Don's Regret Came Too Late novel · Chapter 25 of 32

Chapter 25: One Room

Papa read it over my shoulder with both pairs of glasses on.

"Zero," he said. "Not one. Not a half."

"Zero."

"Forty-five years I've been a pharmacist," he said. "I never saw a number so beautiful."

I called Vittorio from the back office.

"It's zero," I said.

I heard him breathe out. Long.

"I knew," he said. "I knew at the feast. I knew in the hospital. I still wanted to see it on paper."

"Now you have."

"Can I see you? Not on the phone."

"Davide watches your phone."

"Davide is at the christening hall tonight with Silvia, tasting cake." His voice went hard. "Tasting cake, Noemi."

"Come to the alley at one," I said. "Park on Clinton. Walk."

He came at one in a dark knit cap and an old work jacket I'd never seen him wear.

I let him in the back door.

The stockroom bulb was on. The cot was still there against the shelves, with Leandro's pillow on it.

Leandro was sitting on it.

Vittorio stopped dead.

For a second nobody moved.

Then Leandro stood up, slowly, the way he always did. It took a while.

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