31. Antonio
“Yes, she will, you knucklehead,” Frankie says, skidding his forearm over his face. “It’s clearly too late to back out, anyways.” He turns to Luca and Yuri. “Alright you two, remember what we talked about.”
Luca nods while Yuri drags her entire hand across her mouth, balls it in a fist, and flicks it towards the ground. Antonio doesn’t remember Frankie asking his children to remove their lips, but…if that’s what the kid needs to keep quiet.
“I wasn’t talking about backing out. I’m just saying, she said she hates surprises.” Antonio searches his email for a four-digit code and inputs the numbers on the keypad. He twists the black handle slowly, and peeks to make sure no one is in the vicinity.
The area is clear, so they shuffle into the house and leave their bags along the walls. It seems a little overkill for the decor to be pictures of seashells and palm trees.
As they walk into the kitchen space, Yuri must’ve forgotten all about tossing her mouth away to stay calm; she immediately calls out to her mother.
Yuna, holding a champagne flute in one hand, spins around and uses her other to shush Yuri. Then she smiles and whispers, “Hi, my babies. Just in time. This is for you, Antonio. Watch your step outside; there’s definitely a few loose planks.” She hands him two flutes filled almost to the brim before gesturing to a door to her right.
“Thanks, bud,” Antonio says to Luca, who opens it for him. The terrace is nice, but his eyes go straight to one place. Standing in the middle of the balcony is Alex, a yellow sarong tied around that bountiful ass of hers, hips slanted to one side. Antonio raises his glass to a waving Ben before making his way over to the edge. “Someone order a drink?”
Alex turns, all of her facial features scrunching and expanding until she finally asks, “What the fuck?”
“Language, gorgeous.” Antonio hands her a flute.
“Fuck that, what are you doing here?!” But then she grins. “Who am I kidding, of course, you’re here. This whole thing was probably your idea, wasn’t it?”
“I can neither confirm nor deny.”
Alex laughs and shakes her head before pushing her lips to one side and staring.
“What?”
“I’m trying to figure out what to do with you.”
“I mean…I can think of at least one pretty good idea.” Antonio looks back at the house. “I don’t know how close your room is.”
“Stop. I didn’t mean it like that.”
“Sure, you didn’t.”
“You’re such a jerk. Come here.”
Antonio doesn’t know if Alex gets as much from their hug as he does. It’s calming. Reassuring.
Her hands slide down his arms. “I know I was practically begging for us to talk, but I’m starving, now. We’ve had more alcohol than food since last night, so we were gonna go get something to eat.”
“Sounds good.”
They find a restaurant right on the water, but unfortunately, the “good” stops there. Frankie and Ben order the same entree, and by the time they return to the rental, they both experience the same bout of nausea and…other side effects.
“You two should go out somewhere,” Yuna says to Antonio and Alex after they all help pack Ben and Frankie into their bedrooms with a food poisoning survival kit. “No point in all of us getting stuck here.”
Absolu—
“No way! We couldn’t leave you here alone,” Alex states. Out loud.
“Babe, seriously. Please enjoy yourself.”
“Well…we’ll take the kids for a few hours, then. It’s only fair, right?”
Antonio locks eyes with Yuna; he can tell she’s willing to offer him an out, but he shrugs. “Sure. We can give you a few hours.”
Yuri bounds down the steps in a firefighter costume after Yuna calls both her and Luca to the living room.
“Where did you—?” Yuna pinches her forehead. “Don’t ask questions you already know the answer to, Yuna,” she mumbles. “Where’s your brother, babe?”
“He’s pooping.”
“He’s what?” Yuna lightly tugs Yuri’s fishtail braid.
“I meant, he’s having a barrel movement.”
Yuri the firefighter sits between Alex and Antonio on the couch. She leans her head back and alternates looking at them before she asks, “Are you guys married?”
Alex blinks hard, angling her neck. Her shock switches to amusement as Antonio struggles with his response.
“Uh… No. Your Auntie Al and I are ju—we’re…f-friends.”
Yuri’s face fills with such disbelief. “Mommy says friends don’t look at each other like that.”
“I’m uh, gonna go check on Luca. He’s been up there a while,” Yuna says, before basically sprinting up the stairs.
Antonio scoops up Yuri and swings her over his shoulder. “You ever been zip lining?”
“Who’s doing that?” Alex interjects, her eyes big as ever.
“Could be fun.”
“For who? People get stuck on those things, Leo. I don’t consider that fun.”
Yuri slides down the back of the couch and races around to drop herself at Alex’s feet. “Pleassseeeeee, Auntie? It’s so boring here.”
“Come on, Auntie, how are you gonna say ‘no’ to this face?” Antonio asks teasingly.
“Depends on whose face you’re talking about.”
He grins. “No, it doesn’t.”
“And this is why their mother said what she said. So stop looking at me like that, Antonio Moretti.”
He brushes his hand against Alex’s. “Now why would I wanna do that?”