Page 87 of Three Little Wishes

“Great idea,” Willow said, her voice muffled in Noah’s chest.

“Okay. Drive careful, Cami. We’ll see you at five,” Noah said, not doing a very good job of disguising the fact that he couldn’t wait for them to leave. “Keep an eye on Cami, Tink.”

“I’m seventeen!”

“Going on twelve,” Riley muttered, sending her brother and Willow into fits of laughter. “I’m not kidding about the disguise, Cami,” Riley said as they walked to the station wagon. “We have to be careful. Billy saw the video online,and he lost his mind. I was across the room from Noah, and I could hear him yelling.”

Okay, Cami hadn’t known Riley had been outted. She must’ve missed that on social. “Oh no! Why didn’t you tell me?”

“You already felt bad enough. And you had to put up with Noah giving you the silent treatment. Besides, it was my idea to go to Last Call, and you never told Noah or Willow.”

“Of course I wouldn’t tell them. You’re my bestie.” She slung her arm around Riley’s shoulders. “Don’t worry. I’m not going to do anything to get you into any more trouble. We’re going to have so much fun cooking with my mother.”

They were having fun with her mother until her sister walked into the kitchen, leaned over, and sniffed the pot on the stove. “The sauce is missing something,” she said to their mother, ignoring Cami completely.

Cami wanted to tell her to get over herself but Gia had every right to be upset with her. But she wasn’t about to let her ruin Riley’s day.

“Nothing’s missing.Rileymade the sauce exactly how we always do,” Cami said. Her sister was great with kids—great with everyone, really. She’d never intentionally hurt someone’s feelings. Other than Cami’s, obviously.

Standing at the far counter kneading the pizza dough, Riley turned. She had flour in her hair and on her nose and cheeks. She’d looked adorably flustered when they were trying to figure out how she’d managed to ruin her first two batches.

“Did I do something wrong to the sauce?” Riley asked, and Cami wanted to whack her sister with her casted arm.

Gia got anoh craplook on her face.

“I’m sure it’s perfect. I’ll just give it a taste,” Gia said,smiling at Riley as she picked up a wooden spoon. “Cami never puts in enough salt.”

“Don’t listen to her, Riley. My mother, Eva, and I make the best sauce. Gia, not so much. Isn’t that right, Ma?” she said when Carmen walked into the kitchen.

The wooden spoon stalled halfway to Gia’s lips, and she turned her head, pinning Cami with a pissed-off stare.

There were a lot of reasons Cami should be sucking up to her sister right now, but fighting with her desire to make things right with Gia, there was something else. Cami was jealous of her sister’s relationship with Willow, even if she had no right to be. So instead of kissing her sister’sculo, Cami wiggled her shoulders, making the snotty duck face she used to make when she was trying to get a rise out of Gia. Her sister had hated it.

Still does, Cami thought with a grin when Gia shoved the wooden spoon in her mouth instead of telling her to go F herself like she used to.

“What are you talking about?” Carmen asked, walking over to Riley.

“Gia thinks I made a mistake with the sauce,” Riley confided.

Carmen gave Gia awhat’s wrong with you?look before waving off her daughter’s remark. “You didn’t make a mistake. You made the sauce exactly like my Cami does, and she makes it almost as good as me.” She pinched off a piece of dough, testing the elasticity. She nodded. “Better, much better. But maybe one more try, eh?” Carmen said, smiling at Riley.

Riley groaned. “I’m never going to get the hang of it. Maybe you should do it,” she said hopefully to Carmen. “Willow and Noah are going to be here in an hour.”

“Willow and Noah are coming?” Gia asked.

The green-eyed monster raised its head. “Yeah. Who did you think we were cooking for? Riley, Willow, Noah, and I are having a special family dinner to celebrate Willow’s big news.”

She’d taken it too far. She could tell by the look in her sister’s eyes. Cami resisted the urge to smack herself with her casted arm and walked over to Riley. “I know what you’re missing!” she crowed like a teenager hopped up on a high instead of filled with shame. “The secret ingredient. Love!”

Behind her, she heard what sounded like her sister slamming the wooden spoon on the stove and braced herself for what was to come. She deserved whatever her sister dished out. She just hoped she said it in Italian so Riley wouldn’t understand.

Carmen got to Gia first, removing her from the kitchen before all hell broke loose. It wasn’t the first time her mother had had to intervene with her daughters. The Rosettis fought as hard as they loved.

She heard her mother and sister yelling at each other in Italian. Carmen was defending Cami, and her sister wasn’t happy. She shared just how unhappy she was by reminding their mother what a piece of work Cami was. Gia didn’t want her spending time with Willow, and when Cami got her memory back, her sister intended to share that with her daughter. There was no room in their lives for Cami now, no matter how much Carmen wanted it. Cami clenched her teeth. Her sister might be able to keep her from her daughter, but no way in hell was she keeping Cami from her mother.

“I think Gia’s mad. You shouldn’t have said it like that, Cami. You made it sound like it was just us.”

“I want it just to be us.” One night, that was all she wanted. “Maybe we should bring dinner home.”

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