Chapter 18 #3
“I suppose . . .” Giana trailed off and sighed. “Joy told me I should leave you alone, that she left Oliver alone and he found Luca and it all turned out. I just worried that you wouldn’t find someone. Or you’d find someone and they’d be three thousand miles away and I’d never see you.”
“It could’ve happened that way,” Enzo agreed.
“But it didn’t. You can’t always force things to happen the way you want.
You’ve got to let me figure things out on my own.
When you don’t—that’s when I stay away, Mom.
You know that. We’ve talked about it.” He said it gently, but he could feel the words hit her and her gaze grow solemn as she absorbed them.
“I know. I’m sorry. I got carried away. I shouldn’t have, but . . .ugh, he was perfect for you, Enzo, darling. He is perfect for you.”
Well, he’d known he probably wasn’t getting out of this conversation without a little I told you so, but he’d take that, as long as she understood the boundaries he was setting.
“Yes, he is,” Enzo agreed.
She sighed again, but happier this time. “All’s well that ends well. I shouldn’t have pushed, I know. I am sorry. Well.” She laughed. “Mostly sorry. Also happy to be right.”
“You know what?” Enzo wiped his hands on a napkin and wrapped his arms around her, hugging her tight. “I’m really happy you were, too. And one more thing. I’m happy you were going to tell me about you and Joy. That you wanted to tell me about you two.”
“Well, of course.” Giana beamed at him. “You’re my beloved son. I just wish I’d managed to say it before you saw.”
“Well, how about we just . . .make sure there’s no more seeing,” Enzo said.
Giana batted her eyelashes innocently. “And I’m sure you and Will won’t be engaging in any PDA whatsoever.”
Enzo groaned. “I take it back. I don’t approve at all.”
Giana just laughed though. “Oh, you can’t take that back. Any of it, actually.”
And he knew then that they’d be okay.
“And then,” Enzo continued, “I walked inside the Inn and there was my mom and Joy. Kissing.”
Inside the shower, Will made a gratifyingly surprised noise.
“What?” he exclaimed. He dropped the soap as punctuation, just like how Enzo had dropped his sub sandwich.
At another time, Enzo might’ve made a joke about how if he’d been in there, he’d have taken advantage of that fact, but he was too occupied telling Will what had happened next.
“They were kissing. And then, thank God, they stopped kissing.”
“What happened after that? Did they tell you what’s going on?”
“Apparently they’re in love. Or dating. Or whatever.
” Enzo wiped a hand across his face. He didn’t want to think about the whatever.
Giana wasn’t old; she still deserved happiness and companionship.
He just didn’t want to think about it. “My mom told me she’d wanted to tell me about it, she just didn’t have time before I walked in on them. ”
“But she did talk to you,” Will said. He flipped the shower off and Enzo reached over, handing him his towel.
He’d meant to tell him all about their talk.
But then Will stepped out, towel wrapped around his waist, chest still damp, droplets of water snaking their way down his tanned chest. Enzo wasn’t proud of it, but okay, he still got a little distracted whenever Will was naked around him.
Even when Will was partially naked around him.
Just a little flash of skin and his blood went hot and his brain power slowed to a sluggish crawl.
“Enzo? You okay there?” Will asked, chuckling under his breath.
“Sorry, you’re just . . .you’re just really distracting.”
Will laughed out loud. “I’ve finally figured out the secret for shutting up a Moretti. Get naked.”
“This Moretti isn’t going to argue with that technique. Not in the least.”
Will ran a hand through his hair, shaking droplets all over Enzo, even though he hadn’t moved from his perch on the counter. “But you did talk to her?”
“Yeah.” Enzo hesitated. “It does make sense that she was working overtime to find someone for me, if she was happy and worried that I wasn’t.”
“It doesn’t excuse it, but it does explain it,” Will agreed.
“I told her she can’t interfere anymore. She promised she wouldn’t. I didn’t say this, but next time, if she breaks her word, you know who I’m going to tell.” Enzo waggled his eyebrows.
Will laughed again. “Your cousin?”
“Luca’s disappointed face could make anyone regret their choices,” Enzo said, nodding. “Ask me how I know.”
“You didn’t change your life because he disapproved of you,” Will argued loyally.
“No. Not entirely, anyway.” Enzo pressed a kiss to Will’s damp cheek. “But thank you for believing the best of me.”
“Of course.”
Enzo leaned in, and there was that butterfly-fluttering, blood-moving-hot-and-slow, feeling again. But this time he tipped his head closer and was angling for more than just a peck when the sound of someone knocking on the front door echoed through the bathroom.
“Who’s that?” Will wondered.
“No clue,” Enzo said. “It better not be my mother. I made her promise she would leave us alone. Apparently she’s in a bit of honeymoon phase of her own. You’d think she’d have a lot more respect for ours.”
“You’d think,” Will said dryly.
Reluctantly, Enzo jumped down off the counter, forgoing what had been shaping up to be a very promising makeout session, and maybe even more, considering that all he’d have to do to strip Will bare was tug on a corner of his towel.
“I’ll get dressed,” Will said as the knock echoed again.
Enzo walked to the front door, thinking that he was going to have to have a peephole put in, so he could decide if he actually wanted to talk to the person on the other side.
It had never been an issue before; but now that Will was living here and Enzo was going to be around a lot more .
. .well, he was going to do whatever he could to protect their hard-won privacy.
Maybe if this worked out for the next year or so, they could buy a house together. Away from his mother. On the other side of town, preferably.
But when Enzo pulled the door open, it wasn’t Giana.
It was Oliver.
His tanned cheeks were ruddy and his eyes were narrowed, upset.
It took Enzo a moment to realize why.
“She told you, didn’t she?” he asked, pulling the door open wider.
“You look pretty calm about it,” Oliver said, striding in, hands shoved in the pockets of his jean shorts, a frown marring his expression.
Enzo shrugged, following him into the living room.
The bedroom door stayed closed, and Enzo supposed he couldn’t blame Will for staying out of this mess. It was their mess to deal with—his and Oliver’s.
If he hadn’t already been involved, he’d have avoided it, too.
“I guess I am,” Enzo said, sitting down on the couch. But Oliver continued to pace. Clearly he was not calm about it.
“I couldn’t believe it, when she told me.”
“At least she told you,” Enzo pointed out dryly. “I found out because I saw them kissing.”
“What,” Oliver exclaimed.
“Yep.” Enzo nodded. “You definitely had the better revelation.”
His confession seemed to have taken the wind right out of Oliver’s sails. He dropped down onto the other side of the couch.
“I just don’t . . .” Oliver took a deep breath. “I don’t understand.”
“Don’t you?” Enzo said as kindly as he could manage.
“She never, not before my dad, not with my dad, not . . .” Oliver took a deep breath.
Then Enzo realized what the issue was. Unlike Oliver, he’d never known his father.
He’d likely been dead before Enzo was even born.
But Oliver’s dad had been a presence in his life, for most of his life.
He’d only died ten years ago, from a quick-moving cancer that had claimed him almost as soon as it had been discovered.
“Doesn’t mean this isn’t legit, that her feelings aren’t legit,” Enzo said gently. “You know that. Queerness isn’t a thing that always goes in a straight line. It doesn’t always make sense.”
“I know. I know,” Oliver said. “But she’s my mom.” He paused. “With your mom.”
“Believe me, nobody was more surprised than me. And if you want my advice, just don’t . . .think about that part very hard.”
Oliver barked a laugh. “Probably easier for me, since I found out different than you.”
“Probably. But I got the impression they’re not wanting to hide it anymore. So I can’t guarantee what you’re going to see in the future.”
“I know,” Oliver said with a short groan. Then he smiled and glanced over at Enzo. “I guess it’s good we didn’t end up together.”
It was good—so good, finally—that they could both joke about this.
It had taken a lot of years and two happy relationships.
Though it wasn’t like Enzo had been pining after him, before he’d met Will.
He’d long since acknowledged that he and Oliver had been doomed from that first date. Probably even before.
“Yeah,” Enzo agreed. “You talk to Luca about this?”
Oliver shot him a look. “What do you think?”
“I think if you have the kind of relationship I wanna have with Will, then yeah, you told him.”
“He actually told me to come talk to you about it,” Oliver admitted.
“Yeah?” Enzo was more pleased about that than he’d thought he would be.
“He said you’d get it. And I guess you would. I think he probably knew that I was overreacting.”
“If there’s one thing a Moretti knows about, it’s overreacting,” Enzo said.
Oliver laughed, lighter than he’d sounded since he’d arrived.
“Listen,” Enzo continued, “it’s easier for me. My dad never really existed for me. My mom never dated anyone else. Not that I knew about anyway.”
“Might’ve been good for her—and you—if she had,” Oliver observed.
And yeah, that was true. Enzo nodded. “It’s not like I told her not to. You don’t tell a Moretti to do anything,” he said.
Oliver smiled. “Being married to one, I’m intimately aware of that. And I told Joy that she could date, of course. Dad’s been gone for ten years. I don’t want her to be alone forever, that’s not it at all. It’s just . . .an adjustment.”
“Yeah, it is. But a good one.” Enzo hadn’t realized that he thought so until he said it. Until he was worried that Oliver would say the opposite.
“You really mean that.”
“Yeah. I do.”
“Ugh.” Oliver wiped a hand across his face. “I’m being very stupid, aren’t I?”
“I don’t know. I think you’re allowed to be once in a while. And you basically never were, before.”
“You’re saying it’s my turn, Moretti?” Oliver asked wryly.
“Sure.”
“I can agree with that. But I do think yeah, it’s the way I have to think of it differently. Think of her differently.”
“She’s still your mother. She’s never gonna stop being your mother,” Enzo reminded him firmly.
“Oh, no, no. I know that. I just . . .with your mother.” Oliver shuddered a little. “I guess I didn’t think of her like . . .like a sexual being.”
“Please don’t. I’m begging you not to keep going down that road. I keep trying to stop myself from doing it.”
“Alright. I think that’s fair.”
“They’re happy. She’s happy. You know what? That’s all that matters.” Enzo paused. “What did your mom say to you when you came out to her? Did she think you were a different kind of person?”
Oliver let out a sharp sigh. “No. No, she didn’t. Which you know.”
“I do. Joy’s a great mom. A great person. And she deserves to be happy. However that happens.”
“I know you’re right,” Oliver said with a sigh. “This is a me thing. I’ll adjust, and I’m sure in a few months it’ll be like they’ve always been together.”
“You think they’re serious?”
Oliver shot him a look. “Do you think they’re not serious?”
“Point taken,” Enzo said wryly.
“Exactly. At least I won’t be the only one around to witness it,” Oliver teased. “You’re gonna be around a lot more, enjoying your own relationship.”
“That’s the plan.”
Oliver reached over and gave him a quick hug. “Well, if I had to be a stepbrother with anyone, I’m happy it’s you,” he said.
And that wasn’t something that Enzo had ever thought he’d hear, but he realized he agreed.
“Yeah. Me too.”
Oliver smiled. “That settles it then. I . . .” He trailed off as he stood. “I’m glad I came. Luca said it would make me feel better talking to you, and I thought he was full of shit, but I’m happy that I was wrong.”
“And he will be too. Happy enough he probably won’t even say I told you so,” Enzo pointed out.
“Probably,” Oliver said, smiling now. “Well. Thanks for listening to me rant.”
“Anytime.”
A minute later, the front door was closing behind him, and almost immediately, the bedroom door opened and Will walked out, wearing only a pair of navy blue boxer briefs. “He okay?” Will asked, putting his arms around Enzo and tugging him close.
“Yeah,” Enzo said. “Or he will be. It’s a bigger adjustment for him. He knew his dad.”
“Right.” Will looked like he wanted to say something else, but then he smiled, slowly. “You wanna come to bed?”
Enzo didn’t need to have it suggested even twice.
“Yes,” he said and lifted his head to kiss Will’s mouth.