Free Footsteps by Susan Fanetti

surprised as he was.
     
    He turned the other way and leaned over Trey
to Carmen. “Joey?”
     
    She only shook her head and rolled her eyes.
A talk for another time, then. But soon. He didn’t like this
development at all.
     
     
    ~oOo~
     
     
    His intention to grill Carmen for some
information about Joey was thwarted after Mass, when they were
milling with other parishioners on the sidewalk outside the church,
taking their turn to say a word to Father Michael. As Trey squatted
down next to him to study a beetle trundling over the concrete,
Carlo turned and came face to face with Sabina. Bina. She must have
been at Mass.
     
    Her hair was brushed sleekly straight and
held back with a silk scarf fixed like a wide headband. She was
dressed in a pretty, brownish-pink skirt that fell below her knees
and a snug, off-white sleeveless sweater with a kind of short
turtleneck. That sweater showed nothing and everything and was
completely stunning.
     
    He looked down at her feet and saw that she
was wearing tall, off-white boots with what he would call a high
heel. Jenny would probably have laughed at that. She’d always
preferred sky-high heels. Still did, for all he knew.
     
    But he was surprised to see Bina here at
all, much less wearing heels. Her foot had been in not-great shape
last night. The marks on her wrists were gone, too, somehow.
     
    “Bina. Good morning. Are you doing
better?”
     
    “Yes. Thank you. And to you, too, good
morning. I stopped only to say, again, thank you. For helping
me.”
     
    “It was my pleasure.” It really was. Too
much his pleasure. He’d been tortured all night by thoughts of her
soft skin in his hand. Her laugh. And that last smile as he was
leaving. His creative mind had taken those tiny details of the real
world and turned them into vivid fodder for his dream world.
     
    Her eyes shifted from him in a way he
thought was self-conscious, and he looked behind him to see his
entire family staring dumbly at them. Nothing to do here but the
obvious, unfortunately.
     
    “Oh. I should introduce you.
Sabina…Auberon”—it was surprisingly difficult to get that last name
out—“this is my family. My father, Carlo Sr., my sisters, Carmen
and Rosa, and my brothers John and Luca.” Bina shook hands with
everyone.
     
    “There’s another brother around somewhere:
Joey.” He ruffled Trey’s head, and his son stood and hooked an arm
around his leg. “And this is my son, Trey. Trey, this nice lady is
Ms. Bina.” He glanced at her to make sure she didn’t mind the way
he’d introduced her. By her genuine smile, he assumed she did
not.
     
    Bina bent at the waist to get closer to his
son. She was wearing a pendant with a rose-colored stone, and it
dangled as she leaned. “Hello, Mr. Trey. How are you?”
     
    “I’m fine thank you. You’re pretty.” He
reached out and wrapped his little hand around her pendant. “This
is pretty, too.”
     
    “Trey, let go, pal.” Carlo put his hand on
Trey’s arm and gently pulled him back.
     
    “It’s not a worry, really. Thank you, Mr.
Trey. You are a very nice person.” She stood up.
     
    “Yes I am. You’re nice, too. Do you like
doughnuts with jimmies? We have doughnuts at Pop-Pop’s for
breakfast. And beagles. I don’t like beagles but Daddy said I could
have two jimmie doughnuts if I was quiet like a mouse in Mass and I
was so now I can have two jimmie doughnuts when we go home but if
you like jimmie doughnuts I would give you one.”
     
    She laughed. It was a beautiful sound coming
from a beautiful mouth in a beautiful face. So beautiful that for a
moment, Carlo hoped she would take Trey up on his offer and come
home with them. What the fuck was he thinking? “Trey…”
     
    Bina put her hand up to stop him from saying
more. “That is the most wonderful thing anyone’s wanted to do for
me in a long time, Mr. Trey. I have an appointment this morning,
though, so I’m afraid I’m not able to join you for a