Over the years, I’ve often wondered how the two of them got along so well back then. Massimo’s broody, antisocial personality was the complete opposite of Elmo’s cheerful, outspoken one. Although they were close in age, Massimo acted like he was at least a decade older than the fun-loving and carefree Elmo.
So, while my stepbrother engaged in business, Elmo was leaning on the marble column near the front entrance, flirting with a pretty red-haired woman. Not that I knew what “flirting” was when I was five, but remembering that night as I got older, more and more details became clear in my mind.
Elmo had just turned eighteen not long before that party, and I recall thinking how grown-up he seemed in his black tuxedo. He was teasing a woman almost twice his age, making her break out into a
