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the spirit. A splurge is definitely in order.”
    Francesca pulled the money from the pocket of the coat and walked with the salesman and Joanna to the counter. Every single step was heaven. Keeping her hands below the counter, so the salesman wouldn’t see, she counted out the bills. Most were hundreds. There were a few twenties and two tens. She knew the color left her face and her heart nearly stopped beating before it began pounding.
    She caught Joanna’s arm and dragged her away from the counter. “Oh. My. God. Joanna. There’s over a thousand dollars here. I’ve been walking around with that kind of cash in the pocket of the coat. What was he thinking?”
    Joanna gawked at her. “Are you sure?”
    Francesca nodded slowly. “Positive. I counted twice.” She glanced toward the counter. The salesman was watching them closely.
    â€œIs something wrong?”
    For the first time, Francesca glanced at his name tag. Mario Bandoni was totally into Joanna. Even though he was asking Francesca if something was wrong, he was looking at Joanna with a softness in his eyes.
    â€œNo,” Joanna answered for them. She snatched two of the hundred dollar bills from Francesca. “We’ll take a couple more pairs of socks as well.”
    â€œJoanna,” Francesca protested.
    Joanna ignored her and handed the money to Mario. He flashed her a grin, disregarding Francesca’s protest as well.
    â€œYou going to write your phone number down?” he asked Joanna.
    Francesca walked across the room to stare out into the gathering dusk. There were two men standing just off to one side of the store talking together. A couple walked by, the man glancing over his shoulder warily several times at the two men still talking. Francesca realized she’d never seen a hint of nervousness when she’d walked home from work the night before, or when she’d walked to the deli in the morning.
    She wondered at a family who could protect their territory so well that the residents felt that safe, even in themiddle of a city. Pulling Stefano’s coat closer around her gave her a strange sense of security. It shouldn’t. He was a terrifying man. She didn’t understand why he would give her a thousand dollars so casually. He didn’t know her. For all he knew she would go on a shopping spree at his expense. She knew, now that Joanna was aware how much cash she had, that Joanna would try to talk her into buying decent clothes. She’d probably insist they go to the club.
    â€œWhere are you two heading?” Mario asked.
    â€œPetrov’s Pizzeria” Joanna said. “I plan on impressing Francesca with the best pizza in the world, although I didn’t make reservations. I’m counting on Tito letting us in. He always finds me a table.”
    â€œBest pizza ever.” Mario flashed a grin at Joanna.
    â€œWe’re also thinking about hitting the Ferraros’ club this weekend,” Joanna said. “I’ve got a go-to-the-front-of-the-line pass. Do you like to dance?”
    He laughed at her. “Joanna, come on. Who was the king of dancing in school?”
    She wrote down her number. “Call me. We’ll set something up.” Waving her hand, she pulled open the door and they went back outside. She leaned into Francesca. “I’m
so
going to get lucky. I’ve always crushed on Mario.
Always.
He’s so sweet. And I have to tell you, the man can dance like no one’s business.”
    â€œOnly you can walk into a shoe store and come out with a date,” Francesca observed. “You could in college and apparently you’re still as hot as ever. I don’t think the man could describe me even if someone asked him to. He had eyes only for you.”
    â€œThat’s not true.”
    Francesca laughed. “Don’t deny it. You’ve always been a man magnet, at least as long as I’ve known you. I’ll bet you