37
‘A ND this is Paulo, Catarina’s ragazzo .’ Nonna pats the vacant seat between us. ‘Paul, you come sit here with me.’ He grins, nodding at my extended family, kisses Nonna on both cheeks, Italian-style, then sits beside us, his eyes bulging.
‘You’re thinking there’s not enough food, aren’t you?’ I say and he cracks up laughing.
There’s barely any tabletop visible; it’s covered with platters upon platters of food.
There’s a plate with a mountain of meatballs, three giant shallow bowls each with a different type of pasta, a platter of seafood shines in a glaze of garlic and lemon with capers and parsley drizzled on top, and there’s one overflowing with barbecued pork ribs.
A steaming earthen tray of baked eggplants sits in the middle of the table and there’s a bowl of marinated mushrooms to its side.
Paul takes a sweet pepper from the plate, its skin shiny and blistered black from the barbecue, and plops it in his mouth.
There’s a garden salad the size of a small pony and bread is piled haphazardly in any available gap.
Each table setting has a pasta bowl atop a dinner plate and Paul wastes no time getting stuck in when Nonna gives him the nod.
‘Oh my God,’ he says, and as he bites into Nonna’s homemade ravioli his eyes almost roll back into his head.
‘ Ti piace ? You like?’ she says, and he nods enthusiastically. ‘This is kind of like our Christmas, really, so we make it special. Although Angela wants all the food out at once; we should do primi , pasta and then secondi , but what are you gonna do?’
‘Let’s just keep things simple, Mama,’ says Mum and I catch Paul’s eye.
Yeah, like enough food to feed a small nation is simple.
Nonna’s been cooking for days. She would have gone through kilos upon kilos of flour for all this pasta.
Amongst the cacophony of people talking and crockery and cutlery clattering I quietly explain to him everything that’s on the table.
‘Your timing is perfect,’ I whisper. ‘Everyone’s too busy stuffing their faces to give us a hard time.’
‘Food like this? I’ll deal with any kind of drilling from your family. But remind me, who is everyone? Are you related to all these people?’
‘Are you kidding? This isn’t even a fraction of my extended family.
’ There are eleven extra adults around our table.
I point out my Mum’s cousins, Nonna’s sister’s children and their husbands, as well as my uncle (my dad’s brother) and his wife.
My brothers are outside on the balcony on the kids’ table with what sounds like four hundred and twenty-two rampaging Huns, the offspring of, well, I’m struggling to recall with any real accuracy.
‘I’d tell you who’s who, but we’d need a whiteboard and some sticky notes,’ I say. ‘I know it’s full on. Thank you so much for doing this.’
‘Babe, it’s nothing. I’m happy to meet your family. How good is it that you have such a big family and that they all get along, like even your dad’s family coming along with your Mum’s side. My family can’t even do Christmas Day.’
‘I think that’s more a case of Mum having excellent time management skills.’
‘Man, how much does your dad look like his brother?’
‘I know, right? Although, Dad claims to be the good-looking one.’
Paul’s smile drops when his gaze lands on Matty. ‘You and Matty both looked pretty shaken up. You sure you’re okay after this morning?’
I swallow my mouthful of pasta. ‘It was full on, especially when he got rough with Matty. And when Steve wouldn’t let me into Sadie’s and she had to rescue me from a slime ball like that.
’ I shiver. ‘How mortifying. I freakin’ hate that I had to be rescued from a nothing loser like Steve.
I think that’s the most embarrassing part of it.
I never thought I’d need an old lady to protect me, but I really did.
I just felt helpless, you know? I was waiting for that fight or flight to kick in, but it felt like I was frozen. ’
‘Fight, flight, freeze or fawn,’ he says, just as I fork another huge mouthful of fettuccini.
My mouth full, I twist my face into a question mark.
‘It’s a trauma response. Most people know about fight or flight but there’s freeze and fawn too. But you don’t have to worry about it. You won’t have to deal with any more shit from Steve, he knows not to even step foot in Batter’s Cove. Same with his deadshit cousin. It’s all good.’
‘What do you mean?’ I put my fork down on the table.
‘I ran into them on my way home. They won’t ever bother you or your brothers again.’
‘Just like that?’
‘I’m pretty persuasive. These ribs are incredible. You want some?’
I open my mouth to reprimand him for evading any further questioning but Mary, my Mum’s cousin, calls from across the table. ‘So, Cat, the big Year Twelve, hey? What’s on the cards for uni?’
‘Medicine,’ says Nonna.
‘Law,’ says Dad.
I roll my eyes. ‘Thank god you’re both here to answer anything directed my way.’
‘Well, both are pretty amazing,’ Mary says. ‘What are you leaning towards?’
‘I honestly have no idea. All I know is I can’t waste the marks. I love the thought of anything social justice-y, so law would be good, but then so would medicine.’
‘How are you with blood and guts and gross stuff?’ her husband asks.
‘Have you met my brothers? I’ll be fine.’
An hour or so and a couple of hundred kilos later, the table’s cleared, the kids are having water fights in the backyard and the adults are cradling red wine. ‘Let’s get out of here,’ I say quietly to Paul as he helps me place cheese platters down the middle of the table.
‘No way,’ he says. ‘I saw that cheesecake in the fridge.’
‘You can’t still be hungry,’ I say. ‘Anyway, that’s for later. Let’s go to the beach, have a quick swim, make some room for that cheesecake, yeah?’
‘I’m pretty sure I’ll sink,’ he says, ‘but okay, let’s do it.’
If any of the adults notice we are slinking away they don’t say anything. We walk through Batter’s Cove, the streets crowded with parked cars. As we pass a yard, an elephant of a man snores in a hammock and I can’t help but laugh.
‘Siesta time. I bet he’s Italian.’
‘I could go a siesta,’ says Paul, ‘especially if it means I get to wake up next to a beautiful Italian goddess like you.’
‘Words like that could get you in some serious trouble,’ I say. ‘Anyway, if you were Italian, you’d be pinching my cheek right now.’
‘On it.’
‘Good try, but that’s the wrong cheek.’
‘Is it?’
‘Hey, Cat, hey Paulie!’ Ant calls out from the pub’s outdoor courtyard. ‘ Com’era il pranzo ?’
‘Completely over the top,’ I say. ‘We’re going for a swim; it’s that or die.’
‘I can imagine,’ he says. ‘Nonna caught up with yours at the supermarket, sounds like she was bringing out all the big guns.’
‘Next level,’ I say. ‘She freakin’ hand rolled cannoli.’
‘And I’m all for it,’ says Paul. ‘No complaints here at all.’
‘Good timing, hey mate.’ Ant leaves the table and walks over to us. ‘No way you’d have outrun the cops now, hey?’
‘What?’ I turn to Paul. ‘What’s he talking about?’
‘Nothing, he’s exaggerating.’ Paul gives him a hard look.
‘What happened, Ant?’
Oblivious to Paul’s posturing he continues. ‘Nothing, just Paulie kicking the shit out of two losers who deserved it. I can’t believe those dickheads gave Paulie’s chick a hard time.’
‘Paulie’s chick? You know I have a name, right?’ I turn to Paul. ‘Tell me what happened.’
‘I told you, nothing. I ran into them when I left your place earlier.’
‘Can you please define “ran into” for me?’
‘I saw them, I told them to fuck off.’
‘Yeah, with your right hook,’ Ant laughs.
‘You punched them?’
‘Mate, do you ever shut up?’ Paul says to Ant. ‘Cat, I know you’re not going to like it, but they’re lucky I didn’t kill them, I was so angry.’
‘Yeah, he had one by the throat while he was laying into the other one, you should’ve been there, Cat, it was awesome,’ says Ant.
‘The boys were all there ready to jump in and help out if we needed to, but Paulie had them both down for the count, until some woman driving past went crazy and threatened to call the cops.’
‘Scampo, it’s always a pleasure catching up.
Let’s go, babe.’ Paul takes my hand as we follow the beach track through the scrub.
‘Don’t be angry, Cat. I know what you’re going to say, that you don’t need rescuing, that I can’t go around punching people, but the thought of those feral fuckers bailing up you and Matty? I wasn’t going to let that one go.’
‘That’s not what I was going to say at all. It’s actually, I don’t know, kind of thrilling. No one’s ever punched anyone on my behalf. It’s all very medieval, really, isn’t it?’
‘Medieval? So you’re not going to go off your head at me?’
‘Not even close. This is so embarrassing, and I’ll never admit I said this as long as I live, but I think I like the idea of you defending my honour.
Duels at sunrise and all that. It’s borderline sexy.
’ And it freakin’ is. I tug him towards me by his shell necklace, the twin to mine, and kiss him, big time, so he knows just how sexy it is.
‘You just keep surprising me, don’t you, Cat? I might just keep punching people if I’m going to get a reaction like that.’
‘Don’t even think about it,’ I say. ‘Let’s go for a swim. I have another reaction I want to give you. I’m thinking something medieval.’