Chapter Twenty-Six
Mari and James sat in his car in the parking lot of the dance studio, talking like teenagers that didn’t have a home to go to.
Mari was fuming.
“He had no business confronting you.”
“He did, and it’s over.”
“Over? What’s over? My son acting as if I’m a child?”
James stretched across the seats and took her head in his hand, leaned over, and kissed her.
“That isn’t helping,” she said.
He kissed her again, this time when he pulled away, she was smiling. “Not even a little?” James asked.
“You fight dirty.”
“Are we fighting?”
“Errr.”
James lowered his forehead to hers. “They’re going to have to get used to me. I’m not going anywhere.”
“Keep me from killing my sons,” Mari begged Rosa.
James and the girls were due to arrive anytime. Mari was stressed.
Normally, having her entire family two weeks in a row put joy so deep in her chest she bounced off the walls.
Normally, her sons were predictably kind and welcoming to any guests.
There was nothing normal about how her sons had been acting since they learned of James.
“I’ve already asked for Dante’s help. He promised to step in if Gio and Luca cross the line.”
“Does Dante know where the line is?” The boys had been tight since their school days. It wasn’t often that they didn’t have the same mindset.
“He does. Chloe is on top of it.”
Mari looked over the dishes of the cold food, ready to go. Everything that needed to be hot sat in warmers or was in its last minutes of cooking.
The terrace table had been set, the heaters were on, and everyone except James and the twins was there.
“This is my family. I shouldn’t be this nervous.”
“When the boys start acting like themselves, you won’t be.” Rosa grabbed the charcuterie board. “Andiamo. A glass of wine is in order.”
The volume on the terrace hit a frequency that Mari adored.
No less than four conversations were going on at the same time.
Luca and Gio stood a little too close and eyed Mari when she walked out.
Chloe and Brooke noticed them, kept their conversation going, and moved dishes around on the table to make room for the food.
Salena sat beside Emma, with Leo in her lap, while Ryan and Dante were wrestling one of the space heaters closer to the sitting area beyond the dining table.
“Gio,” Mari called over to her son.
He looked up.
“Can you get Rosa and I a glass of wine?”
With a nod, Gio moved to do as she requested.
Franny bounced over. “Can I help?”
Mari touched her granddaughter’s cheek and smiled. “Bring up the bread and oil.”
Franny ran off while Gio walked over with two glasses.
Mari took the glass from him. “Best behavior,” she warned.
“Have I ever let you down?”
“Yes,” she said quickly. “Monday, when you did not present your best behavior.”
Gio didn’t even try to look ashamed.
He only smiled.
Which had her back teeth gritting.
The sip of wine helped.
“Look who I found!” Franny had a way of speaking so loudly, all conversation stopped.
Mari turned to find James standing beside Ellie and Madison.
Ellie had flowers in her hands.
Madison offered a tiny wave.
James looked directly at Mari and smiled.
She set her wine down to welcome them.
“Are those for me?” Mari asked Ellie.
“Ah, yeah.”
“Grazia.”
Keenly aware that everyone was watching, Mari stepped closer to James and lifted her chin.
He kissed her briefly.
“Thank you for coming.”
“You couldn’t have kept me away.”
He said that now. Mari hoped he would be saying that in a few hours when dinner was finished.
“There are a few people here you haven’t met.” Mari turned to her family.
Chloe stepped close.
“Chloe, my daughter, and her husband, Dante.”
Smiling ear to ear, Chloe moved right past a handshake and opened her arms for a hug. “I’m so happy to meet you.”
Mari’s heart melted.
Today, Chloe was Mari’s favorite child.
“And you are?” Chloe asked, turning to the girls.
“I’m Ellie.”
“I’m Madison.”
Dante shook James’s hand. “A pleasure.”
Mari kept pointing. “Brooke.”
Brooke opted for a handshake.
“That’s Emma and Salena. My grandson, Leo.”
The two of them waved from where they were seated.
Leo sucked on his fist.
“That’s Ryan, and of course, you already know Luca and Gio,” Mari said.
When Luca and Gio didn’t move their feet, Mari shot daggers with her eyes.
They stepped forward and shook hands.
“Good to see you again,” James said.
Rosa moved in when Luca and Gio stepped away. “Hi, James.”
She hugged him, helping break the tension after the tight handshakes from Mari’s sons.
Rosa approached the girls. “I’ve heard a lot about you.”
Franny waved the twins over. “Do you want something to drink? There’s a cooler . . .”
James looked around the terrace. “This is amazing.”
“The closest we have to a yard.”
“Do you drink wine?” Chloe asked James.
“Yes. I would have brought some, but I understand Gio is the expert,” James said.
Chloe scoffed. “Don’t tell him that or it will go to his head.”
Mari reached for her glass while Chloe poured some for James.
“How was class on Tuesday?” Rosa asked.
“I don’t know why you quit,” James said. “Everyone was asking about you.”
Mari felt her shoulders relaxing once the initial introductions were finished.
Rosa helped ease James into conversation with Dante and Ryan.
The twins made their way over to Emma and Salena, with Franny chatting away.
Brooke seemed to be saying something under her breath to Luca and Gio. Who had made the polite hello, but nothing else.
Mari felt the disconnect with her sons.
If James noticed, he didn’t say a thing.
“He’s handsome, Mama,” Chloe whispered.
“Thank you for making him feel welcome.”
Chloe rolled her eyes and called out to her brothers, “Luca, Gio. Let’s get the food.”
Mari watched her children disappear and hoped Chloe could talk some sense into her brothers.
James had never seen so much food on one table in his entire life. Including holidays.
Mari had said her family was loud.
She wasn’t kidding.
Sitting beside her, with Luca and Gio at the far end of the table, was probably for the best. Even better, Ellie and Madison sat beside Franny, who was also at the other end of the table.
Every once in a while, he’d hear a snippet of their conversation.
While Gio and Luca didn’t have much to say to him, they had no issue talking with the girls.
Probably in an attempt to learn something about James’s character.
Chloe sat beside James and spoke under her breath. “Your girls are adorable.”
“Ha. When they’re not spying on you, they’re great.”
Salena laughed. “I heard they thought Mari was married.”
James glanced over. Ellie was chatting away with Luca and Brooke. “They did.”
“Did they really stake out the dance studio?” Chloe asked.
“Pretty impressive, if you ask me,” Dante said.
“No one is asking you,” Rosa chided.
Salena laughed.
Dante said something to Salena in Italian.
Salena pinched her fingers and waved them at Dante.
“Ignore them,” Rosa told James. “These kids have known each other since grade school. It’s like they’re all siblings.”
“Not all,” Chloe corrected, winking at Dante.
“Well, if you don’t give me grandbabies soon, I’ll think you’re living like siblings.”
James caught Mari’s smile out of the corner of his eye.
Under the table, he placed his hand on her knee.
For a moment, she fell into his gaze.
James brought another ravioli to his lips. “I’m never eating in another Italian restaurant again.”
“I tried to tell you I made the best.”
He loved the pride in her voice.
“Nonna?” Franny called from several seats away.
“Yes, tesoro?”
“Is James going to be my nonno?”
Nearly everyone at the table stopped talking.
Mari coughed on the wine she’d just sipped.
“What does nonno mean?” Ellie asked.
Madison pushed her sister with her shoulder. “Grandpa, dummy.”
“Hey, I didn’t know.”
“Well?” Franny asked again.
“They’re just dating,” Luca answered.
James met Luca’s eyes. Clearly, the oldest son didn’t like the question.
Franny looked at her father. “You and Mama Brooke dated. And Zio Gio and Zia Emma. And—”
“Not everyone who dates gets married.” It was Ellie who spoke up.
“Oh,” Franny said, her voice disappointed.
“But that would be cool,” Ellie said with a smile.
James heard at least two voices snicker.
“Would that make you my sisters?” Franny asked.
“No,” Madison said. “We would be your dad’s sisters and your aunts.”
“But you’re only seven years older than me.”
“Age has nothing to do with it,” Ellie said.
While the girls dominated the conversation about family connections once a couple went from dating to married, James leaned close to Mari. “Is she always this inquisitive?”
Mari nodded several times. “And her ears are always open. Be careful what you say around her. She picks up on everything.”
Slowly, the conversation at the table started up again.
Forks hit plates, voices rose and lowered.
And James found himself staring at Mari. Nonno wasn’t a title he’d even considered. But husband was starting to sound like something he wanted again.
“What was that?” On his feet, James shouted at the field or, more to the point, the referee calling the plays.
Ellie’s softball game was a first for Mari. Sitting in the stands, with James’s ex-wife, Cindy, on one side of her and Cindy’s husband, Clayton, on the other side of James, Mari embraced the experience with both arms.
Cindy was lovely.
The way she and James interacted felt more like they’d had a teenage romance and had grown up to marry other people.
While James and Clayton discussed the game, Mari found herself in conversation with Cindy.
“I’m told you’re quite the cook,” Cindy waxed on. “I’d be jealous, but cooking isn’t anything I’ve ever done for fun. More for necessity.”
“Food is a part of my culture. It’s much more important to sit around a table eating and talking with your family than falling asleep on the sofa watching the TV.”
“I guess. The girls didn’t learn a lot from me. If it came out of a box or can, I’m good.” Cindy glanced over to James. “James isn’t much better. Anything you want to show the girls will be appreciated.”
Mari shrugged. “I’ve attempted to show my daughter around a kitchen since she was a child.” She shook her head. “Nothing stuck.”
Cindy smiled. “That makes me feel a little better.”
Ellie’s team was in the outfield, with Ellie covering third base.
They were in the bottom of the fourth, the score zero to one, for the opposing team. There was a runner on second, with two outs.
Mari had gone over the general rules of the game the night before.
Maybe for the average person living in America, they’d know how the game was played.
For Mari, whose children didn’t play the game growing up, she wasn’t exposed to it.
Sure, she knew enough to understand there were nine innings in baseball but was surprised to learn that softball only went to seven.
Madison sat with a group of friends at the bottom of the bleachers and several rows over. Every once in a while, Mari would find her looking over.
The opposing team hit the ball, causing the spectators to gasp and the parents on the other side of the field to clap.
“It’s okay, Ellie. C’mon,” James yelled as if Ellie could actually hear him.
“Is he always like this?” Mari asked Cindy.
“Yeah. He was ecstatic when Ellie expressed interest in the sport. Without a son, he didn’t think he’d get the chance to be the dad in the bleachers yelling at the field.” Cindy looked up and laughed at her ex-husband.
With eyes on the game, James said, “Don’t think I didn’t hear that.”
Mari’s belly laugh was felt to her feet.
“Listen all you want. You know it’s the truth.”
Clayton leaned over. “He almost got us tossed out of the game twice last year.”
“Me and three other dads.” James smiled down at Mari. “The referee was blind. Literally, he retired at the end of the season.”
The opposing team hit the ball straight to left field, everyone watched in suspended animation to witness the outfielder catch the ball and complete the inning.
James and Clayton clapped, and James sat down.
The teams switched places, offering them a chance to talk without the game being played.
“You’re bringing Mari to the girls’ birthday party, right?” Cindy asked James.
“We hadn’t discussed it, but yeah.” James placed his hand on Mari’s thigh and gave it a squeeze. “A bunch of screaming girls . . .”
“And boys, James.”
He narrowed his eyes. “Not for the sleepover part.”
“Of course not. They’ll have to wait for college to do that.”
The pragmatic way Cindy said that was somewhat refreshing.
“Don’t forget what I read in those text messages,” James pointed out.
Cindy leaned over Mari and lowered her voice. “Now that we’re onto that, it won’t happen.”
It being sex with Trevor, and after the eighteenth birthday being the timeline.
“It happens whether you like it or not,” Mari told them.
Cindy sat up straight. “We’re having some family and friends over for a potluck before the girls go off with their friends. A few will stay over.”
“Let me know what I can bring,” Mari offered.
“Careful, hon. Cindy’s idea of a potluck is the plastic veggie trays from the supermarket.”
Mari started to suggest James was exaggerating, but Clayton and Cindy sat there and shrugged.
“I will ask the girls what they want.”
An hour and a half later, James and Mari were in his car headed to his home.
The twins went with their mother.
“Franny would have really enjoyed today.”
“What was Luca’s excuse for not letting her come?”
Mari knew her son’s reason was just that . . . an excuse. “A family day. The zoo.”
“Family days are important.”
Mari didn’t comment. Everyone in the family had come around.
Except her boys.
“I’ll insist the next time. Franny should be exposed to things like this. Just because Luca wasn’t into sports doesn’t mean Franny shouldn’t try something out.”
James pulled off the freeway and started weaving his way through La Jolla traffic and potholes.
“After we drop off my things, I’d like to find a grocery store.”
This was the first time Mari would see where James lived his life with his daughters, and the first time she was staying the night.
Another reason Luca was cold.
Not that Mari had any intention of having Franny over to James’s home. But Luca refused anyway.
“I have food.”
“Anything that comes in a box is a convenience, not food.”
“I don’t want you to feel like I’m putting you to work,” James said. “We can go out.”
Mari turned, looked at him. “How will I ever teach you what you can help me with if we’re always sitting at a table having someone else serve us?”
“I burn water, honey.”
Mari chuckled. “We’re going to the store. I’m cooking. You can chop and clean.”
James reached over, placed a hand on her leg. “I’m good at uncorking wine.”
“Where would we be with wine that is corked?”