by Sam Mariano
“Well, fuck.”
“I know. Sorry,” I send back, along with a sad face emoji. “Let’s just cool it for a couple days and I’ll feel things out.”
He reads the message, but doesn’t respond. I wait, thinking maybe he got pulled away for something, but several minutes pass and nothing.
I guess he doesn’t have anything to say back.
Anxiety gathers in my gut because Sal always texts back. My thumbnail winds up between my teeth, and I stare at the back door, wondering for the first time in a while if this could get to be too much for him. Sneaking around certainly has its sucky parts for me, but since my norm is so much different from his, I think it sucks for him more. Being with me means he doesn’t get to integrate parts of his life that he always could before—having a girlfriend for however long one managed to stick was never a prison sentence. They could hang out with his friends, meet his parents if he felt so inclined, and—oh yeah—there was no risk of actual violence if their relationship was found out.
We joke about houses in the suburbs and the places we’ll go on our honeymoon, but we both know that’s all they can be—jokes.
As much as Sal insists he’s not going to get sick of doing this, I don’t think that’s realistic.
How long will it take before he gets so sick of it that he realizes he wants something easier and gives up altogether?
Chapter Twenty Five
Spring wraps up rather drearily with things returning to normal at home. Unfortunately I was right about Mateo getting more militant about literally everything, and he started noticing every single dinner I missed. After the third, I caught him eyeing me with his fingers steepled, a telltale sign that he’s deep in thought, and my stomach churned so violently I told Sal I couldn’t skip dinners anymore.
Which has put a bit of a strain on things, because since Mateo’s surprise visit, I’ve been too worried about skipping out at the bakery, too. I did hire a new girl whose application Mateo approved, so I start giving myself a weekday off instead. Sal syncs his with mine, and now we spend one guaranteed day together, and sneak in as many shorter visits as we can.
It’s hard.
It’s really, really hard.
Things are great when we are together, it’s just not nearly enough, and toward the end of our time I always get bogged down thinking about how long it might be until we can spend another day together.
Summer brings new change: Vince and Mia graduate high school. Sal’s stress about his dad grows, but he doesn’t explain why. I assume it has something to do with my family, which makes me feel anxious. A new maid shows up at the house, I guess to replace Elise since she’s leaving with Adrian soon. This new girl is pretty; physically a little reminiscent of Mia, but then she opens her mouth and all parallels completely die.
I don’t especially like her.
Mateo does.
He swaps her out for Cherie to help out with Sunday dinner service. She tries to befriend Mia for some weird reason. Now she’s trying to connive her way into his bed.
I guess that’s not very charitable, but there’s something about her I just don’t trust. It doesn’t help that she upsets Mia—and sparks some sort of tiff between her and Mateo—literally the first week she shows up.
After the first exhausting, dramatic Sunday night dinner with stupid Meg in the picture, I retire to my room early and feel sad about life. I decide to head to the bathroom so I can text Sal, but I don’t want to text him, I want to see him.
Sitting down on the edge of my huge tub, I stare at my messages, debating what to say. I’m so tired and frustrated. Family dinner zapped all my energy, everyone was weird. I just want to see my damn boyfriend. Is that so much to ask?
I finally settle on, “What are you up to tonight?”
It takes a few minutes, but he finally texts back, “Grabbing a beer with Ethan. How was dinner with the family?”
“Horrible. I wish I could see you.”
“Any chance you could sneak out?” he sends back. A moment later he adds, “Come to the bar. It’s empty and I’ll be leaving soon anyway. I can buy you a drink like old times,” he adds, with a wink.
Just the thought of seeing him makes me feel lighter, but I’m worried about taking that chance. I’m also so sick of my family tonight, I’m almost willing to risk attracting possible attention. Since I’m still dressed for dinner, I’m bar-ready, so I grab my purse, slip on more colorful heels, refresh my lipstick, and go to meet Sal.
I’m nervous about it all the way to the bar, but it turns out the place is about as empty as he said—literally three other people scattered around, then my handsome, perfect Salvatore off to the side with some dark-haired, broad-shouldered man with bright blue eyes. I grin, wrapping my arms around Sal from behind as I approach, leaning in and giving him a kiss on the cheek.
He spins on his seat, grinning at me and catching me around the waist. He pulls me in and gives me a solid kiss that melts some of my anxiety away.
His companion offers me a friendly smile, offering his hand for me to shake. “Francesca, I presume.”
I reach across Sal to shake his hand. “And you must be Ethan. It’s nice to finally meet you. I’ve been trying to convince this guy to introduce us for months.”
Smiling congenially, Ethan says, “If I would’ve known you were coming, I would’ve brought Willow.”
Sal’s arm is still wrapped possessively around my waist. Now I whack him in the shoulder. “See, I told you we could be couple friends.”
He grimaces. “Stop saying couple friends. It’s so creepy.”
“It’s not even a little bit creepy.”
“Couple friends are a normal part of domestic life,” Ethan agrees.
“See.” My eyes widen pointedly at Sal. “He gets it.”
Ethan nods, taking a sip from his beer bottle. “I used to have quite a few pairs of couple friends. Not so much anymore. Willow’s so much younger than me, we don’t really fit into the same friend groups.”
“My brother likes ‘em younger, too. Totally normal to me,” I assure him.
That makes him grimace for some reason. Sal grins, slapping him on the back. “Look at that, you and Mateo Morelli having shit in common.”
“I don’t like them younger, I just love Willow. And I’m confident he and I have nothing else in common,” Ethan replies.
“Oh, I wouldn’t be so sure,” Sal says, still smirking.
That’s right; he said Ethan doesn’t like my brother. I guess I can’t blame him. I don’t especially like him myself tonight.
“No Mateo talk,” I stipulate, climbing up on my bar stool. “Dinner was a disaster. He brought a leggy new distraction to live under our roof—this stupid new maid, Meg. I already don’t like her. She made Mia really uncomfortable tonight and I think she’s trying to ride her coattails. I don’t like it.”
“Meg what?” Sal questions.
I don’t immediately understand the question. “Her last name? I have no idea. Meg the Maid?”
He nods, taking a sip of his beer. My eyes narrow on him, since he looks like he’s holding onto something, and also because why would he ask what her last name is?
Ethan glances between us, then decides to bail Sal out before I can mention it. “But yeah, we should all get together some night, you can meet Willow. She doesn’t really miss couple friends because… well, she’s in college, so she’s never had them. But I kind of miss them.”
“He’s Mr. Suburbia,” Sal says, jerking a thumb in his direction. “If you’d have met him first, he could’ve been your commoner.”
“My commoner was blonde. And not married.” I flick a glance at Ethan. “No offense.”
“I don’t even know what you’re talking about, so none taken,” he says, easily enough.
“That’s true. Plus then I’d have to bump him up my hit list. I’d blow your fantasy all to hell.”
I grin. “Oh, I don’t know. There might still be a fantasy in there somewhere.”<
br />
He smiles, leaning over to give me another kiss. “I’ve missed you this weekend.”
“Me too. I hate vigilant Mateo. I feel like I can’t get away with anything. Hopefully the new maid will at least distract him for a few weeks and I’ll be able to slip away a little more. I assume that’s why she’s there anyway. Mia’s graduated now, starting college in the fall.”
Sal rolls his eyes. “Would you give it up already? Mia and Mateo are never going to happen.”
“You don’t know that,” I say, grabbing his ice water and taking a sip.
“I do know that,” he disagrees. “Remember, we talked about this? The sunken ship? It’s not happening.”
“The girl I warned off?” Ethan inquires.
I nod, leaning forward so I can see him better. “Turns out, she’s meant to be with my brother.”
Salvatore shakes his head at me and takes a drink. “They’re definitely not meant to be. Your Morelli brain-washing is just tricking you into thinking that.”
I point to Salvatore accusingly, but address Ethan. “Strong opinions from the man who has never even met her, and has seen my brother on only a handful of occasions. Clearly I’m not better equipped to make that call.”
“I feel like I’ve met her,” Sal states, rolling his eyes. “I’ve considered kicking Mark out of my house when he actually started describing what her shampoo smells like.”
Ethan laughs. “Oh man.”
Sal nods, looking to Ethan as if for back-up. “I literally want to kill him sometimes.”
“That makes, what, three admirers? Willow was like that. Drove me fucking nuts,” Ethan states, shaking his head.
“Well, one is her actual boyfriend, so only two admirers. And my brother is a secret admirer.”
“He’s something, all right,” Sal mutters.
“Stop trying to dash my romantic aspirations.”
“Your brother doesn’t deserve Mia. Neither does Vince. She should jump ship from your family and come date Mark. Mark would be nice to her. We could be couple friends with them, since you like her so much. Make everyone happy.”
“Until my brother kills him dead, then I think we’d all be a little less happy.”
Ethan nods, apparently agreeing with me. “She has a solid point. No one with half a brain is going to try to take a girl Mateo Morelli wants for himself.”
“Oh, but you haven’t smelled her coconut hair,” Sal says mockingly. Then normally, he adds, “She’s not his girl. She’s Vince’s.”
“I’m sorry you don’t believe in love,” I state, shaking my head in mock disappointment.
“I’m sorry that I’m the only one at this bar who doesn’t want to sentence Mia to a lifetime of abuse at the hands of your shitty brother,” Sal states, like I’m the crazy one.
“My brother isn’t abusive,” I say, a little defensively.
Sal’s eyes go wide, but Ethan interrupts again before he can respond. “You know what, I think I should be getting home.”
My gaze drifts to him as he stands and pulls out his wallet.
“Oh, are you sure?” I ask. “I didn’t mean to interrupt your guys’ night.”
“This is not a guys’ night. I don’t have those with him.”
“Don’t listen to him, he likes me more than he thinks he does,” Ethan says lightly, dropping some cash on the bar and tucking his wallet back in his pocket.
“Well, it was nice finally meeting you. I’d love to meet Willow sometime.”
Ethan nods. “We’ll set something up.”
Sal and Ethan say their goodbyes and the bartender finally realizes there’s another person at the bar. I order myself a piña colada.
Sal sits back down once Ethan’s gone and glances over at me.
“He’s not at all what I pictured,” I inform Sal.
“No?”
I shake my head, thanking the bartender as he slides my drink across the counter and walks away. “For some reason I was envisioning a balding, doughy, kinda sleazy middle-aged man with a puffy face.”
“Is that not what Ethan looks like?” he jokes.
I give him a dry look. “Yeah, because you’re a man you clearly can’t see his chiseled features, million-dollar smile, and dreamy blue eyes.”
Sal rolls his eyes. “Gross. You’re not allowed to be attracted to my almost brother-in-law.”
I grin, taking a sip of my drink. “Obviously you’re far hotter, but you always made him sound like a creep, and he’s pretty hot.”
“You of all people should know someone can be a creep and also have a traditionally attractive appearance.”
I know he’s talking about my brother, but I don’t want to get back into that. I don’t even feel like defending Mateo right now, it just happens by instinct when Sal pokes and prods at him.
“He wants to be couple friends,” I tell him, smugly.
Ignoring me, since he’s weird about that phrase, Sal changes the subject. “I’m glad you could get away tonight. Bonus Francesca time is my favorite.”
I nod, sipping my drink. “If the new maid doesn’t annoy the living fuck out of Mateo with her brashness, maybe he’ll lose his focus for a little while again. I’d love to spend more of the summer together.”
“Tell her to distract him really well and we can go away for a whole weekend,” he suggests.
“Well, that’s probably not going to happen. I’d be happy to just get back to skipping the occasional dinner though. Then I don’t have to endure them when nobody’s really there anyway and I get to see more of you. It’s a win-win.”
“I want you overnight,” he states. “This no overnight bullshit is killing me.”
Sighing heavily, I droop. “I know. I’m sorry.”
Sal reaches over and places his hand on top of mine, giving it a little squeeze. “No reason to apologize.”
“I’ll try. I’ll monitor the new maid situation and slip away as soon as I can for an overnight. If I have to, I’ll go to dinner and just leave after to escape his notice.”
“If you can do that, we should be doing it already,” he states.
“Well, I can’t yet. I have to wait until he actually starts fucking the maid. I don’t think he has yet. Or maybe he won’t start at all, because he will realize she doesn’t compare to—”
“Don’t say it,” Sal says, dramatically pressing his hands against his face. “Please, for the love of God, don’t say it.”
I grin, at this point just enjoying teasing him. “I wish you’d just agree with me, then it would be a moot point. You could nod, say ‘yes dear’ and then we move on.”
“Never gonna happen.”
“I’m sorry you’re on the wrong side of history.”
“I’m sorry you have Morelli brain,” he shoots back.
“Whatever, you love my Morelli brain.”
Sal’s dark eyebrows rise. He’s so damn cute when he’s disapproving of my lineage. “I love you despite your crazy Morelli programming, not because of it. Big difference.”
I lovingly caress his hand on the bar top as I tell him, “When we’re dancing at their wedding, I’m going to be so smug.”
“You are an insane person.”
I grin, wink, and take a sip of my piña colada. “We’ll see who’s crazy when they’re our new couple friends.”
“You’re gonna give me nightmares.”
“They probably won’t be fun couple friends. I mean, she will, but he’s always going to half-suspect your father of wanting to kill him, so that might put a hitch in things.”
“You realize this girl doesn’t even like your brother, right? The one whose wedding and married life you’re currently planning?”
“She does, she just doesn’t know it yet. Our kids can all have play dates.” I shake my head, pressing a hand to my chest as if overcome. “It’s all going to be so perfect.”
Sal shakes his head, tipping his beer back for a long drink. “Do they just grind up crazy pills and put them directly in the w
ater supply at your house? Maybe that’s why Mateo enforces Sunday night dinners. Maybe he doses everyone with the wine.”
I have to laugh, since that’s not outside the realm of things my brother would do. I play along anyway, though. “Maybe he does. Maybe after your first family dinner with them you’ll understand.”
“I don’t think there are enough drugs in the world to get me to endorse your plan to marry a rape victim off to her rapist. I’m really, really confident about this.”
“Sh,” I say, bringing my finger up against his lips. “Don’t ruin it.”
Chapter Twenty Six
Mateo starts sleeping with the stupid maid.
Since my brother’s love life has become a contest between me and Sal, he treats it like a victory. I inform him he has only won a battle, but I’m still going to win the war. We both win the greater pot—more time together. Now that Mateo’s tucked away with his pretty little distraction, I’m able to slip out to visit Sal after dinner four nights the first week.
It. Is. Incredible.
Friday I get to spend the night with him, and I decide to call myself off Saturday morning so we can have the morning together, too.
Sal and I make breakfast together. I sit at his table in one of his T-shirts after an amazing night of togetherness, and life is absolutely beautiful.
Sunday Mateo brings his maid to family dinner. She leans down to whisper intimately in his ear right in front of Mia, and he caresses the maid’s hand on the table. I’m not worried on a grand scale; it’s very like Mateo to be aggressively into a woman early on, then his interest tapers off as he figures her out and gets tired of her. Not Beth or Mia, but the flavor of the week types like the maid. The more intensely interested he is at the start, the faster he peels back the layers, figures her out, and finds her lacking in some area; consequently his interest dies as quickly as it started up.
I’m not worried about any of that. Mia is still with Vince right now anyway.
No, what ruins Sunday for me the bomb he drops at dinner about unfriendliness with the Castellanos family and how Mateo is “planning something” now because they’ve given him no choice.