The Mafia Lost His Queen novel · Chapter 21 of 24

Chapter 21: The Counter

I looked at him standing in the snow in his dinner jacket.

The porch light behind him. The house behind that.

"No, Armando," I said. "In that church I'm dead. You buried me there yourself."

I turned around and walked out through the gate with Rory.

I didn't hear the front door close for a long time.

At five on Christmas morning, the ovens on Taylor Street were lit for the first time in four years.

They roared when they caught. My grandfather built them to roar.

Jess stood in front of them with her hands on her hips and her mouth open.

"That's not an oven," she said. "That's a dragon. You've got a dragon in your shop."

"Two dragons."

"I want one. I'm stealing one and putting it in my arch."

She and Rory's mum had landed at O'Hare on the twenty-third with one suitcase between them.

Rory's mum held a tin of mince pies in her lap the whole flight.

They'd spent Christmas Eve in my father's old flat over the shop, with my cousin and a bottle of grappa.

They'd waited up for us to come back from River Forest.

When we came up the stairs at eleven, all three of them were asleep on the sofa in a heap.

Rory's mum had my cousin's head on her shoulder.

Now Rory's mum was at the back table rolling out dough with my cousin, the two of them arguing about lard.

← Chapter 20 · All chapters · Chapter 22 →

Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend