Fatal Wounds

34

Theo

"When I see her later today," the older man warns, "she better look extremely happy. Her smile better be the brightest it's ever been, you hear me?" Valentina's father points a stern finger in my direction.

"Yes," I nod, "I do believe she is really happy."

He nods, "she better be." Then he looks over at Brian who looks back with wide eyes. "Brooke's smile better be just as bright you hear me?"

He nods rapidly. "Uhm, I kinda woke her early for breakfast with Valentina and Crystal so she might be a bit cranky," when he sees Leonardo raise a brow Brian pales, "but! I gave her a back rub- and a foot rub, she should be very happy."

Leonardo sits back with a content smile. "Hm, I'll be the judge of that when I see her."

Brian shoots me a panicked glance. "Right." He laughs nervously, "w-well we are going to the store and I'm going to buy a bunch of her favorite stuff for her home warming party."

Leonardo lets out hum. "So you're saying her happiness is bought with material items and not affection from you?"

"No!" Brian's jaw drops and his fingers tighten around the steering wheel. "I mean- they do make her happy but I also make her happy."

"Are you sure?" Leonardo looks at him through the rearview mirror.

Brian briefly meets his eyes. "Yes- I think. No wait- yes definitely." His brows scrunch and he mutters, "is she happy?" His mouth pinches and he nods. "Yes yes she is definitely happy because I make her so."

Leonardo cracks a smile and lets out a small chuckle, it surprises me because usually he regards us with stern looks and words. "Relax." Brian's lets out a harsh breath, "what the heck man?" He whispers looking at me.

"The second I see one of my girls isn't happy, the two of you will pay." He warns albeit with a less stern expression. But when he meets my eyes in the mirror he glares, "I mean it."

"Yes Leo." He both mutter, Brian focuses on driving while I fix my attention out the window. The rest of the drive is quiet and when I sneak a glance at Valentina's father I see a satisfied expression.

Soon enough the grocery store comes into view and the tension filling the small car dissolves as we step out.

Leonardo goes ahead to grab the shopping cart and follows us as we enter to grocery store. The first stop we make is the bakery section where we pick out some cupcakes then we move on to the junk food where we throw in many types of snacks.

When we enter the candy aisle something catches Leonardo's eyes that makes him pause. He walks up to the shelf and stares at the bag of Strawberry Bon Bon candies. They're small hard candies that are wrapped in a strawberry printed wrap, and I only know this because Valentina has a bowl of them that she keeps in the kitchen.

Brian doesn't seem to notice as he continues staring at his candy options.

Leonardo clears his throat and grabs the bag from the shelf. "Did you know," he says looking down at the bag. "That these candies were Sophia's favorite? She always had a bowl of them around the house. Valentina would try to sneak some before her bedtime but we always knew."

The both of us share a quiet laugh. "She has a bowl of them on her counter." I say referring to Valentina. "Sometimes she grabs a few at night and takes them to our nightstand she doesn't always eat them, I take them back in the morning."

Leonardo glances at me, his lips lift in a smile as he looks down at the bag of candy that's in his hands.  "Does Valentina talk to you about her?"

"She does," I nod. Sometimes at night she'll tell me small things about her mom. Like her favorite color, favorite season, holiday. How their trip to Jamaica was, how they celebrated birthdays. Every night it's something new and I love hearing more and more about the woman who raised her. "It's her way of feeling I got to know her."