The Twelve Vitali Ch. 31

"Not in this case. Besides, they have their own issues," Lucca shrugged and flopped into the chair beside hers.

"You can take off, Arturo, I have a feeling it's going to be a long day for you tomorrow," Zion said. "We won't mess with the schedule until we talk to Mama in the morning." Once he had gone, Zion stood and came to sit on the comfortable chairs with Cat and Lucca. "Want to tell me what's really going on and what was up with Arturo tonight?"

Zion and Lucca both listened carefully to what she had to say about what had happened that day and what Arturo had said were his reasons for taking her back to her old neighbourhood tonight.

"Right. So, do you want to work it out by yourself, or would you like some help, suggestions or advice?" Zion asked, tilting his head. "If Lucca had his way he'd jump in and fix it all for you, but I get the feeling you want to do it your way, on your own."

"He's just like Matteo," Cat indicated Lucca. "Have you noticed they even have some of the same mannerisms?"

"Hero-worship," Zion shrugged. "Lucca always wanted to be Matt when he grew up and got his wish. Now he just needs to find a girl like you to make the picture complete."

"I'm not in any hurry for that, I've got a decade or so before I'm as old as Matt was when he met her," Lucca said nonchalantly, not denying the fact that he had always looked up to his oldest brother.

"I guess it would help to talk through what I want to do eventually. I don't want to be a carbon copy of Theresa, or just accept things because that's the way they have always been done. I mean, I am all for tradition and love this family, but when it comes to the arbitrary, then I would like to make changes. Not just for me, but for the women who will also support the table and the family. At the moment that is just Mia, Maryanne, and Kari, but I expect that will change over the next couple of years, now that the table has been announced and the older members are putting even more pressure on you all to settle down," Cat said.

"True, but you can probably add Aria in the group of women. I don't think she will marry into another table and leave Melbourne. At least, not anytime soon," Zion admitted. "When we go out she picks up women more easily than I do."

"I thought she was just bi-curious," Lucca frowned at him. He actually believed that the twins had been experimenting with each other from a young age, and that was why neither of them was seen to be dating much.

"She is, but I think she finds lesbianism preferable to dating men from other tables where she would have to eventually move away from us all and dating regular guys at her age is a bit of a no-no," Zion admitted. "Mama has tried to get her to visit a few of the tables with eligible table men, but she has resisted so far, for the most part."

"Let's get back on track. Tell us what it is you would like to accomplish this week, and we'll see what we can do to help you get it done. Just help, no hostile takeovers or anything like that," Zion gave Lucca a stern look.

"Zion, I love you," Cat smiled and laughed. "That's exactly what I needed to hear right now." She placed her tablet on the coffee table between them, and they began to talk seriously about what she had wanted to do once she had time. Theresa was not retired yet, and she had assumed there wasn't a time limit on when she had to get involved, but Arturo had pointed out the errors in her thinking.

The night wore on, and both Matteo and Ricco had called her to wish her goodnight and made her promise to get some sleep and not let their brothers keep her up all night. By midnight they had a plan, and she went to bed. The giant bed seemed so cold and strange without the two men she shared it with. She tossed and turned restlessly before she finally got up and went to see if there was an old movie on television she could watch and hopefully fall asleep on the couch.

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