Surprise: Outback Proposal: Surprise: Outback Proposal. Sarah Mayberry

have Vinnie and the rest of the staff. There’s nothing I do that they can’t.”

      “What is going on? What is happening here?” his mother asked.

      “Dominic is leaving business,” Tony said, his chin stuck out half a mile.

      Dom raised his eyebrows. “That’s not what I said.”

      “What do you call when you buy another business?”

      “I’m a partner. Lucy will still run it. I’m just helping out. I promise this won’t be a problem, okay?” he said. “Look, we can talk about this more tomorrow at work.”

       When you’ve had a chance to cool down and think instead of react.

      He turned to his mother.

      “Save some biscotti for me,” he said. She nodded absently and kissed him good-bye.

      Out in the street, Dom took a deep breath, then let it out again. He’d done it. It hadn’t been pleasant, but it was over.

      The look on his father’s face flashed across his mind. He’d looked betrayed. Hurt. Baffled.

      Dom started to run, lengthening his stride with each step. Soon he was breathing heavily, sweat running down his chest and spine.

      He refused to look back, and he couldn’t stand still forever. His father was going to have to come to terms with his decision. And if he didn’t … well, they would cross that bridge when they came to it.

      LATER THAT EVENING, Rosie stood in the kitchen making spaghetti with meatballs with her husband. As usual, he was cutting the onions because they made her howl like a baby and she was mashing the canned tomatoes in the saucepan.

      “Do you think it would be wrong for me to invite Dominic Bianco to the Women’s Institute fund-raiser next week without telling Lucy first?” she asked during a lull in their conversation.

      “Why would you do that?” Andrew asked.

      “Because if I tell Lucy, she’ll tell me not to invite him.”

      “Okaaaay,” Andrew said, frowning. “Why do I feel like I’m missing a vital part of this conversation?”

      “I think Dom likes Lucy.”

      His eyebrows rose toward his hairline.

      “She’s pregnant,” he said.

      “So?”

      He clanked a frypan onto the stove.

      “You’re serious? You need me to explain?”

      “It’s happened before in the history of the world.” Rosie was aware she sounded defensive. Was she the only one who saw the potential here? “Lucy is still gorgeous and fantastic. Would it be any different if she was a single mom and she met a guy?”

      Andrew looked confused for a minute as he thought it over.

      “Yes. And I don’t know why, it just is. Pregnant women are for protecting and admiring, not lusting after,” he said unequivocally.