Page 14 of Burning Caine
“Oh my god, Antonio! Good night!” She hung up, but I didn’t care.
I had to track this woman down. I was not leaving it up to fate. I couldn’t wait eleven more years to see her again.
Chapter 6
Samantha
Idownshiftedcomingaroundthe corner of Sherwood Street, slowing as I approached my destination. The motorcycle engine purred, as only a Ducati did, and I pulled into the driveway. The Italian from the night before was stubbornly not fading into the background, but a visit with my sister would distract me.
The house was a two-story colonial, brick and white vinyl, sporting a porch the full width of the house. Every time I came, I remembered double Dutch in the driveway during summer vacation and swinging in the tire that used to hang from the oak tree by the road.
My brother-in-law, Kevin Hunter, was at the mailbox, tying a half-dozen pink and white helium balloons to it.
“Hey, Kevin! Just the five of us?”
“Six, until two o’clock. Want to swap? You can hang out with the hordes of three-year-old princesses, and I’ll take the bike out?” He was slightly taller than me, with brown hair and an athletic build. He’d moved from California to play baseball for Michigan State, where he and Cass met. They graduated together, he took a job as a software developer with Foster Mutual, and they married soon after. He was like a big brother to me.
“In your dreams.” I nudged down the kickstand, gave the motor one short rev to announce my arrival, and shut her off. “Who’s the sixth?”
He grinned. “It’s a surprise.”
Great. Probably another set-up. I took off my helmet and dismounted, my black leather suit creaking. “How’s Cass doing?”
“She’s herself.” He shrugged. “The house looks like a unicorn threw up all over it.”
“Lovely.”
“Yeah. Wait until you see the cake.”
“She’s pushing herself too hard.”
“Preaching to the choir, Sam. Her first round was so easy on her, she thinks she’ll be able to make it all the way to the end without taking any time off work.” Hands on his hips, he sighed. “Speaking of work, Matt stopped by my office Friday. Asked where you’ve been.”
I unlocked the top case on my bike and swapped my helmet for the package wrapped in pink paper, with its squashed bow. “Seriously?”
“Yeah, he seems to think working for the same company would mean he’d see you every now and again.”
“Right. How often do you see me there?”
“Never.” He shoved my arm. “Exactly what I told him.”
True enough, the foyer was covered in balloons and streamers in pastel shades, and the curved staircase had pink fabric woven through the railing. Emma and Logan were not the pitter-patter type, and they thundered down the stairs to squeals of “Auntie Sammy!” They both jumped me for big hugs and were off again in a flash. After taking off my boots, I made my way through the center of the house to find my sister.
“Don’t tell me that racket was you,” she said as I entered the kitchen.
“You know it! Want to borrow it sometime?”
“Not likely.”
We hugged, and I pulled back to look at her. Her straight brown hair was cut to her shoulders like our mother used to wear, her face and body were thin, and she had bags under her brown eyes. The bright white kitchen made her look even more washed out than Thursday, when I’d brought her home after chemo.
“You need sleep.”
She turned away and went back to work at the counter. “I have a lot going on right now with Emma’s party.”
I pointed at the cake. “That’s actually a cake that looks like you cut a watermelon in half, right? I mean, it’s not an actual watermelon?”
She frowned and stood back up straight. “It’s coconut whipped cream on an actual watermelon, yes. I’ve made this for Emma before, and she loved it.”