Luciano stands there, shock rattling his features. He lets out a breath. “I’m…speechless.”
I want to ask him questions, figure out why he left Lynne and Johnny, but this isn’t exactly the time or place. Rosie will start to wonder where I’ve been, and I can’t keep Johnny waiting much longer. He already worries enough; I don’t want to make that worse.
“I have to go.” I point my thumb toward the street.
That seems to snap Luciano out of his trance. “Sure, yeah.” He holds his hand out between us, signaling me to wait. “Listen, I really am sorry.” He motions to his neck. “I…” Luciano shakes his head. “I shouldn’t have done that.”
“Water under the bridge.” Because if I don’t put it in the past, and Johnny finds out, there will be hell to pay. And I don’t blame him; I would do the same. I turn to walk away but stop myself, something he had said earlier nagging at my thoughts. “You mentioned four times that we had been in. I’ve only been in three.”
Luciano averts his gaze slightly before returning to me. “My mistake. I’m probably just paranoid.”
But I’m not stupid, and Luciano is in the type of business where you can’t make those types of errors. He had covered up for me with Johnny about the Rosie thing, and now he’s doing the same for Johnny.
Why would Johnny come to the diner without telling me? What is he hiding?
I know damn well it’s not another woman, so it has to be something that involves the past we’re trying to escape. That would be the only reason Johnny would keep a secret from me.