He clicked the mouse and brought up the email. His boss was quite clear in his intentions. Gavin’s time was officially expired. He was due in China by the end of the week. The airline tickets attached slammed him back into reality. If he did his job, he’d finally get his partnership.

A partnership he didn’t even know if he wanted anymore.

Everything seemed to have changed this past year. In a cutthroat world where profit and flexibility for travel meant success, he’d carved out a name for himself and a reputation that preceded him. He’d been proud of the accomplishment, but after walking into his fourth meeting of the day, he realized he’d reached thirty years old and lived on antacids and caffeine. Burn-out flickered at the edges of his life. He lived in conference rooms and out of suitcases and briefcases. He’d been in Rome and never viewed the Coliseum. Lived in London for two weeks and couldn’t say what the Queen’s residence looked like. Life passed him by, and thoughts of what he gave up with Miranda tortured him.

Before his father called, he’d taken a long vacation and traveled for pleasure. For knowledge. For self-actualization. He studied self-help books and got hooked on the mastery of ancient yogis who reached enlightenment and had nothing in their pocket. When he reached India, something clicked deep inside. Finally, he found the truth. Peace was all from the inside, and had nothing to do with how many accounts can be closed in so little time.

Yet, with his own making, he’d trapped himself. Cloaked in a surface life of travel and profit, he had no idea how to step off the endless hamster wheel. When Pop called him to save Mia Casa, the missing puzzle piece clicked into place. For the first time, he felt like he’d found home. With Miranda back in his arms, he’d finally found love.

But was it too late? He’d be in China for three months. His family accepted his help, but he no longer belonged to the restaurant world, and would never yank that from his brother’s grasp. Lately, Brando had worked hard to become more responsible. Hell, he’d been covering his own ass with all the evenings he missed trying to forge a relationship with Miranda. No, his brother deserved the restaurant. Gavin made the choice years ago to walk away.

It had just been the wrong choice.

A knock sounded on the door and his father stepped in. “Tony says he doesn’t have enough tomatoes.”

Gavin grasped for patience. “Pop, there’s plenty there. Remember, you have to look at the inventory chart. Here, I’ll show you on the computer.”

Archimedes snorted in sheer disgust. “I do not like these fancy new programs. Too many colors. Too small print. Makes my eyes hurt.”

“You have to learn it. I’ll be leaving soon.”

“Ah, you are going back, huh?”

Temper and guilt nipped at his nerves. “I don’t have a choice, Pop. I only took a leave of absence to help. We’re going to be okay. I’ve been showing Brando the ropes, and I’m hiring a general business manager to run the day-to-day. I’m also increasing the wait staff and getting Tony a new assistant chef from the Culinary. Marketing is paid up for the next year.”

Archimedes nodded and slowly lowered himself into the battered chair across from the desk. “All of the loose ends are neatly tied up, yes? You have poured much money into Mia Casa. We all have a role here. I guess this one was yours.”

His words ripped like a bullet and shredded flesh. Gavin leaned forward and drilled his father with his gaze. “Are we going to have one of these conversations again? When you tell me one thing but you really mean another? Just say it, Pop. I’ve disappointed you. I chose a different career than the family restaurant and you’ll never truly forgive me. Why don’t we just get it out there for once?”

All the surface niceties splintered beneath his father’s knowing gaze and it only made Gavin more pissed off. Pop studied him, and suddenly he was back in his youth. “You are wrong, Giovanni. You always have been. I will always support my children going after their dreams, as long as this makes them happy. You cannot run a restaurant with just money. You must love what you do and be passionate. Then it will be successful.”

“Bullshit. A restaurant needs money. It had you and Brando, while I was overseas and Mia Casa almost went bankrupt. So, how does heart play into it, Pop?”

“We needed you, Giovanni.”

He jerked back. “What did you say?”

His father smiled. “You are not happy any longer at your company. I heard this in your voice on the phone. I see it here every day. You lost yourself, but found your home again. Do you know the joy I see in you when you greet the customers or help Tony in the kitchen? You are a part of this place—in the brick and mortar—but you’ve just been afraid to admit it. Mia Casa is your home and your passion. You just needed to leave it in order to find it again.”

The room swayed under the gentle knowledge in his father’s eyes. He shook his head hard. “No, I lost my chance. This place belongs to Brando. It’s his inheritance now.”

“I have already spoken to Brando. He wants to go to college with Tracey. He needs to complete his degree, and then he will come back as well. You will run it together, as brothers. This has always been my goal.” Archimedes sighed and opened his hands in front of him. “You are so stubborn. Like your mama. Yes, your money helped put us back on course. But without you, its reputation will falter. Someone who has no love or stake in a place that makes food will never make a success. Brando is too young, and I am too old. This is your time, Giovanni. If you stay.”

“What if I fail? What if I leave a top-paying job, where I make sense, and find I’m not able to take Mia Casa to the next level?”

Archimedes shrugged. “Sinatra failed many times in his career. Then he got his big break in From Here to Eternity, but he wasn’t afraid to try. You must go after what you want, my son. And what about Miranda? Where does she fit into all of this? Are you ready to leave her?”

“I was going to take her with me. I think I can convince her. I love her, Pop. I don’t want to let her go.”

His father stripped away the last standing barrier, leaving him raw and naked. “Have you not learned? You left her, Giovanni. Forcing her to give up her home and career to follow you across the world gives her nothing. It is an easy decision for you. You lose nothing. You give nothing. Capisce?”

“No.”

Archimedes sighed. “As Sinatra sang in The Joker Is Wild, you must take a full risk. She must know you are willing to give all to love. All The Way. It is time to make a choice. No more half decisions or half commitments. Miranda Storme is worth more than that. She deserves a future, with bambinos and a man she can count on. What will happen after China? There will be another contract, and another trip. She will never know if she is enough.”

Gavin rubbed his forehead and tried to make sense of the sudden turn of events. His world tilted, then tipped over. The thought of waking up and running Mia Casa no longer made him shudder with the fear of containment.

He shuddered with longing.

A bone-deep knowledge pierced through the fog and exploded in his vision. He wanted to stay. He wanted to run Mia Casa, and deal with the family chaos and the chefs and the pain-in-the-ass customers. He wanted to build a life here.

And he wanted Miranda. He wanted to fight with her. Make up. Make love. Have babies. Grow old. And in his next life, he wanted to do it all over again. With her.

Dear God, he’d been a complete ass. Pop was right. He’d craved redemption from his prior actions, but never left his comfort zone. He threw money at the restaurant and figured it’d be enough. He threw out the deal for her to accompany him overseas like she should be grateful. Meanwhile, he gave nothing back. How easy. How pathetic.

Clarity slammed through him and shook his core. The whole time he urged Miranda to leave her fear behind and take a leap had been a big joke. It was he who needed to jump. Away from his past choices. Toward his real dream and future.

“Do you understand now, Giovanni? What I’ve been telling you?”

He opened his mouth but a knot of emotion lodged in his throat. He nodded.

Archimedes smiled. “It is your decision. You may go back. Or stay.”

Gavin sat for a while in silence. “Dad? What would Frank do?”

His father boomed out a laugh. “I think you know the answer to that.”

The decision had been made long ago, maybe the first time he’d laid eyes on his only love weeks ago. He’d just been too stubborn to accept the truth. “I’m staying, Pop. I’m going to buy a ring, ask Miranda to marry me, be a model for Brando, and make a success out of Mia Casa. For me. For all of us.”

Moisture swam in his father’s eyes. He inclined his head with an elegant grace. “A worthy decision, my son. Now go.”

“Thanks. I love you, Pop.”

He grabbed his keys off the desk and shot out the door.

…

“Hey Tony. Where’s Gavin?”

Miranda greeted the chef who was prepping for the lunch crowd. He wiped the sweat off his brow with his forearm and motioned toward the back. “Last time I saw him he was crunching numbers in the office.”

“Thanks.”

She made her way to his private office in the back. She quickly knocked on the door and pushed it open. “Gavin?”

Brando sat in the chair, staring at the computer screen. Slowly, he turned to face her. The devastation in his eyes slammed through her and she quickly moved forward. “Brando, are you okay? Did you and Tracey break up?”

“How could he do it again, Miranda?”

“Do what?”

He lifted his hands up in the air in true Italian style. “Leave us. Pop offered him a deal to stay here and run Mia Casa. I thought he’d changed. I thought he wanted—” A tirade of swear words peppered the room. “Doesn’t matter. The proof is here. Airline tickets to China leaving the end of the week. This will break Pop’s heart.”

Her tongue stuck to the roof of her mouth. Dread slithered and pumped through her blood like venom, except this time she wished she’d die a quicker death. He may love her. But not enough. Deep inside, he couldn’t fight the man he was. He’d never be able to settle down and run a family restaurant. He was meant for bigger things—travel, wealth, million-dollar deals.

Oh, she knew he’d ask her to go. Saying no would rip a part of her away she’d never regain. But chasing him around the world was not her Fate. Wondering when he’d had enough would eventually kill her. She wanted to put down deep roots and flower, with a heart full of trust for the man she loved.

He never lied. Never pretended he’d stay, just said simply he’d never abandon her. And he kept his promise. She had no one to blame but herself for hoping for more. The fairytale. The confession that he couldn’t leave, that he wanted to marry her and spend eternity here. That she was enough.

She was never enough.

The grief in his brother’s eyes broke her heart all over again. She knelt before him and took his hands. “We can’t make him stay.”

He sputtered. “Yes, we can. We’ll have a family meeting. This time, I’ll make him choose—us, or his lust to make a name for himself. We haven’t come this far to throw it all away now.”

She shook her head. “You’re wrong, Brando. If he has a need to travel and see other places, we’ll never be able to keep him. All you’ll have is a shell of a man who hates his life. Neither of us want that anymore, do we?”

Brando squeezed her hands. “You don’t deserve this. You don’t deserve him.”

She sputtered out a half laugh. Oh, God, it hurt so bad. Her whole body ached, and she craved the ability to crawl under a blanket and refuse to move until she healed. But this time, it was on her terms, and her choice. She needed to be strong for both of them. Her voice shook. “Don’t say that. He’s a good man. He came back to make things right with you, with me. He admitted his weaknesses, and that’s what a strong man does. You can’t choose who you love.” She dragged in a breath. “Don’t tell him I know, Brando. Promise me. I want him to be the one to tell me.”

After a few moments, he nodded. “Okay.”

“Thanks. I gotta go.” She stumbled out the door as her reality broke into jagged pieces like a shattered mirror. Her feet hit the pavement as she walked block after block, the chilly city air hitting her face and burning her ears. She walked and thought of her options, raging against the unfairness of starting over. Of getting over him for the second time. Of letting him go without hate or fear or rage. This time, it would be different. She was different.