“That boy is a busy bee, just works and works. Running the whole business alone is hard for him without Mateo’s help.”

Her tone was sharp enough to give my head a tilt. One thing I knew about Matty was that he never intended on putting up sheetrock and drywall for a living. Not only did Mateo earn himself the leadership position of his special forces unit, hecame home and started an incredibly successful business that had nothing to do with the avenue of construction.

“Mateo is so busy, too,” I reminded her. “He lost his business partner when Frankie moved, so now he’s taking on that workload until he has the time to find another cybersecurity expert. It’s been a lot of long days for him. He’s exhausted when he comes home.”

“I’m sure Angelo would love to sit in the air conditioning all day,” she said. “A chair and a desk, tap-tapping on the keyboard, long lunch breaks, flirting with the bank receptionist.” She wiggled her eyebrows. “But of course we’re proud of them both. They’re very special in their own ways.”

“Of course,” I parroted, focusing on the gray blacktop and the yellow lines on the road.

My fingernails dug into the soft cushion of my leopard steering wheel cover and I leaned a little heavier onto the gas pedal. If there was contention between Mateo and Angelo it was bleeding into the entire family dynamic. Not to mention Mateo had asked Frankie to be his best man, and I was pretty sure that news hadn’t made its waves yet.

I slowed to a stop at the dress boutique, surprised to find my mother’s Range Rover already parked and empty. Out of habit, I pulled out a compact mirror from my bag to check that my makeup wasn’t creased, and took a comb to my untamed hair. I reapplied a layer of lip gloss, wrestled my push-up bra into a flattering shape in the white A-line sundress I wore, and took the most staggeringly deep breath I could before joining my future mother-in-law at the front door, hoping that her skin was as thick as her accent. I knew no matter what I said or did, the short, stout woman was about to get unabashedly judged and implicitly ignored by my mom and each of my sisters for the next two hours. Mateo had to worry less about me not wanting to joinhis extended family and more about his own mother warning him off the mess that was mine.

Sistine was tapping on her watch when we walked inside, next to my twin sisters, Mia and Isabella—all three dressed in different variations of white. It’s a rule not to wear white to a wedding, but there had to be some type of handbook somewhere that said wearing white toanywedding affiliated function was reserved for the bride unless implicitly stated otherwise.

Even better, it seemed a rack of stark white, floofy, bedazzled dresses had been put together by my mother on my behalf. My style was less razzle-dazzle and more muted, crème, lightweight—something that drapes off your body and accentuates your curves. Mom wanted a cake topper that blinded you with how many cheap rhinestones were sewn into the bodice, and was so heavy it’d take out a startled child on the dance floor with the ass train.

“Mom,” I greeted her. We both extended our arms out as if to hug but never got close enough to actually touch. My mother, sisters, and I all shared the same short, hereditary frames, thin nose, and dark hair. But Mom had taken to dyeing hers blonde despite the roots popping through with vigor within a week.

“Talia,” she said warmly, looking me up and down. “I got started without you. Couldn’t help myself.”

“Story of your life,” I said back with equal affection. Anna was in the shadow behind me and I stepped aside to include her in her blue paisley blouse. It was like introducing a Real Housewife to Barefoot Contessa. “This is Mateo’s mom, Anna. She and her husband are visiting from New York for a few months to help with the wedding.”

“Sistine.” My mother held out a limp wrist, her lips pinched into a smile. “I hope you’re enjoying the weather. New York is so dirty and cold this time of year. John and I prefer a late May in the Hamptons when we find the time.”

I turned away before she could catch me rolling my eyes and moved the attention to my twin sisters standing by. If not for Isabella’s chic, professional, lawyer bob that looked immaculate paired with a pantsuit, she and Mia were nearly impossible to tell apart. Mia had more flare, a small nose stud, and several piercings in her ears. She wore her eyeliner winged and was partial to a leather jacket, but knew exactly when to dial it back. The two of them were equally uptight and obtuse. Bella was as blunt as a baseball bat, Mia would bite your head off, and neither could ever admit they were wrong, especially not when it came to each other.

“Mia,” I said, making a flighty introduction. “And Isabella. Older sisters. Mia sells houses, Isabella sues people. I still can hardly tell them apart so don’t worry if you forget.”

“I see there’s a trend in names,” Anna noted.

“And you haven’t even been graced with Camilla yet.” I plopped onto the cream cabriole beside Bella and patted the cushion to invite Anna to join me. “I’m glad you all cleared your schedules.”

“We wouldn’t miss it, honey,” Mom announced. “This is a milestone in a mother’s life, wedding dress shopping! I can’t believe it.”

“How funny that your youngest is the first one down the aisle,” Anna said. “I’ve been begging my son for a daughter-in-law for years. I was convinced he would never settle.”

“I thought I’d have more time,” Mom commented. “Mateo has so much more life experience than Natalia. He’s—what, again? Thirty-nine?”

“Thirty-five,” I mumbled.

“I know you said you’re not pregnant, but it doesn’t hurt to ask one more time.”

My cheeks flamed as she took a long look at my torso as if she could see through it. “No, Mom, I’m not pregnant.”

“Six months to plan a weddingisgoing to make people assume,” Bella said. “Gossip, at the very least. I’ll just come straight out and say it, I’m concerned with how you’re affording a wedding in the Keys on a bank teller’s income. No offense to the hubby, but I didn’t realize tech support was reeling in the cash.”

Tech support.Somehow both my eyeballs twitched at the same time. If only I could pull up Mat and Nat’s most recent royalty statement and hold it out for them to gawk at, just once. Apparently everyone was soworriedabout me, my lack of life experience, and lack of funds. I guess it shouldn’t have surprised me that they still saw me as the same aimless, rebellious kid I was in high school.

My family was still under the impression that I worked at the bank. That was my cover for what I really did with my nine-to-five hours during the week. It was safe. There wasn’t any danger one of them would show up looking for me, and I couldn’t exactly tell them I was unemployed without heavy questioning. But now Anna thought I had a job at the bank as well and I’d backed myself into a corner.

“Mateo doesverywell for himself,” I bit out, panicking. “So much that I cut my hours back at work.”

“Go off, feminist icon.” Mia picked some invisible lint from her skirt.

“There’s something to be said about a woman with her own independence though.” Mom crossed one long, tan leg over the other.

I shrugged. “Then say it.”