Total pages in book: 206
Estimated words: 192184 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 961(@200wpm)___ 769(@250wpm)___ 641(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 192184 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 961(@200wpm)___ 769(@250wpm)___ 641(@300wpm)
Well duh.
I wrote back:
Okay. <3 You. Xoxo
Pop’s for Sunday dinner? Oh boy. I couldn’t believe he wasn’t getting us out of it with what was going on.
I stayed busy getting things done around the house. Sarah would be back either tonight or tomorrow and I didn’t want her to have to come back to dusting, vacuuming, and laundry.
Nino was on the grounds with the blond guy, Dex. I looked at the big biker-looking Nino and wondered about this cousin of mine, his wife. I wondered if they had kids. I wondered if I had other family. I wondered if they all knew about me or not. I pondered the things my father had said, about how losing my mom hurt our connection. I knew it did. He was so broken after her. And did he blame me? Maybe he did.
He was always so fascinated with the mafia, though. Surely that was odd under the circumstances. And he was still trying to get a job with Tommy. Clearly, he wasn’t against the idea of living in that ‘life’. It was perplexing. He sold me out instead of trying to protect me. He was saving his own ass. And now he was trying to profit from my misery. Well, I guess it wasn’t misery anymore, but it had been and he didn’t know if I was happy or if I was in my own personal hell and yet he was trying to get a job with Tommy.
I baked a glazed lemon Bundt cake to bring to dinner and had it ready when James knocked on the front door. No one had been wandering around inside the house since we’d been back from Vegas and I knew they used the staff quarters but the hall door off the kitchen was left locked. Tommy had said they had keys for emergencies but had been instructed to give us our privacy. Earlier that day I’d gotten James to get me the ingredients at the store per Tommy’s instructions if I needed anything.
He carried the cake to the car and drove me the short drive to Tom and Lisa’s. I was thankful that it was a short drive because our awkward efforts at small talk didn’t have to last too long.
I plastered a smile on my face as I went inside because the first person I laid eyes on was Tommy’s father. He was standing in the doorway ready to greet us.
“What’s this?” He smiled at me but his smile twitched almost nervously as he eyed the cake in my hands.
“Lemon Bundt cake,” I said with a sweet smile.
His expression dropped. This was my mother’s cake. Clearly by his reaction he’d had it before. It was the only thing she cooked that didn’t make the person eating it look for the nearest dog or potted plant (some dogs had even looked for potted plants!) and she’d made it for every occasion. It was a just a store-bought lemon cake mix with lemon Jell-O added into the box recipe. Then it was glazed with icing sugar mixed with lemon juice.
“You don’t like lemon cake?” I asked innocently, a mask firmly in place.
He appeared thrown for a split second and then seemed to recover. “Can’t wait to try it. Sounds great. Take it to the kitchen; girls are in there.” He kissed my cheek as I passed him.
The girls were in fine form, laughing, talkative. Luc was the size of a ranch style bungalow and eating cheese as Tessa shredded it on top of garlic bread. Lisa was chopping cucumbers.
“How can I help?” I asked as I stepped in.
They all looked genuinely pleased to see me and bombarded me with questions about Vegas, about where we’d been hiding out, and asking about planning the wedding.
I helped Lisa with the salad and then helped Tessa set the table. We (except Luc) drank a bottle and a half of wine together before Tommy and Dario arrived, which I was thinking was a good idea since I was in need of some liquid courage being around Tommy’s father. The men sat in the family room with all four kids. There was a debate over what they’d all watch. Disney movie or some rugby game.
Luc’s girls were adorable, Katrina and Serena (Luc joked that when she wanted them to come, she’d just holler “Rina!”) and they were dressed exactly the same in little white with red polka dot sundresses with their dark curly ringlets up in pigtails. They sat on the floor playing with the boys’ toy cars.
Tessa’s boys, Antonio and Lucas, sat on James’ lap like angels. Finally, Tom settled the “big kids” down by putting the Disney video on the big screen and giving the dads a tablet to watch together for their game.
Tommy and Dario turned up together, just as the food was being put out. Tommy swept me into his arms and gave me a very amorous hello with an old Hollywood style dip and a long kiss in front of his whole family. They all looked a bit surprised, so I guessed they hadn’t seen this type of behavior from him before. Truthfully, I was surprised, too. Last night he didn’t want to even touch me as we went to sleep.