She’d been angry with him because he was leaving for Italy and worried because he wouldn’t be there for her first day of junior high school. “You’re always leaving. You love books more than me.”“Don’t be ridiculous. I’ll be back on Friday afternoon. You and Grandma can pick me up at the airport and we’ll meet Grandpa for dinner to celebrate your first week of school.”“I can’t believe you’re leaving again! You just got back from Boston.”“And I was only there for the weekend. I can’t turn down this invitation, Beatrice. Try to understand.” She hadn’t understood. Beatrice hadn’t understood anything except the last words she had ever spoken to her father had been in anger. Five weeks later, her grandparents sat down with tears in their eyes and told her she would never see him again.And fifteen years later, Stephen De Novo looked exactly as he had when he’d stepped out the door that summer morning.“Daddy?”Beatrice could feel Giovanni’s hand on her arm, and she knew he wanted her to stay still.
