Chapter Twelve
Sweat oozed from her pores, trickling down her chest in rivulets to pool inside the cups of her bra. It dripped into her eyes and tickled her scalp, making it itch. She wished she could scratch it, but hunched over a vat of bubbling oil, frying zeppole, she’d just have to ignore it.
Drop. Drain. Sprinkle. Bag.
On auto-pilot, after waking at four o’clock this morning to prepare enough dough for a thousand orders of the traditional festival sweet, though monotonous, her task was at least mercifully simple.
It was a good thing Gina didn’t have to focus on it too much, because her mind kept drifting elsewhere.
Just a few more hours…
Lina was due to relieve her at four. Two hours to wash away sweat caked with powdered sugar and peanut oil was plenty of time, wasn’t it?
It had to be. The concert started at eight.
Her plan was to meet Matt by six. Anticipation thrummed through her veins, and that alone kept her going under the cover of Rossi’s tent on First Avenue as she toiled in this dreadful summer heat.
Gina glanced up, and catching sight of Katie serving iced lattes from Beanie’s open-air booth across the street, she waved.
Coming toward her, a striking blonde couple wheeled a baby along the avenue. Gina recognized them and came out of the stall to peer inside the stroller.
My Christmas Eve delivery.
She’d never forget it. While all births are beautiful, this one was especially so.
The expectant father was so loving and attentive to his wife as she labored with their first child, and with the baby presenting posterior, it was a difficult one.
Gina loved it when a new dad was comfortable enough to show his emotions.
So many men are afraid to. They hold them back, as if displaying their feelings somehow makes them appear weak.
Quite the contrary. It takes a confident man to let his tears flow, and this man shed bucketfuls.
“Oh, wow! She’s gotten so big,” Gina exclaimed and hugged her former patient. What was her name again? She recalled it as being unique and pretty. Linnea, I think. “You look fantastic! How are you?”
“Good.” Smiling, the new mom nodded. “I’m good. You remember Dillon?”
“Yeah.”
But he wasn’t listening. “Hey, Nick. How’s it goin’, man?”
“You know my brother?”
“Nick’s your brother?” His mouth falling open, Dillon did a double-take.
“Yeah.” Gina pointed out her mother, who was ringing up customers. “That’s our mom right there.”
“I went to school with Nick. Tony, too.” A tentative smile building, he jerked his head back. “Wait a minute. You’re little Gina Rossi?”
Biting her lip, she nodded. “That would be me.”
“Well, damn. You couldn’t have been more than six or seven when we were in high school,” he said, nodding along with her.
“Sounds about right.”
“I never got a chance to thank you for taking such good care of my girls.” With his arm circling Linnea’s waist, Dillon kissed her crown. “So, thank you. I owe you one.”
She glanced down at the baby and smiled. You’ve got such a wonderful life ahead of you, little one. Your daddy loves you and your mommy so very much. “She’s beautiful. Congrats, again.”
Gina turned around to go back to work to find Nick standing right behind her as he watched the couple blend into the crowd on the street. “You know Linnea?”
“Not exactly. I was her labor nurse when her daughter was born.”
“So fucking sad,” he said with a shake of his head.
“What are you talking about?” She followed him inside the tent, questioning his nonsensical comment. “Any woman would be lucky to have a husband as devoted as hers.”
“Was lucky, maybe.” And halting his steps, Nick shrugged. “Her husband was killed in an accident before the baby was born.”
What? That can’t be right.
With a hand clapped over her mouth, Gina shook her head in disbelief.
“Kyan Byrne?”
The name rang a bell, but she didn’t know him.
“He was Dillon’s younger brother, Brendan and Jesse’s cousin. Me and Tony went to the funeral.”
Oh, my God.
“Dillon’s her brother-in-law?”
“Yeah.”
“Jesus, I’m an idiot.” She smacked herself in the head, then dropped some dough into the fryer. “I mean, they have the same last name, and it was obvious just how much he adores her and that baby, so I just assumed…”
“Linnea was his wife?” Nick’s brow lifted so high his forehead wrinkled.
“Yeah.” Fresh sweat erupted on her skin. “I gave him the father’s baby band and everything. It never even occurred to me to ask.”
“Would you have done anything differently if you had known?”
“I don’t know.” Shrugging, Gina took the fry basket out of the hot oil. “Probably not.”
“Don’t give it another thought, then.” And he squeezed her shoulder. “But if you’re seeing Matt, it’s likely you’ll be seeing a lot of Dillon and Linnea, too.”
“How do you figure?”
“The Byrne cousins and the Venery boys have always been… close. Really close. Tight, you know?” Nick sprinkled sugar on the batch of warm doughnuts, and with a snigger, he popped one into his mouth. “Heck, they all live together behind that gate on Park Place.”
And?
But he left her, rejoining Teo and their dad on the other side of Rossi’s doublewide booth.
What she was supposed to make of that, Gina wasn’t sure, but what difference did it make, anyway?
Lina didn’t show until half past four. Figures. She strolled over, putting her hair up in a ponytail, like it was no big deal. “You can take off now, if you want.”
“You’re late.”
She’d been counting on every minute of those two hours before she went to meet Matt, but thanks to her selfish sister-in-law, her calculations were going to shit. Now, Gina would have to rush when she wanted the luxury of taking her time.
“Sorry?” Hands dropping to her sides, Lina’s ponytail swished as she slanted away from her. “It’s not like you’ve got somewhere else to go.”
“Actually, I do.” Wiping sweat from her brow, Gina plastered on a smile.
“Oh, yeah?”
“Yeah, I’m—”
“C’mon, Gi.” Before she could say another word, Teo grabbed her by the arm. “We got places to be.”
“We?” Gina asked as her brother dragged her away. She glanced back at Lina over her shoulder. Tony stood with her, shaking his head at them.
“Where you’re going, who you’re seeing, or what you’re doing is none of her business.” He squeezed her waist, maneuvering her through the crush on First Avenue. “Unless you want that puttana running to Mom and Tony.”
“Heh. She wouldn’t dare.”
“You know she would.” His brows furrowing, the pain he refused to let go of was there in her brother’s eyes. “She’d post it all over Facebook, too—bitch loves to start trouble, and you are so not prepared for that bullshit.”
Until then, Gina hadn’t given any thought to the fallout of her relationship with Matt going public.
Her family? Well, that was a completely different story.
Rosemary would never approve, simply because Matt wasn’t Vinny Passarelli or a reasonable facsimile of him.
And Tony? He’d lock her up in a nunnery and throw away the key if he could.
So, seeing his little sister and his old pal together? Livid would be an understatement.
But she’d cross that bridge when and if she came to it. As an adult, Gina had the right to choose her person the same as Tony had. And her mom would just have to learn to accept her choices, whatever they might be. It was her life, after all.
Teo unlocked the back door and ushered her into the kitchen. With everyone else at the festival, the house seemed unusually quiet and still. The clock ticked, the air conditioner hummed, and dappled sunlight danced to its tune on umber-painted walls.
With a parting squeeze to her waist, her brother turned to go downstairs. That was when she heard the unmistakable sound. “Someone’s here.”
“It’s just Luca,” Teo assured her, his voice just above a whisper. “Go do what you gotta do. I’m gonna shower.”
“But isn’t he supposed to be…” And taking hold of her brother’s hand, Gina followed the sound.
She almost wished she hadn’t.
With a video game paused on the TV, controllers cast aside, Gina found Luca and his buddy, Kevin Copeland, in the family room with their tongues down each other’s throats and their hands in each other’s pants.
Teo leaned into her ear. “Don’t ask.”
But she did. “Are you and Kev—”
“Fucking?” Wiping Kevin’s slobber from his mouth, her baby brother looked up at her as if to say duh. “Would you think less of me if I were?”
“No, Luca, I love you.” And she went to him. “I could never.”
Truth.
“Don’t worry, I’m not gay. I like girls, too.” He slung his arm around Kevin and grinned. “We both do.”
“Are you bi or just confused?” Gina sat on the arm of the sofa, running her fingers through Luca’s glossy curls.
“Definitely bi, bambina.” He kissed her on the cheek. “And I’ve known it for a very long time.”
How long? Christ, you’re barely twenty.
Hold up a minute.
Confused, she looked over at Katie Murray’s strapping younger brother. “I thought you had a girlfriend, Kev.”
A football player at the university, he and Luca met last year as freshmen. They’d been fast friends ever since. Well, more than friends, it seems.
“I do,” he confirmed, his lips forming a smirk.
Luca elbowed him in the ribs. “You mean we do.”
Ohhh.
“I know I can trust you both.” Glancing at Teo, he took her hand and clutched it tightly in his. “You won’t give my secret away to Mom, right?”
“Of course I won’t.” Then Gina held Luca close, reassuring him like she did when he was five and had a bad dream. “It’s not my story to tell. Besides, it’ll kill her.”
“Like you fucking Matt McCready won’t put her in her grave.” He poked her in the chest and chuckled.
“We’re not fucking.”
“Yet.” He winked. “So, you’re cool with it?”
“Are you happy?”
And with a huge smile on his pretty boy face, Luca nodded.
“Then I’m cool with it.”
“I’m so lucky. I got the best sister ever. I love you, Gina Bobina.”
I love you, too.
Then, glancing at his watch, Teo smacked her on the ass. “Unless you plan on meeting Matt looking like something the cat dragged in, you’d best go upstairs and do whatever it is you girls do to make a guy lose his mind.”
“Yeah, you’re all sweaty and you stink like peanut oil.” Sniggering, Luca waved his hand in front of his face as if she actually smelled. “Can’t have you throw all my hard work away.”
Gina sniffed herself. “What the fuck are you talking about?”
“I got you and the rock star together, didn’t I?”
She smiled. “Yeah, I guess you kinda did.”
“Go on, now,” Teo said. “We’ll all wait and walk back to the park with you.”
I’m the lucky one. Best brothers ever.
And with that, Gina hurried up the stairs to get ready to meet her man.