15. Amelia
Amelia
This weekend hadn’t gone as I’d planned. Everything in my life is off the rails, and no matter how hard I try to control things, I can’t seem to get my footing.
I hadn’t planned on Reed showing up out of nowhere. And I certainly hadn’t planned on my family finding out we were married.
What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas is a complete and utter lie. It was my fault. My drunken self’s fault, actually, but still.
I went to work like normal yesterday, and Reed did whatever he does when he’s in town. I needed a breather from everyone, including him. Today, though, is the weekly Gallo family dinner at the bar, and much to my dismay, my grandmother invited Reed.
“You look amazing,” Reed says as he walks down the sidewalk, holding a bouquet of flowers.
“Who are those for?” I ask, hoping they’re not for me.
He leans down and kisses my cheeks, my body instantly heating at the contact. “Your grandmother.”
I hate that I’m so attracted to him. It doesn’t help that my hormones are off the charts. The damn things should be dead and gone since they’ve already served their purpose and are the reason I ended up here in the first place.
“You’re trying to score brownie points,” I tell him, staring up at his tall frame and handsome face. “You wore the hat.” I reach up, brushing my fingertips across the brim of the black cowboy hat I first saw him in.
The smirk he gives me makes my knees weak. “Of course. City girls love it.”
“Not this one,” I lie, pulling my hand back like the damn thing burned me.
In reality, it did. If he hadn’t been wearing it, would I have noticed him in Vegas? Or would he have blended into the background of hundreds of gorgeous people milling around the city like zombies who just want to party?
Reed chuckles, and I know he knows I’m lying through my teeth. “Well, the rest of them do, but I only care about one.”
“Let’s go over a few things before we go inside,” I tell him, ignoring his comment. “I’m sure they all know we’re married by now. Nothing stays a secret in my family.”
“Mine either,” he says.
“Do your parents know?”
“Yeah”
I sigh and rub my temples. I already have a headache this morning. As soon as we step inside the doors of the Hook & Hustle, it’s only going to get worse.
“Steer clear of my grandfather today.”
The lines between Reed’s eyes deepen. “Why? The man loves me.”
“The man is good at playing a bit. I don’t trust that he loves you. He’s probably working an angle, trying to make you feel comfortable before—bam!” I smash my fist into the palm of my opposite hand.
Reed laughs again.
“I’m not joking.”
“What else you got for me, sugar? Any more rules?”
“Just listen today. Don’t talk too much.”
“Why?”
“Because nothing is casual, and they’re keeping mental notes of everything you say.”
He shakes his head. “Your family sounds tough.”
“They are,” I tell him. The Gallos are a different breed, and while they’re loving, they also have a protective streak that runs deep.
“I’ve got this, sugar.”
I wrinkle my nose. “No sugar, baby, or sweetie either once we go in.”
“Darlin’?”
I shake my head. “Not that either.”
“Whatever, sweet cheeks.”
I pin him with a glare. “Reed.”
He lifts his hands as his shoulders shake. “Got it.”
“I’m serious.”
“How about ‘my wife’?”
“Not that either.”
The doors open, and Tate sticks her head out. “What are you two doing? We’re all watching you through the windows.”
“Fuck,” I hiss. Nosy bitches. All of them are the same. I can’t blame them. If it were someone else in the family, I’d have my face pressed against the glass, enjoying every single second.
Reed extends his arm, offering Tate his hand. “I’m Reed.”
“The husband,” Tate says with a giant smile as she stalks outside, taking Reed’s hand in hers. “A big boy too.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Reed says, his voice smooth like velvet.
“Good job, Amelia.”
“Stop it,” I tell her.
She turns her gaze toward me, a look of innocence on her face that doesn’t belong there. “What? I didn’t do anything.”
“Good job, Amelia,” I repeat her words with a snort at the end. “You know what you’re doing.”
Not a second later, Lulu walks out of the bar with her eyes pinned on Reed. “Well, aren’t you a tall drink of water.”
I roll my eyes. My cousins are going to be extra today, and I hate that I can’t be part of it. We relished days like this when there was someone new to enter the fold. But today, I’m the one who’s in the spotlight, and I hate it.
“Reed,” he says with a dip of his head.
“Lulu,” she says. “Cousin to Amelia.”
“Well, cousin to Amelia, you’re a pint, aren’t you?” he says, flirting with my cousin in the same way that ended with me naked and married.
She lifts her hand and waggles her ring finger. “Taken too.”
“All the women inside are.”
Reed points at me. “Including her.”
“Jesus,” I mutter and shake my head. “Not for long, though.”
Reed ignores me. “I’m excited to meet the family.”
He says the family like he’s part of it.
Lulu takes his hand. “Let’s get you inside and fed. I bet you’re starving. A man like you requires a lot of fuel to keep that body running.”
Reed goes with her, leaving Tate and me on the sidewalk out front.
“Loosen up,” Tate says, bumping my shoulder with hers. “He’s a handsome devil.”
“I didn’t want anyone to know about him.” I stare through the glass as Lulu takes Reed around the room, introducing him to my family members.
“Kind of hard to do that when you’re pregnant with his baby.” Tate stands at my side, watching them too. “Can’t keep that a secret forever.”
“People used to keep that stuff secret.”
“Yeah, fifty years ago. Doesn’t work that way anymore, sweetheart.”
“I hate technology and progress,” I grumble.
Tate laughs and puts her arm around my shoulder, pulling my upper half against her. “The marriage threw me for a loop, though.”
“You and me both,” I whisper.
“Did you guys talk about what you’re going to do?”
“I want the divorce as soon as possible, but I think Reed’s going to drag his feet now that he knows about the pregnancy.”
“Have you talked about how you’re going to handle custody?”
“He wants to be in the baby’s life full time. He said he’s going to move here.”
Tate sucks in a breath like she can feel my tension over that option. “How do you feel about that?”
“Torn,” I tell her honestly.
I wouldn’t want my baby to grow up without knowing their father, but everything is moving too fast, and my head is spinning.
“Maybe you two can work things out.”
I turn my gaze toward her. “What do you mean?”
“Maybe it’s fate. Maybe you’re meant to be with him.”
“Tate, come on now. You don’t believe that.”
She smiles at me before she looks back through the glass. “There are worse things than being tied to that man the rest of your life.”
“I don’t even know him,” I tell her.
“You knew him enough to get married and make a baby.”
I groan. “That’s tequila’s fault.”
“Maybe you should give your kid that as a middle name.”
“Shut up,” I tell her. “It’s not funny.”
“Liar,” she whispers and laughs.
I can’t help myself, and I laugh too. It is funny. Only I would do something so reckless and end up with a little human that will remind me of the night forever and a marriage certificate I can never erase.
“We’d better get in there before he steals everyone’s hearts as quickly as he stole your panties.”
“Tate,” I hiss.
She snorts. “Well, where’s the lie?”
“I was drunk.”
She doesn’t stop laughing at my circumstances as we walk into the bar. I don’t blame her. If it were anyone else but me, I’d be laughing my ass off too.
“There’s the bride,” my cousin Brax says before I can get three feet inside.
“Brax,” I warn, grinding my teeth. Today is going to be a battle of wills, and I’m not sure I have the energy.
“I like him,” Brax says, glancing toward the bar, where Reed’s standing with my father and my grandfather.
I told Reed to steer clear of Sal. Did he listen? No.
“Looks like your dad and Grandpa do too,” Brax adds.
“Great,” I mutter.
“You wrangled yourself a real cowboy,” Iris, Brax’s wife, says at his side. “Impressive.”
“Is it really, though?” I ask her.
“There’s something so dreamy about men in cowboy hats,” she adds, ignoring my question.
“You want me to wear one next time?” Brax says and waggles his eyebrows. “You know I love a little role-play.”
I nearly gag at the statement. I don’t want to know anything about their sex life, and he’s way over the line. “I don’t want to hear this,” I announce, stalking away from them, and head straight toward Reed.
I don’t make it halfway across the bar before my aunt Daphne snags me by the arm.
She’s the wildest one of all my dad’s siblings.
She’s always marched to the beat of her own drum.
She was the one I looked up to when I was a little kid.
She was rock ’n’ roll, girl power, and all things feminism.
I can only imagine what she’s thinking about my getting knocked up on a wild weekend in Vegas.
“You okay?” she asks.
It’s the first time—or, at least, it feels like it is—someone has asked me how I feel. Everything’s moving so fast, and everyone wants to know what I’m going to do but not how I feel.
“I’m good,” I tell her, but I’m not sure I believe my answer.
She studies my face. “I’ll kick him out if you want.”
I smile up at my aunt. I love her. She’s my ride or die out of all my aunts and uncles. “No. It’s fine.”
“I can have Uncle Leo handle him,” she offers.
My uncle Leo is a businessman, but his family is more mobbed up than my grandfather.
Back in the day, our families hated each other.
My grandfather and Leo’s dad were enemies with a long line of grievances toward each other.
But the two families put their differences aside because of Daphne and Leo, along with the future children—which turned out to be only Nino, who’s a complete malcontent.
“No, Auntie. Reed’s a good man.”
Her lips curve up. “He seems like it. I just wanted to hear you say it.”
“You’re mean,” I tell her.
“Your dad tells me he wants to stay in the baby’s life and yours.”
Dad’s talking to his siblings. It’s not surprising. They don’t keep anything from one another, just as much as my cousins and I don’t.
“That’s what he’s saying.” My lips are set in a tight smile as I glance his way. I have my game face on, trying to seem like I’m happy about my life that’s spinning out of my control.
“He’s crazy about you,” she says and turns his way.
I stand at her side, both of us staring at him.
“I don’t know about that,” I tell her as Reed turns our direction and smiles at me.
“No man looks at a woman like that unless he’s head over heels for her. That man is trapped hook, line, and sinker, baby girl. There are worse things in the world than having a man want to be in your life and to take care of you and your baby.”
“I barely know him,” I whisper.
“Eh, after twenty-plus years, I’m still learning things about Leo. The only things that matter are how he treats you and makes you feel.”
I sigh. “Maybe.”
Reed makes me feel like I’m the only woman in the world to him. He always has his entire attention focused on me. It’s as if the world around us disappears when we’re together. I don’t hate it either, but right now, it’s overwhelming.
“Give it time. Don’t make any decisions on anything until you’ve had time to process everything.”
“I won’t,” I promise her, placing a hand on my stomach. “But I want things settled before the baby is born.”
“Understandable. Now, go rescue him from them,” she says, ticking her head toward the three most important guys in my life—my father, grandfather, and baby daddy.
Jesus.
I never thought I’d ever utter those words. Baby daddy. What a laughable term, but not a laughable situation. If someone else were in my shoes, I’d maybe think it was funny. But since it’s happening to me, it’s not laughable in the slightest.
“Baby,” Mom says, snagging me before I can make it to Reed. “How are you feeling today?”
“Good,” I tell her.
“Mentally?”
“Okay,” I say, but with way less enthusiasm.
“Whatever you decide, I’ll support you. There’s not another person on this planet whom I love more than you, Amelia. You want to stay with Reed? Great. You want to be a single mother? I have your back. Whatever you want to do, you do.”
I stare at my mother, and my vision blurs. Damn hormones. They make the tears come way too easy.
“I fucked up,” I whisper, trying not to let the tears spill down my cheeks.
“We’re all living life for the first time, baby.” She wraps her arms around me. “We all have our hiccups we have to work through. You’re healthy, and the baby is healthy. That’s all that matters. I just want to see my baby be happy.”
“I am,” I sniffle. I’m not unhappy. Things are bumpy right now, but I wouldn’t say I’m miserable.
“Your dad and I always have your back. We love you to bits. We’re so proud of the woman you’ve become, and we know you’re going to be an even better mother than I ever was.”
“You are the best, Mom,” I whisper against her shoulder as I hold her tightly.
She pulls back, holding my shoulders. “Do you want me to ask Reed to leave? It doesn’t matter if your grandmother invited him. You’re our family, and I’ll do whatever you want.”
“No,” I tell her, glancing his direction. “It’s fine. He’s going to be around forever.” The last word comes out a little harsh. “Might as well get used to him.”
She looks over her shoulder to where he’s standing. “He’s not bad to look at, is he?”
“That’s how I got into this mess in the first place,” I say flatly.
“He seems like a nice guy.”
“He is.”
“You could’ve done worse, baby.”
I groan. “I don’t want to like him, Mom. I’m trying hard not to, but…”
“Sometimes life makes plans for us that we don’t want, but we have to roll with it, Amelia. Maybe Reed is right where he’s meant to be, and so are you.”
That’s what I’m afraid of.