by Liz Bower
“You’re as bad as my mum. It’s only been three weeks. Are you coming or not?”
“Yeah. I love going for lunch at your parents’.”
“Only because you don’t get interrogated like the rest of us.”
I laughed because her mum wasn’t that bad. But then I remembered the last time I had been to their house and I groaned. Lily had been there, looking as perfect as ever in her skinny jeans and low-cut top. Full make-up on to emphasise her dark eyes. Black hair piled up artfully in an ‘I spent hours making my hair look like I just got out of bed’ style. Yeah, that had been real fun. Especially when she managed to detach herself from her mobile for five minutes only to ask if I’d managed to find a boyfriend yet. Or if I was still pining over Josh dumping me. “Who’s going to be there?”
Gabi shrugged a shoulder. “Everyone, I assume. Oh no, Dante won’t be there. Apparently he’s off on a walking weekend in the Lakes.”
So Lily probably will be there. Great.
“Come on. What are you waiting for?”
I wasn’t sure because I did want to go. Was I really going to let Lily keep me from spending time with Gabi’s family? No. No, I wasn’t.
Half an hour later we were riding the Metro towards Manchester and Gabi’s parents’ house that was on the outskirts of the city centre. I loved their house, a period home with stained glass windows and old original fireplaces. But my favourite room was the kitchen. With marble-topped counters and rustic wooden cupboards, it always felt so homey. Especially with the soft glow of the warm cream-yellow walls and the lingering smell of garlic and rosemary, a scent I always associated with Gabi’s mum.
Gabi shoved open their front door and shouted out our arrival as I followed her inside. That was another thing I loved about going there; it was always filled with noise, and this time was no different. As I closed the stained glass–panelled front door behind me, the sound of the TV blaring from the front room hit me. The softer sounds of the radio filtered in through the kitchen, along with the voice of Gabi’s mum, Regina, ‘interrogating’ one of her children.
We hung our coats over the carved wooden newel post at the foot of the stairs and headed for the kitchen. Dominic was sitting at the kitchen table, his arms folded as Regina flipped over the lamb in the frying pan. The smell of it made my mouth water.
“I don’t understand why she never comes here.”
Dominic leaned across the table towards his mum. “She does. Never is a slight exaggeration, Mum. Ellen wanted to go shopping with her friends today, but she’ll come next week.”
Regina huffed, and then finished browning the meat before transferring it to a tray that she slid back into the oven. When she straightened up from the oven, her gaze landed on us standing in the doorway.
“Gabriella.” Regina lifted her hands as she crossed the room to Gabi. Cradling her hands around Gabi’s jaw, she kissed her cheek and then hugged her. “I’m so glad you managed to make it.”
Regina turned to me, but I caught Gabi’s eye roll at her mum’s words. Then Regina greeted me in the same way. She had always made me feel like part of the family.
We got settled with drinks around the table as Gabi’s dad, Chris, joined us from the living room to sit next to Dominic. Looking at Dominic was like seeing an older version of Marco. He had the same dark hair but at thirty-two, four years older than Marco, his was sprinkled with grey at the temples.
The difference between Dominic and his dad, however, was striking when they were next to each other. Chris’s once blond hair was mainly grey, and his pale green eyes reminded me of Marco’s, except they had a few more lines around the edges.
Wiping her hands on the pink flowered apron wrapped around her waist, Regina joined us at the table, lowering herself into the chair next to Gabi. They had the same chocolate-coloured eyes and burnt mahogany hair, but Regina’s was shorter and curled around her face. I smiled as I remembered the first time I met Regina. Gabi had brought me round after school and she had fed us almond biscuits with hot chocolate to dunk them in. Regina told me her mother had taught her to make them, that they were a speciality in her mum’s home in Italy where her parents had lived before moving to England after the war.
The sound of the front door slamming interrupted my reverie, and Marco appeared, looking … rumpled. He was wearing a pair of jeans that had rips at the knees and were stretched a little too tightly across his thighs, as well as a creased and faded blue T-shirt that had Space Cadet printed across the front of it.
Regina rose to give him a kiss too and then aimed a pointed look at his outfit. She glanced over his shoulder into the hallway. “No Lily today?”
Marco took a seat next to Dominic, and I noticed the quick look he exchanged with Gabi. “No,” Marco said.
Gabi nodded at him, clearly having their own silent conversation. I got a whiff of mint as Regina started to crush it with a pestle and mortar, and my mouth watered.
Marco eyed her warily. “Don’t say anything, okay?”
Regina glanced over her shoulder. “Don’t say anything about what?”
Marco traced a finger over a dark groove in the wooden table, gaze cast down. “Lily … We split up.”
I glanced from Gabi back to Marco, my eyes wide. Gabi had said they were having problems, but I didn’t think she meant they were that bad.
Oh. Was that why Lily wouldn’t be an issue for the fake date? Would it still be fake if he didn’t have a girlfriend? I shook my head. Of course it was.
At Marco’s confession, Regina turned to face him. “Oh, figlio. I am sorry. But you know I always thought you could do better than her.”
“Mum.” The warning tone was clear in Marco’s voice. Regina glanced at Gabi, then towards me, and my cheeks heated. For the first time, I felt like an intruder on a family moment.
Regina held her palms up towards Marco. “Fine, fine. I won’t say another word.” She busied herself by serving up the lamb ribs, then placed a huge bowl of aubergines, tomatoes, and olives on the table. When she stroked a hand over Marco’s hair before giving his shoulder a squeeze, the tension eased.
I couldn’t help but wonder why they had split up as Marco kept his head down. Until Dominic punched his arm.
“Don’t worry about it. Happens to the best of us. It wasn’t that serious, was it?”
Marco gave him a half-hearted smile and shook his head. My chest ached for him as I remembered when things ended between me and Josh. The hurt, the humiliation, the anger.
See, that’s why it’s easier to be alone. At least you’re in control over the loneliness. At least it was your decision.
Regina piled some of the vegetables onto her plate, and then turned to look pointedly at Gabi. “And what about you, Gabriella?”
Gabi stuffed a forkful of lamb into her mouth and shrugged. Her mum let out an exasperated huff and looked at Dominic. “How am I supposed to have grandchildren when none of you want to settle down?”
Dominic smirked but didn’t say a word. Looking back at Gabi, Regina carried on. “So there’s no nice young man who’s caught your interest yet?”
Gabi’s cheeks flushed, and I tilted my head at her questioningly. Surely she’d have told me if she’d met someone.
She shook her head. “Not yet, Mum. I’ve been too busy at work. I got that promotion I wanted. You’re now looking at a full-time broadcast journalist,” Gabi said as a smile spread across her face.
I couldn’t help but smile too because I was so happy for her, and a little in awe. I still couldn’t believe that she worked at the BBC. That was so cool.
“That’s wonderful,” Regina said. “It would be even more wonderful if you had someone to share the success with though.”
Gabi rolled her eyes, much to Regina’s annoyance. “I’ll work on that, Mum.”
The rest of the lunch was spent catching up on everyday life, but Marco was quiet—for him, anyway. He didn’t make a single teasing comment about me or anyone else. And surprisingly, I found
myself wishing that he would. I wasn’t sure I liked quiet Marco.
CHAPTER SIX
The next day I was headed to the office early for two reasons. One, I wanted to impress Alex. Two, it was deadline day. And if we managed to release the new version of software to our client on time, well, it wouldn’t hurt my chances of securing the new job.
By four o’clock I had signed off on all the outstanding issues with the release and made my way to Alex’s office. His door was ajar so I stuck my head round it and gently knocked on the doorjamb.
“Come in. Unless you have bad news for me.”
I laughed as I took a seat across from him and pushed the forms across his desk. “I have nothing but good news. All the issues have been retested and I’ve signed them all off. I’m happy for the IT department to do their magic, and then they can do the install tomorrow as planned. I just need your signature.”
Alex picked up the papers and flicked through them. With a twist of his flashy black pen, he signed with a flourish where I had marked, then handed them back to me. “Can you take them up to Toby, please? And then you might as well finish for the week.”
Taking the papers, I stood and turned to leave but stopped when Alex spoke again.
“By the way, Lakeside Holidays were impressed with the workflow setup examples you sent them. They are looking forward to meeting you at the dinner on Wednesday.”
Yes! With my back still to Alex, I did a silent, mini fist pump before schooling my features and facing him. “That’s great news, Alex.”
“I’m glad you agree. Keep up the good work, Jo.”
I purposely strode slowly out of his office rather than with the happy dance I wanted to do. It was like I could almost taste the sweetness of success at securing the client analyst job. I loved testing the software. It was like being paid to play with the system and get it to break; who wouldn’t love that? But as a client analyst, I’d get to advise how the software could be set up for new clients, design their processes into workflow with them, and still do some testing.
I ran up the stairs towards the IT department looking for Toby. He wasn’t hard to spot, as he loitered on the edge of a group of people. I tapped him on the shoulder, and as he turned his face lit up when he smiled. He was sweet, really. If not a little odd.
“Hey, Toby.” I held the document out towards him. “Alex has signed off on the release. Can you get it ready for installation tomorrow night?”
“Anything for you, Jo.”
His small blue eyes crinkled at the sides as his smile broadened, and I gave him a small smile back. “Thanks.”
He took the papers and continued to stare at me. I waited for him to say something. The sounds of the office grew louder as the silence stretched between us, and I shifted from foot to foot. The tapping of fingers hitting keys, the murmur of voices from the group we were standing on the edge of, but still he just stared and said nothing.
“Okay then, I’ll be off,” I said as I pointed my thumb over my shoulder. He gave me a little wave and then wandered back to his desk. Okay, make that more than a little odd.
Moving back towards the stairs, my gaze caught Dan’s from the group Toby had been loitering around. I smiled, but his gaze flicked towards Toby. Dan shoved his hands into his trouser pockets. My gaze dropped to his tensed forearms, bare below the hem of his rolled-up shirt sleeves, revealing the muscles beneath the fine black hairs covering them. Mmm, there was definitely something sexy about rolled-up sleeves. I dragged my gaze away, but then his lips pursed like he’d tasted something bitter and he turned back to the conversation of the group. Was it me? It couldn’t be. I hadn’t even spoken to him, but somehow I seemed to have annoyed him. Strange. Maybe it came with working up there. With a shrug, I ran back down the stairs.
As Alex suggested, I left the office early only to find myself home alone. Gabi was either still at work or out somewhere. That wasn’t unusual, but she had been spending more time with her work colleagues than normal. Presumably she wanted to impress them and get to know the new people she would be working with now that she was a broadcast journalist. I missed hanging out with her though.
Resting my iPad on my lap, I scrolled through Facebook until I got bored, then flicked over to Pinterest instead and found some funny quotes and recipes to save. That kept me entertained for a while until my stomach growled.
I headed for the kitchen and swung open the fridge door. Hmm, not much to work with, and I wasn’t the cook in the house, but I had no idea if Gabi would be coming home anytime soon.
I grabbed Gabi’s tub of olives, some veggies, and a tub of hummus and carried my little spread back into the living room. Picking up the remote I flicked on the TV and scrolled through the recordings until I found a rom-com film and settled back on the sofa.
A pounding on the door woke me, and I pushed myself upright on the sofa. The film had finished and the digital display on the TV read 11:00 p.m. I panicked a little because who would call round at that time of night? Unless Gabi had lost her keys, but that would be very un-Gabi-like.
The pounding on the door started again, and I crept over to the window, pulling the curtain aside to reveal a sliver of outside.
I let out the breath I had been holding when Marco came into view. His forehead was pressed against the door beneath his arm, and holding him up if the way he was swaying was anything to go by. I hurried to the front door and as I pulled it open, he fell through the doorway. He almost knocked me over as I staggered backwards and grabbed hold of his hips until he straightened. The smell of beer wafted over me as his head dropped to my shoulder.
“Come on,” I said as I tried to get him to walk to the sofa.
He stumbled and dropped onto the cushions with his eyes closed. I didn’t think I’d seen Marco that drunk since we were teenagers and discovered cheap cider.
Not sure what to say or do, I just stood there staring at him until he lifted his legs and curled them up on the sofa. It didn’t look like he was in a hurry to leave. I pulled off his shoes and received a mumbled response.
“Gabi’s not here,” I told him. But my words were met with silence. “Are you staying?”
He rolled over onto his back. When he opened his eyes, they were red-rimmed and unfocused.
“Not going back to Lily’s,” he said before laughing. Then let out a snort. “Three’s a crowd, you know.”
They had split up, so I didn’t have a clue what he was talking about, but his eyes quickly closed again. I knew they shared a flat in Manchester and assumed they were still living together. A pang of sympathy hit me as I imagined having to share a flat with Josh after we had split up. I was glad we had never lived together.
I opened the lid of the chest we used as a coffee table and pulled out a blanket. I threw it over him and then grabbed a pillow. “Marco?” All I got in response was a soft snore, so I lifted his head and pushed the pillow underneath.
“Doesn’t mean anything,” he mumbled as I laid his head back on the pillow.
I pushed his hair back where it had fallen across his eyes and wondered what had happened. He didn’t look happy with his eyes screwed shut; he looked sort of vulnerable. Obviously he was in no state to talk about it, so I switched off the TV and headed upstairs for bed.
The next morning as I came downstairs ready for work, the only trace of my late-night visitor was the blanket folded up on the sofa with the pillow on top.
Gabi was in the kitchen, so I popped my head round the doorway. “Did you have a good night?”
“Erm, yeah. It was okay. Marco called me.” She glanced over her shoulder at me but quickly looked away. “Which I need to talk to you about.”
“That sounds ominous.”
“He wants to … He asked if he could crash here until he finds a new place to live. Would you be okay with that?”
I leaned against the doorjamb. Marco here full-time? Could I cope with that? I wasn’t sure.
“Lily’s being a bitch since they split up, and
he says he can’t stay living at their flat any longer.”
Could she be any more vague? “What happened?”
Gabi let out a soft sigh, leaning back against the countertop to face me and pulling her lips to one side. “It’s not really my place to say. But he … caught her cheating on him. Then she brought the guy she cheated on him with round to theirs when he was in. So you can understand why he doesn’t want to stay there any longer.”
Oh my God. His words from the night before made more sense. I had never been a fan of Lily’s. And if the icy looks she threw my way when I saw her were anything to go by, I thought the feeling was mutual. I’d never understood what Marco liked about her, but I didn’t think she was the cheating type. Huh. Then again, I hadn’t thought Josh was either, so what did I know. “That’s awful. He showed up here last night drunk, but he never said anything. Is he okay?”
Gabi gave me a half-hearted shrug. “He will be. I told him if you said yes that he couldn’t wind you up like he does when he comes round. Also, he said you owed him one because of the fake date this week. So he didn’t think it would be a problem.”
I gazed up at the ceiling, tracing a crack in the paint, unable to come up with a good reason for Marco not to move in after that revelation. “Yeah, I guess I do owe him. So when is he moving in? I assume you already told him yes.”
“He is my brother, but I said I’d check with you first. It’s your house as much as mine, Jo. If you’re not happy about it, I’ll tell him no. He can always stay with Mum and Dad. But you might want to go easy on him if he does move in.”
My mouth dropped open to defend myself, but then I closed it again. Gabi had a point, even if he was usually the one who started it. I also guessed he would rather not move in with their parents if he had asked Gabi instead.
Living with Gabi was easy, but Marco? Probably not so much. The thought of him being there when I got home from work, waiting to wind me up wasn’t one I relished. But then I remembered the Marco from the other night. The one who had tried to comfort me instead of laughing at my admission of wanting to share my life with someone. How vulnerable he had seemed the night before. And he had agreed to be my fake boyfriend for the night. Who knew, maybe we could go back to being friends again like when we were teenagers—before his slutty gene kicked in and he slept with any woman who glanced his way. Or, maybe taunting me wouldn’t be top of his priority list after being cheated on.