Chapter 4 – The Money Caroline Didn’t Know About

Nobody answered Caroline immediately.

She looked from Rosa to Luca.

“Please tell me Anthony didn’t take money out of our savings.”

Luca shook his head.

“I didn’t even know he was paying for repairs.”

Caroline gripped the brown coat.

For the first time since she had arrived, her anger wasn’t directed at Vanessa.

It was directed at her husband.

And that frightened me.

Because Anthony was lying in a hospital bed somewhere, unable to explain himself.

Rosa leaned forward.

“The deposit was forty-five hundred dollars.”

Caroline closed her eyes.

“Oh, Anthony.”

Luca looked shocked.

“Why would he do that?”

“Because the roof was leaking over the pantry,” Rosa said. “We were going to lose the food stored there.”

“I would’ve paid for it.”

“He knew that.”

“Then why didn’t he ask?”

Rosa hesitated.

“Because he said you already had enough people asking you for money.”

Caroline began crying again.

But her tears had changed.

They weren’t only about Anthony’s accident anymore.

They were about the kind of man she’d married.

The kind who couldn’t walk away from somebody else’s trouble, even when his own family needed him.

Luca sat beside her.

“Caroline, I’ll repay every dollar.”

She shook her head.

“That’s not the point.”

“I know.”

“No, Luca. You don’t.”

She wiped her face.

“Three years ago, Anthony’s business had a terrible winter. We nearly lost our house.”

Luca looked startled.

“He told me everything was fine.”

“He told everyone.”

Caroline gave a tired laugh.

“He’s very good at making people believe there’s nothing wrong.”

She looked toward the empty chair.

“We promised each other that if things got tight again, we would talk before spending our savings.”

Her voice broke.

“And now he’s in surgery, and I’m finding out he broke that promise.”

I had always thought Anthony Marino was the kind of man who could fix anything.

Every Sunday, he arrived in a worn leather jacket, joked with the kitchen staff, and helped carry heavy boxes without being asked.

He looked dependable because he made difficult things seem easy.

But I wondered how many times Caroline had waited at home while he tried to save everybody else.

Luca put his hand over hers.

“He shouldn’t have kept that from you.”

She looked at him.

“Thank you.”

“And I shouldn’t have let him feel responsible for this place.”

Caroline stared at the coat.

“He loves you, Luca. I just wish he understood that loving somebody doesn’t mean carrying every burden for them.”

Vanessa stood quietly beside the sideboard.

For a moment, I thought she’d finally understood why everyone was upset.

Then she said, “This is exactly what I’ve been trying to prevent.”

Luca looked up.

“What?”

“People using their personal savings to keep this restaurant alive. Anthony should never have needed to do that.”

Caroline looked at her.

“Don’t use my husband’s mistake to justify yours.”

Vanessa swallowed.

“I’m not.”

“Then stop speaking for him.”

I saw Luca look between them.

For once, neither woman was entirely wrong.

Anthony shouldn’t have hidden the money.

Vanessa was right that a business couldn’t survive on friends sacrificing their savings.

But she’d used that concern to justify decisions she’d made without the family’s consent.

And that was something different.

I turned toward Rosa.

“Do you still have the other repair estimate?”

She nodded.

“In my recipe binder.”

“Is it here?”

“On the sideboard. I brought it upstairs because Anthony asked me to show Luca.”

I opened the binder.

Between recipes for Sunday gravy and lemon ricotta cake lay a folded contractor’s estimate.

It was dated the previous Monday.

I placed it beside Luca’s plate.

He studied the first page.

Then the second.

His eyebrows drew together.

“Forty-eight thousand?”

Rosa nodded.

“For the immediate repairs.”

Luca looked toward Vanessa.

“You showed me an estimate for one hundred eighty-four thousand.”

“That included replacing the entire kitchen ventilation system and remodeling the dining room.”

“But this says the dangerous problems can be fixed first, and the remaining work can be scheduled over eighteen months.”

“Provided nothing else goes wrong,” Vanessa replied.

“That’s true,” Rosa said. “But it gives us time.”

Luca tapped the page.

“Did you receive this estimate?”

Vanessa didn’t answer.

I saw Caroline look at her.

“Vanessa?”

“Yes.”

“Did you show Luca?”

“I didn’t think it was a realistic solution.”

Luca slowly put the paper down.

“You didn’t let me decide that.”

Her face reddened.

“Because you always choose the sentimental option.”

“I’m asking whether you showed me.”

The admission landed heavily.

Then Caroline’s phone lit up.

She looked at the screen.

“It’s the hospital.”

Everyone went silent.

She answered immediately.

We could hear a woman’s calm voice through the speaker.

The surgical team was still working.

Anthony had lost a significant amount of blood, but his condition had not worsened during the past hour.

They expected another update before midnight.

Caroline thanked the nurse.

Then she sat perfectly still.

I put my hand on her shoulder.

“Would you like me to call someone to come sit with you?”

“My sister is bringing Sophie,” she whispered. “She’s downstairs with her now.”

Sophie was Anthony and Caroline’s nine-year-old daughter.

I’d met her many times.

She loved strawberry ice cream, colored pencils, and the little chocolate candies Rosa kept beside the register.

A few minutes later, my heart tightened when she appeared in the dining room doorway.

Her aunt stood behind her.

Sophie wore a pink cardigan over her pajamas.

She was holding a folded drawing.

“Mommy?”

Caroline opened her arms.

Sophie ran to her.

“Where’s Daddy?”

“At the hospital, sweetheart.”

“Is he still asleep?”

Caroline kissed her hair.

“Yes.”

Sophie looked toward Anthony’s empty chair.

Then at the untouched Chicken Parmesan.

“Did he miss dinner?”

Luca turned away.

Caroline nodded.

“I’m afraid he did.”

Sophie walked to the table.

She unfolded her drawing.

There was a long table with crooked chairs and smiling people.

One figure wore a black suit.

Another had an apron.

The tallest figure held a little girl’s hand.

She placed it beside Anthony’s dinner.

“Daddy drew the chairs with me yesterday.”

Caroline looked at the picture.

Then Sophie said something that made her mother grip the table.

“He said we had to finish it tonight because he didn’t know if we’d still be invited here after the wedding.”