I kicked out wildly, flipped onto my belly, and snatched up the pipe that had rolled just out of reach.
“Come here!” He clawed at my legs, trying to pull me down to him, but I held it high in the air and lost myself.
Moments later, I shimmied away from his unconscious body and stood in sudden fear that rocked my core.
What had I done? His face was battered and covered in blood. I tried to convince myself to check his pulse, but my heart was in my throat. “Come on, Si!” I coached myself as I inched over to touch his neck. If there was a heartbeat, it was barely there.
A sudden sound behind me made me whirl around. A man slowly approached us. I immediately dropped the pipe, grabbed my bookbag, and got out of there.
I often wondered about the man who had interrupted us, did he try and get help for Renzo, or was it too late? Maybe he would have tried to kill me too. The streets were a tough place, and I sure wouldn’t have stayed around to find out.
“If you ask me, the world did us all a favor.” Cara’s voice pulled me back from my memory.
“Sounds like it.”
“It did.” She lowered her tone. “Imagine if Renzo was alive and saw your article. He would have hunted you down.”
“Don’t say that.” I folded up the rest of my sandwich, unable to take another bite.
“Did you ever find your mother?”
“Oh,” I wasn’t sure if I should say yes or not, “we did make contact. We plan on meeting up at some point.”
“That’s really good.”
“What does Elio do for a living?”
Again, I stumbled and figured I really should have a blanket statement rehearsed for times like these.
“Import-export stuff.”
“Sounds broad,” she laughed.
“It’s really not that interesting.”
“Seems it.” She brushed the crumbs from her palms. “I hate to go, but I have to get back to the boys.”
“Of course.” I gathered my things, and she walked with me back toward where Abramo had parked the car.
“Yikes, who is that guy?” she asked as we approached.
“That would be my driver.”
“Driver?” She looked at me, confused. “Fancy.”
“Yeah, not really.”
“He looks a little scary.”
“I think that’s just his normal expression.” I chuckled. We had spent over two hours at our lunch, and I wondered if he had just stood there the whole time.
“Well, on that note,” she chuckled as she shot Abramo a quick glance, “promise me you’ll keep in touch.”
“You have my word.”
She wrapped me up in a hug. “God, I missed you.”
“Me too.”