Chapter 21

The contractors took two weeks to complete work on the house, so brutal was the damage. When Steve left to pick up Natalia on that terrible day, Maria and Darlene dropped the metal roll up hurricane shields on all the windows, and bolted the metal core doors, turning the house into an armored fortress. The attackers tried chain saws and battering rams on every door and window until the front door shattered under repeated blows and the assailants were met by two harmless old women wearing military surplus gas masks and carrying shotguns.

The first thing the attackers saw was what they thought was a smoke grenade. It was tear gas. As they cough and retched, BB shot filled the air, and those that were hit and didn’t die wished they did. Darla retreated into the kitchen and the morons followed, which showed their backs to Maria, who was under the bed and had a clean view of the intruders. She mowed them down like wheat. If there were fewer invaders, Darla would have survived, but Maria’s heart wasn’t strong enough to survive the assault, leaving Darla alone against the invaders.

Bruce pieced the story together from evidence found, because there was no one left in the house alive to describe The Battle of Vero Beach, as the local newspaper called it. Eight attackers, and Bruce estimated four men got away, maybe more. At first, Steve and Natalia were unsure whether they were going to move into the house. It was the scene of a bloodbath where loved ones died, and it kept those memories. However, they had to inspect it once the contractors were finished and sign off on their work, then they could decide what to do with it.

On inspection day, they found that the house was exactly the same on the outside as it was before. The doors and the hurricane roll-up blinds were all replaced, but on the inside, the house was a blank slate. The walls were painted a neutral gray, and the floors were replaced with ceramic tile that looked like hardwood rather than the 12-inch square tiles. The larger pieces of furniture were shot to pieces and several attackers bled to death on them, so they were replaced with pieces that Natalia picked out. Maria’s beloved antique front window table and chair set were unscathed, but everything in her China hutch was destroyed. The kitchen was upgraded with the newest appliances, and the look in Natalia’s eyes showed that she wanted to keep it.

The contractor droned on and on about the condition of the house and what he had to do to repair it. So much of the walls, carpet, tiles, and furniture were blood soaked that the living room and Maria’s bedroom had to be stripped down to the frames and rebuilt completely. Everything was punctured with the BB shot they were firing from the ten gauge shotguns. As the contractor described the condition of the house, which included finding Maria’s birds dead and the fish tank shot apart, Steve’s visions of Maria’s terror returned and he stepped outside, thinking he was going to vomit again. When he looked and saw that her paradise was overgrown and weedy, and the pool was turning green from neglect, he started plucking weeds from the kitchen garden. “I can get someone here to fix this up,” said Fabbi, as she put a comforting hand on Steve’s shoulder.

“No ma’am, but thank you, this is my specialty. I need something to do.”

“Good, I want you and Natalia to work together on the house before you start on anything else.”

Steve looked at his sister-in-law. She knows something. “Yes ma’am.” He opened the refrigerator door and found it was stocked with beer. “You know how to bribe a man, don’t you.”

“You have got work to do,” she gave a half smile, which went away fast. She took a breath and said, “Those two guys I sent to help Maria, Benny and Sal, their bodies were found in the swamp out by Fellsmere.”

“Someone tried to feed the gators?” said Steve as he opened a beer. “There’s something that you’re not telling me because the gators in Fellsmere are slow and lazy. Maria could outrun them.”

“They were found with their hands tied behind their backs and a bullet in the back of the head.”

He looked around and saw that Natalia was in the house. “Look, all I know about family squabbles I learned from watching Joe Pesci movies, but this doesn’t sound like a family feud.”

“It’s not, we don’t break down doors,” said Fabbi. “We don’t send an entire squad, and many times there’s actual diplomacy to try to prevent it from happening in the first place.”

Natalia appeared on the porch and looked at the yard and her lip curled up. Then she took Steve’s beer and walked back into the house with it. “Just like her mother,” Steve groaned, and he reached for another beer. He made a beer holder that clipped on Maria’s crutch so she could carry the beer she swiped from him. “Do you know who owns the empty lot next door?” he asked, changing the subject.

“I own it, why?” asked Fabbi.

Steve realized he was not surprised, in the least. “The lawn needs cutting; I was going to add it to my to-do list.”

“I’ll leave you to this,” said Fabbi as she followed Natalia into the house, then added, “Check out the garage when you get a chance.”

Steve grabbed a basket out of the shed and a kneeling pad and got back to work on the garden. Nothing like weed warfare to clear the mind, and he set to clearing the weeds and filling the basket with their corpses. His poor orchids! As he carried the first basket to the compost heap, he stuck his head in the garage. Thanks to Aunt Fabbi, the garage had become a gym with weight set, lifting bench, treadmill and an exercise bike. Steve smiled. This was something he’d give up parking the camper inside for.

The summer was filled with working on the house, getting it back to where it was, then taking it a step beyond. Officially, Steve and Natalia both slept in the small side bedrooms, Natalia in hers and Steve in Darlene’s old room. However, they still couldn’t fall asleep without each other nearby. Just feeling their warmth was soothing on their nerves.

Neither could bring themselves to go into Maria’s bedroom, and Steve realized that just before he left to get Natalia, the one time he put Maria in bed and gave her loves last kiss, that was the only time he had been in her bedroom. Before that, their lovemaking was in the camper, the spare (Natalia’s) bedroom, the living room and once in the kitchen.

The months passed, and life eventually became easier for Natalia and Steve. They learned to lean on each other for support, but they also leaned on each other because they liked to lean on each other. They cooked and cleaned together, splashed and played in the pool, and relaxed in the hot tub and looked at the stars at night after a stressful day.

Twice a week they went to a local range and shot numerous rounds through the 10mm Glocks. Steve was an incredible shot, but he didn’t show off. He worked with Natalia to sharpen her skills and before long she was comfortable with his M17 SIG Sauer 9mm, but the 10mm “rat killers” were too much for her. He bought her a Springfield Armory Hellcat 9mm pistol. It was smaller and lighter than the rat killers and his SIG, and it made a great heavy hitting purse gun.

They spent that time on the range because they might need to depend on each other’s shooting soon. Neither Steve nor Natalia was going to let the attack on Maria go unanswered. Then one day Steve brought his M24 sniper rifle and had the targets set up at range maximum of 500 yards. He handed Natalia a large monocular scope and said. “Tell me where I hit. Don’t describe it like a clock unless you have to. High and to the right instead of ‘two o’clock’ ok?”

“Ok,” and nervously Natalia focused on the target. There was a loud crack, and she noticed a dot appear far to the left, but it was at the same level as the center of the target. “Wide left, nine ... uh, elevation is perfect.”

Without looking up from his scope, Steve smiled. “Perfect, that’s what I want to hear. How far left?”

“Uh...” she noticed marks on the scope when she peered at the target, a string of numbers. They had to mean something. “Seven?”

“Perfect! You figured it out!” suddenly there was another loud roar, and she cried “Bullseye!”

“Yes!” and with a high five, they tried to put ten rounds in the bullseye, and they got close. When they showed their target to the range operator, he whistled and scratched his head.

“Ten rounds inside the nine-ring at five hundred yards?”

“And that was cold, we’ve never shot 500 meters before.” Natalia was so proud that she could help with the accomplishment that she was almost dancing.

Every morning was spent in the garage gym. The door was wide open to take advantage of the cool morning air. Steve hadn’t done any serious lifting since he left the Army, and he missed the way he could burn off the anger in the weight room and soon he was back to a routine. Natalia eventually joined him, and it wasn’t unusual to hear weights clanking and rock music blaring in the garage during the early morning hours, followed by a splash and laughter as they cooled off in the pool after their workout.

The best days were when Anna and Emma stayed overnight, and they all slept in the camper that Steve set up in the backyard and toasted marshmallows over a wood fire in a fire ring that Steve made just for camping with the girls. The campouts became more often as Jeannie got closer to her delivery date. One evening Anna came up to Steve as he finished a ghost story around the campfire and when she was done giggling she asked, “Are you Uncle Steve, or are you Grandpa Steve?”

“What do you think?”

“Whatever makes you feel better when you say it. I’m your grandpa because I was married to your grandma, but you can call me uncle if you want.”

“Yeah!” shouted Emma, “Uncle! Because you’re all smoochy with Aunt Natti.”

“We’re not smoochy, we’re huggy, ya little brat,” cried Natalia. “Learn the difference!”

“You’re too young to be a grandpa,” said Anna.

“What do you think I should do about it?” asked Steve.

“You should marry Aunt Natti,” said Anna and she hit him on the knee with a stuffed toy and dashed back to her seat giggling.

Steve and Natalia looked at each other and shook their heads. The girls must be noticing their late night ‘commute’ in the pop-up camper.

The months flew past, and the stabbing pain of Maria’s passing became a dull ache that was only resolved with someone close by. Steve tried to return to work, but it was a mistake. Every time he stepped into “The Dungeon” he missed her terribly. Every time a patient stepped into the Dungeon; Steve looked up in excitement, hoping it would be her. “I can’t do this,” he finally said to Doctor Albertson.

“I understand,” said his boss. “When you have a handle on it, there will be a place for you here.”

“Thanks,” said Steve, and he walked away from the job that he loved. It was the first time he had ever walked away from a job.

It was November before they realized it and as Steve and Natalia came out of the movie theater holding hands and berating each other for choosing that film. It was the day before Thanksgiving and Vero Beach was already decorated with Christmas decorations, which to Steve, felt weird. Christmas is a cold weather holiday. It doesn’t feel right in the endless summer of the treasure coast of Florida. The couple decided to head to a favorite restaurant a few miles away, so as Steve opened the truck door for Natalia, they kissed twice. The first kiss was just a little buss on the lips, but the second kiss was soft and passionate and suddenly Natalia grew quiet.

Steve got in his side of the truck and asked, “are we ok?”

“I don’t know, what kind of kiss was that?”

“The first kiss was a “Thank you for a fun evening kiss.”

“And the second kiss?”

“That was a “You mean so much to me kiss.” Steve suddenly realized he was skating on very thin ice. Was she trying to lure him into a dangerous position? “Help me out here. You were there for the kiss. What do you think?”

“Do you want the truth?”

“I can handle the truth.”

“Ok,” Natalia crossed her arms under her magnificent breasts and said, “The first kiss was ... yes, that was a thank you for a fun evening kiss.”

“And the second kiss?”

Natalia turned and gave him a sad, stern look. “Seven out of ten. And that’s charity, It should be six, but I like you.” Inside her heart was leaping. She’s waited so long for this kiss. They started as adversaries, then they became heartbroken family, together they had to navigate the sorrow of losing her mother, his wife and be ready if whoever had it out for Maria came back for more. They became teammates cheering each other on, holding each other up, someone who cares for you and someone to care for. And now friends ... close friends...

“I want a rematch,” demanded Steve.

“I want a margarita,” demanded Natalia as they wheeled into their favorite Mexican restaurant.

They settled into the restaurant and ordered a couple of house margaritas (on the rocks, easy on the salt) and sat at a small table holding hands across the table, their eyes dancing. “So did I get marked down for the timing?”

“No, I think your timing was spot on, definitely not too soon, and if it was too late I would have been moved out by now.”

“Quality? Is that what took me down?”

“No, for a first kiss it was actually dead on, full ten out of ten on that.”

“That leaves quantity, too much?” Her lowered eyebrows nixed that. “Not enough?”

“Hell yeah! After the crap that we’ve been through, the hell we’ve been dragged into, building each other up, I’m feeling your boner bump me in the ass every night, I need ... no I deserve more.”

Just as they leaned across the table for “more,” their drinks and nachos arrived, as did Bruce McLaren and Lisa Clark. “Happy Turkey Day! Did we interrupt something?” said Bruce with a shit-eating grin.

“YES,” they said in unison. “How did you know we’d be here?” asked Steve.

“You don’t go anywhere else,” said Bruce.

“Don’t mind us, we’ve been doing police flavored things,” said Lisa as Bruce pulled up a pair of chairs.

“You guys look so cute together,” said Bruce as he sat down next to Lisa. “Hey, can I bring Lisa with me to Christmas dinner?”

“The more the merrier,” said Natalia, “Just as long as she wears that rock on her left hand.”

“What?” gasped Steve and sure enough, Lisa was wearing an engagement ring.

“Us girls notice that stuff,” said Natalia.

“What gave you that idea?” asked Steve.

Lisa and Bruce looked at each other and finally Bruce said, “I’ve been chasing her for years and suddenly she turned around and caught me.”

Natalia squeezed Steve’s thigh and whispered, “Gotcha.” The humor wasn’t lost on Steve. They toasted Bruce and Lisa’s upcoming wedding and ordered them a round of margaritas.

“Wait a minute,” said Steve. He turned to Lisa and said, “You are allowed to drink, right?”

“You!” cried Natalia, and she slapped Steve’s arm.

“Just askin’,” he said weakly.

“Yes I can still drink,” Lisa said defiantly. “We have too much work to do to start having babies.”

It was a fun evening with a lot of laughter, more laughter than Steve or Natalia remember ever having. “Well folks, us working people have to get up in the morning and besides, the Nachos are gone,” said Bruce as he and Lisa pulled on their jackets.

“What should I bring to Christmas dinner?” asked Lisa.

“An appetite, I’m thinking of going Italian,” said Natalia.

Steve and Bruce were both surprised and impressed that Lisa and Natalia had become such good friends over the past few months. As they walked to the truck, Natalia said, “What a fun couple. Why did you hate them so much when I met them?”

“That was you hating on my best friend,” said Steve. “They’re cops, remember?”

“Oh yeah, I knew there was something.” They stopped at the truck, and Steve pulled Natalia to him. He held her tight, and they kissed. His hand was on the back of her head, holding her possessively, while his other hand was on her ass, pulling her tight to his crotch. Their kiss was hot and passionate, and Natalia thought it would never end. When they reluctantly finished the kiss, Natalia’s head was spinning.

“How was that?” asked Steve.

“You’re getting there.”

“You’re so like your mother,” he grumbled after boosting her into the truck and running around to the driver’s side.

After they arrived at home, they looked at Maria’s bedroom from the doorway. Steve said, “Do you like it?” The room was mostly white, the king size bed had a huge white headboard with inlaid pink roses, the dresser and vanity were all white as was the replaced carpet.

“No, it’s not me, I like more color, golds and browns. Mom got all this stuff right after dad died, I think she was planning to become a nun,” said Natalia.

Steve could handle the memories now. The pain has faded, and he can smile at her memory, but this room ... he can’t go in here. This is where she died. It’s where their love ended. Maybe if Natalia makes it hers...

Before they knew it, November was drawing to a close, and they were preparing for Thanksgiving. “We hold a Formal Family dinner on Thanksgiving,” said Natalia, warning Steve.

“Formal family dinner? That means what?”

“For me, formal dress and jewelry, for you it means suit and tie. No sneakers and no nicknames. You can’t call me Natti and you can’t call my sister Jeannie, and we can’t call you Steve. Full names only.”

“I hate my name and the only suit I have is my Army uniform, my tux, and my black funeral suit.”

“We get you a nice shirt and tie and your black suit...”

“NO.” he demanded. “I don’t want to wear that. You can bury me in it, but I’ve worn it too much. My uniform fits I’ll wear that.”

“Is it a green uniform?” she asked.

“No, it’s the full dress uniform, it’s blue not green.”

“In that case let’s go shopping...”

Thanksgiving dinner was at the Tamaro household, and the entire Florida contingent of the Bellini family was in attendance, Steve and Natti, Fabbi and her son Marco, who brought his wife Donata. Of course, there was Derick, Jeannie, Anna, Emma, and little “soon to be named.”

“You don’t know what the sex is?” asked Steve in his new charcoal gray suit.

“Nope, we told the doctor to keep it to herself,” said Derick. “We like the surprise.”

“It’s going to be a girl, she’ kicking like there’s a soccer match going on in there,” said Jeannie.

As they set the table, they placed Derick at one end and Steve at the other. The girls fought over who got to sit next to ‘Aunt Natti.’ “No nicknames at the dinner table,” warned their mother as she set out a casserole dish full of dressing.

“Sorry, it’s been so long since I’ve had a family thanksgiving,” said Steve.

“What happened last year?” asked Natalia.

“You decided to hang out at school with your buddies, and these guys were in New York, it was just Granma Annamaria, Darlene and me. we had a Turduckin.”

“A what?” asked Emmeline, her nose wrinkled.

“It’s duck meat wrapped in chicken meat wrapped in turkey meat.”

“Was it good?” asked Annetta.

“Grandma Annamaria liked it, I thought it was odd.”

“What’s odd?”

“It means kind of weird.”

“Why did you find it odd?” sighed Natalia.

“You have the meat from three species of bird that, individually, are delicious, but they don’t work together. Turkey gravy is nasty on duck, and wrong on chicken. Duck is excellent with a sweet Asian sauce and so is chicken, but not turkey. I spent most of the meal trying to find a way for the three flavors to work together.

Finally, Derek brought the turkey to the table, sliced and separated by color, then he went around the table pouring wine for himself, Stephaton, Natalia, Marco, Donata and Fabrizia, and grape juice for his wife and girls. Fabrizia lifted her glass of wine and said, “A toast, to the newest man in the Bellini family. A little late but always welcome to Stephaton.”

The whole family cried “Salute!” and raised their glasses to Steve.

After sipping their wine, Steve said, “Thank you all so much. Life has been so ... I thought when my Maria died I would never find love again, and you all just bathe me in it.” He and Natalia held hands under the table. Then Steve noticed everyone was staring at him in anticipation. “What am I missing?”

“Grace,” said Fabrizia. “Would you please lead us in grace?”

“Can we do it the way I learned?”

“Why not,” said Fabrizia.

“Ok, everyone join hands...”

The died-in-the-wool Italian Catholics looked suspiciously around the table, then slowly unfolded their hands and took the hands of the people on either side of them. Steve closed his eyes and prayed, “God of goodness and mercy, we commend to your all-powerful protection our home, our family, and all that we possess. We pray that at the next gathering of this family this circle remains unbroken...” then he proceeded into the traditional Catholic grace, “Bless us oh Lord, and these thy gifts...”

“That was beautiful Stephaton,” said Aunt Fabrizia when he finished.

“That was a hell of a prayer,” said Derick. “Did you go to seminary?”

Steve saddened and said, “Father Ewen and I were great friends. He taught me so much.” Steve’s voice tightened up as he said that.

“Don’t worry, we’ll get them,” Natalia whispered in his ear.

As the dishes were passed around and the family celebrated Thanksgiving, conversation naturally turned to Maria, and they told many humorous stories of Steve’s now departed wife. “Are you ok?” Natalia whispered to Steve.

“No. I mean yes, I’m ok, it’s just, I wish I had grown to know more about her ... and you.” Then he said loud enough for everyone to hear, “I suppose there are no Natalia stories to entertain us, are there?”

“No!” cried Natalia, “I was an angel. It was Jeannie, I mean Giannina that was the troublemaker.”

“I don’t exactly remember it that way,” said Aunt Fabrizia, and she began telling stories about young Giannina and Natalia. Annetta and Emmeline laughed at hearing about their mother’s hijinks, and Uncle Stephaton winked at them. In college he majored in ‘Changing The Subject.’

As they ate, Fabrizia asked Stephaton, “Have you ever been to New York City?”

“I watched the parade on TV this morning, does that count?”

“Hardly dear. I am going to go shopping in Manhattan and I would like you and Natalia to accompany me,” said Fabrizia.

“Yesss!” cried Natalia.

“I don’t know if I want to go there unarmed,” Steve whispered to Natalia.

“Oh, relax you big chicken, what’s the worst thing that could happen?” asked Natalia.

“We could get run over by a junkie car jacker.”

“I assure you that no harm will come to us,” promised Fabrizia.

“When are we going?”

“Four o’clock tomorrow morning, so get a good night’s sleep and pack your good suit, we’ve been invited to dinner.”

Natalia and Steve excused themselves early from the dinner and drove home. Steve wanted a good night’s sleep because he would drive Aunt Fabbi’s Bentley to the Fort Pierce Airport tomorrow morning.

The next morning, they were up and ready for Aunt Fabbi by 4:00, but unfortunately she arrived at 3:30 and had to wait impatiently as Steve and Natalia pulled themselves together. Driving the Bentley was a dream. Steve had driven nothing so luxurious. Meanwhile, in the back seat, Fabbi grilled Natalia about Steve and their plans for the future.

“We don’t know ... would it upset you if we had a permanent relationship? I mean ... he’s my stepfather.” Natalia tried to read Fabrizia’s eyes.

“He was married to your mother for eight wonderful days, they were the happiest days of her life since your father died,” said Fabrizia. Then she took a tissue and daubed her eyes. “You have never known him as your stepfather.” Now the words were hard to say. “By the time he got to you in Gainesville ... when you met him he was already a widow.”

“Damn it Fabbi!” groaned Natalia. “Just when I think we were doing ok you bring up something like this.” She was able to get her tears dried up before they parked at the Fort Pierce Airport.

Their flight left at 6:00 AM and was half empty. They changed planes at Hartsfield-Jackson Airport in Atlanta and took off at 10:00 AM and sat in the first-class section of the plane. As Steve and Natalia sipped mimosas, Steve held the plastic champagne flute with his pinkie extended and made comments like, “I wonder what the poor folk are doing.”

Fabbi tried to shush them. “Oh stop, you act like you never rode in first class before.”

“Sorry Aunt Fabbi,” said Natalia.

“I only rode first class once, from Kandahar to Frankfurt, but I was strapped to a stretcher and drugged nearly unconscious in a C-17 Nightingale. Bruce was in the stretcher below me playing grab ass with the Air Force nurses. He said I missed a fun flight.”

“What happened?” asked Natalia.

“Oh, I was prepping a wounded soldier for evac when one of my dummies said, ‘Hey, look at the cool IED in this wall!’ I told him to STAND FAST which means ‘do not touch that cool looking IED’ but he touched it and blew himself and two other men into chunky style meat loaf.”

“What happened to you?” gasped Natalia.

“He lay across the wounded man he was treating, and the building collapsed on him,” said Aunt Fabbi. “He held that stone wall off that soldier until his unit could dig him out, and he saved the man’s life. He was evacuated with the wounded soldier and Sergeant McLaren, who was also injured in the blast.”

“He got shot digging me out ... your mom didn’t tell you that I got my silly ass blown up?” asked Steve.

“No, but she did say your back is messed up.”

“Back and shoulders,” said Fabbi. “He got a bronze star and a purple heart for that.”

“You’re a hero?” gasped Natalia.

“No, Darlene was a hero.”

They landed at JFK a little after noon and were whisked to the Ritz-Carlton overlooking Central Park in a hired car. The ride through the city was mind-boggling to Steve. He’s seen nothing comparable to it. Most cities in the world are not this tall, and the top half of New York was lost in the clouds. When they were dropped off at the palatial Ritz-Carlton, Steve found himself in an alien world. They strolled through the lobby like Fabbi owned the building and took the elevator high into the New York City skyline. It was like Aunt Fabrizia knew the building better than the bellhop.

He opened the door to the Park View suite and said, “It is good to see you again Missus Scordato.”

Aunt Fabbi tipped the bellhop and said, “It’s good to see you too Arthur.” She handed him their garment bags and said, “We have been invited to dinner, could you have these pressed?”

“Yes, Missus Scordato.”

“And could you send up a sandwich and a couple of cold six packs of cola for lunch?”

“Yes ma’am.”

“This is cool!” Steve looked out the window of their suite at Central Park, which was enjoying the first snowfall of the year. The suite was enormous. In square feet, it was probably bigger than their house. “You guys go shopping. I’ll stay here and make sure the maid doesn’t go through our luggage.”

“It’s got a steam shower!” squealed Natalia from somewhere in the suite.

“This is so cool,” said Steve. There was a small brass telescope on a tripod in the window of his room and he was using it to watch people walk through Central Park and try to make snowballs from the first snow of the year. “This is like watching an episode of Blue Bloods!”

“That is part of the decor,” said Fabbi. She tried to sound scolding, but she was entertained by their innocent exuberance.

Steve waved her away without taking his eye from the small telescope. “Go. Go shopping or whatever you do.”

“We will go shopping tomorrow. Tonight, we are invited to dinner by Giancarlo Calvetta,” said Fabbi.

“What’s for lunch?” asked Natalia from wherever she was at in this cavernous suite. The suite was decorated for Christmas with a large tree in the Living room and garlands around the doorways leading to the dining room, kitchen, master bedroom and the other bedrooms.

Steve turned around and found a wooden tray on a credenza. It held a bottle of scotch, a bottle of vodka, and a bottle of bourbon, two glasses and an ice bucket. “I found my lunch,” he called.

Natalia joined him and saw what he was considering. “Oooo! Can I have some too?”

“I have ordered lunch,” said Fabbi.

Steve looked at the huge room service menu. “Dig this - Seasonal Pasta, Market Price. Is there sailing fleets going out after the great north Atlantic linguini?”

“A Nine dollar Coke? That had better be a big fucking coke!” said Natalia reading over his shoulder.

Soon a knock came at the door and a delivery man brought a 12 pack of coke and a huge submarine sandwich that was cut into three-inch lengths. “Best sandwich in New York,” said Fabbi.

After a quick lunch, Steve and Natalia went for a walk in the snow. Being Floridians, neither owns a winter coat, but Steve made sure that Natalia brought a hooded sweatshirt and a denim jacket. Worn together, they make a fine jacket for the winter weather that New York City was experiencing.