property in Folsom. “Papà , I don’t understand.”
“All this time, you been on my back to franchise Ragazzi. To open another location. Well, this week, I found a place in Folsom that’s perfect. Right in downtown, needs some work, but maybe it can be as charming as the first one. With the right owner.”
“Wait… what?” His papà had gone insane. “What are you saying?”
“And it doesn’t make no sense for the owner of a Folsom restaurant to live all the way out here in East Sacramento.”
Gio stared at the paper. My own place. “But I can’t afford it. You don’t pay me enough.”
Diego laughed. “We pay you plenty. Besides, your babbo and I have been putting money away for you for this day in a… what do they call it? A DC?”
“A CD?” He couldn’t believe what he was hearing.
Diego nodded happily. “A CD. So you can use it to lease this place, and buy a franchise from us.”
It was a lot to take in. Did he want to run a restaurant? Let alone the same restaurant, in a different location? “But what if I don’t want to run a franchise?”
Diego spread his hands. “That’s up to you. We want you to be happy. What you choose to do is for you to decide.”
“Did you tell him?” Matteo appeared at the doorway.
“Yes. I think he will choose the restaurant. What do you think?”
Matteo crossed his arms and leaned against the door jamb, staring at Gio. “I think he’ll choose what is best for him. You raised him well, tesoro.”
Gio’s gaze jumped from one to the other and back again. “But who would take my place? You two can’t run Ragazzi by yourselves.”
“Don’t you worry about it. I have someones in mind.” Diego poked at the paper in Gio’s hand. “So what do you say?”
Gio closed his eyes. This was his dream—franchising Ragazzi, and having his own place to run as he pleased? How could I not? “I have to see this place first.”
“Of course.”
“And I need to see how much money I have to work with.”
Diego glanced at Matteo.
“It’s about $100,000, give or take.” He waved his hand side to side.
Gio’s eyes bulged out. “How…”
“Your babbo is… how do they say? A wheeze with the investments.” Diego grinned.
Gio laughed. Close enough. “All right. I also want Stella and Sole to come work with me on it, for as long as they are here.”
“Deal.”
“And I want a discount on the franchise fee. It was my idea, after all.”
“We’ll take that into accounts.” Diego put out his hand.
I can’t believe this. Gio shook it, and then pulled his father into a bear hug. “This is amazing. I love you, Papà .”
Matteo cleared his throat.
“You too, Babbo.” He let go of Diego and picked up the paper. “My own restaurant. What should I call it?”
“How about Figlio?”
“’Son’? I like it, but it’s too on the nose.” He thought about all the people, friends and family, who had brought him to this point in his life. “How about Amici instead?” Friends.
Diego grinned. “Perfetto. By the way, we have two weddings in the teaching kitchen on Sunday.”
Wow. They’ hadn’t done a wedding in years. “All right. I’ll clear out—”
Diego shook his head. “No. That’s not what I mean. Carmelina is marrying Daniele, at long last. And Ben is marrying that new girl. Lorelei. They want you to come.”
Gio’s mouth dropped open. “How did all of this happen so fast? I’ve only been gone less than a week!” He was thrilled for both of them. But damn.
“Come down for dinner. We’ll fill you in!” The door closed behind his parents, but Diego’s voice still came through loud and clear. “And put some clothes on first!”
< Read Chapter 61
Like what you read? if you haven’t tried it yet, check out book one, The River City Chronicles, here.