A Hart To Call Home

Chapter Seventeen

Kit was exhausted after another long day with Leonardo. He was thrilled about the rose garden and wanted to see her and Carly's work. So they spent some time outside. The fresh air was good for him, even if it tired him.

It was great to see him light up; she couldn't wait until the flowers bloomed so he could enjoy them.

She pulled up to the house and groaned. "I forgot to stop for groceries!"

Too tired to bother, she got out of the car and figured she'd have to settle for pizza again. As she walked inside, she was overwhelmed by the amazing aroma of food cooking.

"What..?" She entered the kitchen and spotted Luca standing near the stove.

"Hi honey, you're home," he quipped with a little grin.

He picked up the pan, tossed it, and all the pasta inside did a perfect flip. She was impressed. If she tried that, there'd be pasta on the ceiling for days!

"How did you? We don't have any food." She spoke as she walked over towards him, setting her purse down on the way.

He grabbed a fork and swirled some pasta on it, "You do now. Try this." she opened her mouth and let him feed her.

Her eyes widened again; it was freaking delicious, "yum! What is it?"

"It's chicken carbonara, you like?"

She nodded enthusiastically, "Yes!"

"There's some white wine in the fridge," he directed, and she spied the glasses he had set out.

She opened the fridge to retrieve it. Luca had already opened it, so she just poured the glasses.

"You didn't have to buy us food and cook," Kit said as Luca got two plates ready.

"I can't live off cold pizza," Luca said as he made his way to the table. She sat down across from him and handed him his wine glass.

"My dad can't be bothered to buy food when I'm too busy to do it," Kit said with a tinge of annoyance to her tone.

"Well, that would interfere with sleeping until three in the afternoon," Luca snickered.

"He slept until three today?" Kit cringed at that. "That's a record even for him."

"Yeah, I was coming back from fishing, and he was just waking up," Luca told her.

Fishing, she knew he didn't just go because he was bored in town. It was because it reminded him of good times with his dad; she felt that tug on her heart again. They'd be talking soon; at least there was that. Leonardo had been much happier this week; just knowing Luca was here was huge for him.

"I wonder... you don't think we woke him up this morning, do you?" Luca asked.

"If we did, he'd have banged on the bathroom wall and told us to knock it off."

"That sounds like Stone," Luca laughed, and she would swear she saw some relief in his eyes.

Was he worried about upsetting her dad?

"This is amazing, Luca," she complimented. "Too bad you don't have that motivation you talked about. A restaurant that made food like this would do so well here."

"In this little town?" Luca raised an eyebrow.

"Yes, here! There's literally only one date stop, and it's the Willow Grill."

"Stone probably has fun with that," Luca commented.

"You have no idea," she agreed, "My first date here was older than me. I was just seventeen, and he was twenty-one. So Stone comes over with the guy's beer and chocolate milk for me. Then says, it's getting pretty late, though. Get her home soon; she didn't have her nap today."