“Ari! I didn’t know you were here!” Wasting no time, Lia rushed over to her friend.
“I didn’t want to interrupt. You’re with your family,” Ari replied, as she put her arms around Lia, Ari’s relief was obvious. Rafe saw the tears she was managing to blink back.
“You are family, Ari. You know that Rachel and I have claimed you for our sister,” she said, her tone serious.
“And I have claimed you, but still…”
Rafe hated the longing in Ari’s voice, hated that she had been lonely for many years. He’d so often taken his large family for granted, and Ari only had her mother.
Ari didn’t know it, but Rafe had kept an eye out for Sandra these past couple of years. He’d genuinely liked her mother, and he hadn’t been able to walk away pretending he’d never met her, known her, and grown to care for her. He hadn’t bothered her…much, but he’d worried ever since she’d gone through her two major health scares.
Sandra was doing amazingly well now; she’d been dating the same man for more than two years, a man who treated her like a queen, and her floral business was thriving. Rafe had switched all his business orders over to her. He would have switched his personal ones, too, but he hadn’t had anyone to order flowers for.
He would have to have a large bouquet delivered to Ari’s apartment this week.
“I’m sitting with you, where I’ll be safest,” Lia said, wrapping one arm through Ari’s, then the other arm through Rachel’s. Rafe stood next to Shane as the three women made their way toward the awaiting limo.
“Are you really OK, Shane?”
Shane hesitated as he looked across the lot as the girls laughed together, their voices easily carrying back to the two men.
“Yeah, I’m good, Rafe. I lost my yacht, but it was worth it. Lia had no choice but to hear me out, and I think we’re going to make it through all of this. I would have preferred for us not to get stranded on an island in the middle of nowhere, but it ended up being…well, not to sound too corny, but kind of magical.”
“Magical? Really?” Rafe asked with a raised eyebrow. His lip twitched, but he restrained his snort.
“Yeah, whatever. You can shut up at any time,” Shane said, his cheeks heating with embarrassment.
“You know I’m just razzing you,” Rafe told him.
“Yeah, well, at least I did get Lia to myself. That’s worth any razzing you can dish out,” Shane said smugly.
“You didn’t do this on purpose, did you?” Rafe gasped as his expression changed and he looked at his best friend with worry. Rafe knew he’d go pretty far himself to win Ari, but not risk her life. He didn’t think Shane would either.
“No! You should know better than to even ask that, Rafe,” said Shane, glossing over the truth of the matter only a little. “I wasn’t paying attention to the weather and things got out of hand quickly. I’m just saying that being stranded on a deserted island with Lia for several days turned out to be pretty spectacular.”
“I don’t need details,” Rafe said, deciding it was time to change the subject. “I am happy for you, though,” he added.
“What about you and Ari? I notice she’s here. That’s a great sign.”
“Yeah. She’s here because of Lia, not me. However, I’m a little closer than I was a week ago. She’s beginning to thaw.”
Just then, the girls turned around and looked at them questioningly, wondering what they were discussing.
“She doesn’t look like she’s thawed all that much,” Shane goaded him.
“Yeah, what do you know? You can’t even keep a boat afloat,” Rafe replied.
“That was low, man, really low,” Shane said, holding his hand up to his chest as if he were mortally wounded.
“We’d better hurry. They might just decide to leave us here,” Rafe said as the women started climbing into the vehicle.
“I know Lia would leave me behind. That girl has fire,” Shane said with admiration.
“Yeah, you’re a brave, brave man, Shane. I will give you props,” Rafe said while slapping Shane on the back.
“I need more than props when dealing with your sister, but I’ll take what I can get.”
The two men were still chuckling as they got into the limo and it pulled away from the heliport. What could have been a tragic day had turned to something miraculous and special in the blink of an eye. They would celebrate.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Lia
“We are never leaving again!”
“Mom, you don’t need to be so extreme. Shane and I are just fine. As a matter of fact, we enjoyed ourselves on the island. The food was plentiful and there was even a spectacular cove of water,” Lia said. She sent a wink toward Shane, who actually and unbelievably blushed. She knew exactly what he was thinking about.
Mmm, that was a great cove of water!
“I was so worried about the both of you. Your father and I couldn’t get here fast enough,” her mother said as she clung to Lia and then Shane and then back to Lia again.
“Let’s all just be grateful they are fine and we found them. Now, we need to enjoy our dinner,” Rafe said as he stepped in to try to help his sister. She looked over and mouthed thank you to him.
Their parents finally allowed them all to sit down at the beautifully set table for pre-dinner drinks, and Lia’s shoulders relaxed.
“How have you been, Ari? I’ve been worried about you,” Rosabella said as she focused her attention on Ari, who was quiet as the family spoke in a mixture of English and Italian. She knew a few Italian phrases, but was pretty much lost when they spoke in the other language.
“I’m doing wonderfully, Mrs. Palazzo. Thank you.”
“I guess it has been too long if you are reverting to calling me by my last name again,” Rosabella said with a raised brow.
“I’m sorry,” Ari replied.
“No need to apologize, la mia piccola cara. We’ll just have to go out together — no men, just women — so you are comfortable around me again.”
“That sounds like a great idea, Mom. Let’s do it tomorrow before you all head out again,” said Rachel, obviously excited to have them all there, even though she’d been away from her family for only a couple of weeks.