Page 81 of Summer on Sunshine Bay

Her mother shrugged. “What do you want me to do? I offered him a raise and another week off with pay.”

“None of that matters to him, and you know it,” Eva said, taking her frustration and anger out on the lobster meat.

Her mother craned her neck. “You’re cutting the pieces too small. The meat looks mushy. How long did you parcook the lobster?”

“I’ve been making lobster bisque since I was fourteen, Ma. I think I know what I’m doing.” She looked down. The pieces were more pea size than bite size.

Her mother said something under her breath in Italian.

“Ignore her. She’s just trying to distract you,” Gia whispered.

Eva didn’t take her sister’s advice, which resulted in a shouting match between Eva and her mother as they critiqued each other’s cooking techniques.

Someone clearing their throat brought their heads around. James stood at the entrance of the kitchen. “You might want to take it down a notch, ladies. I could hear you when I walked into the restaurant.”

Her mother shrugged. “We have a warning on the menu.”

This was true. There was a note at the top of the menu advising customers that real Italian cooking was going on in the kitchen, which at any time could result in shouting, arguing, yelling, and cursing, but to just sit back and relax and enjoy the meal. Bruno had suggested they add the warning after a customer called the cops, positive someone was being murdered in the kitchen.

“Don’t look at me,” Eva said to James, jerking a thumb at her mother. “She started it. And do you know why she—”

Her sister cut her off. “Impeccable timing as always, James. Eva was just saying how excited she was about your date.”

“What are you talking about? We don’t have a date.” Eva turned to James. “I never said that. She’s just trying to get me out of the kitchen.”

“We kind of did have a date. You told me to come by the restaurant to celebrate when you sent me Lila’s sonogram.”

“You’re right, I did. I’m sorry. I got—”

“It’s the menopause,” her mother said. “She forgets the simplest things, including how to make lobster bisque the way I taught her.”

“You know exactly why I forgot I’d made plans with James, Ma. And it has nothing to do with the menopause. It’s because, not fifteen minutes after I’d texted James, I found out Bruno gave you his resignation letter, and you accepted it!”

“Keep your nose out of my business.” Her mother wagged a soapy wooden spoon at her. “You have your own business to take care of, and from what I can see, you’re not any closer to breaking up our Lila’s wedding than you…” She trailed off, her shoulders moving up to her ears. She cast Eva an apologetic glance and then turned back to the sink.

“Off you two go,” Gia said with a wide and slightly panicked smile as she pushed Eva toward James. “Have fun!”

As they walked out of the kitchen, Eva reached back to untie her apron and glanced at James. He met her gaze with anI don’t believe youlook in his eyes.

“Don’t listen to my mother. She’s more upset about Bruno than she’s letting on, and she’s not thinking straight.”

She sighed when her sister started yelling at their mother in Italian, forgetting once again how far their voices carried and that James also spoke the language. Between the two of them, they basically laid out every plan Eva had made to break up Lila’s wedding and how badly each one had failed.

“Is that the best you can do?” James asked dryly.

“I didn’t have a lot of time to come up with a plan. If I had more than a month to work with—”

“Eva, I was talking about your excuse for Carmen busting you.” He held open the door to the empty deck. “I thought we agreed to stay out of it and support our daughter no matter what she decided.”

“That’s what you decided, not me.” She tossed her apron on a chair and leaned on the rail. James joined her, and she took in the hard set of his strong, stubbled jaw. “Don’t worry. It’s a moot point now. Even if I think our daughter is making a mistake, which I do, I’m going to back off. I won’t try and break them up.”

“How come?”

“Can’t you just accept what I say at face value?”

“No, because I’ve heard it before. What’s different this time?”

“Lexi, Dr. Alva, talking about Lila’s stress levels. She looked right at me when she said it.”

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