Page 59 of Mr. Dangerous

I glanced toward the living room. "Keep yourvoicedown.”

"It's okay to saysexin front of Mom," Alice whispered. "Anyway. My point is, worrying that you have no future is the worst kind of worrying about the future. Why don't you just have fun with him and see whathappens?"

I pulled a face, poking at the boiling pasta with a wooden spoon. "Rob said I don't do fun. Or that I'm not fun. One of thosethings."

"He's wrong, you know," Alice said. "Deep down, I'm sure he knows it, or he wouldn't be drawntoyou."

"You think so?" After all, Alice had never hesitated to throwboringat me. I knew I wasn’t like her. Alice was bubbly and effervescent and, while Alice could be a lot to handle, she was neverboring.

"Trust me," Alice said. "You've already accidentally gone down the laidback, see-what-happens, have-some-wild-and-crazy-sex road. You might as well keep headingdownit."

Mom came in then, unable to resist supervising for very long. Alice and I exchanged a long look and, despite Alice's brave declaration, talk about Rob and sex moved to the back burner along with the greenbeans.

When the four of us were all gathered around the table, Dad asked, "How's the Delaneyhouse?"

Alice couldn't help but snicker, turning her face down towards her plate. Part of me wanted to reach out and smack my sister like we were still in elementaryschool.

"It's great!" I said lightly. "Rob's been keepingmebusy."

Alice, eyes wide, chewed her mouthful of green beans quickly as if she were trying to swallow before shechoked.

"I drove him to Boston," I forged on, trying to get them all onto neutral ground. "To seeMitch."

"Mitch? Mr. Delaney?" Dad gave me alonglook.

"I had brunch with them. Part of the job," I said. "And you know, Mitch wasreallynice."

"Really nice, sure,"Momsaid.

"I just want to see you settle down with a good guy,"Dadsaid.

"Well, that’s… apropos of nothing. I know." After all, a son-in-law had been on Dad's Christmas list for the last few years. He'd gone fromyou can date when you're thirtytothat's not actually funny anymore, Naomi, youshoulddate.

"So a nice Navy SEAL," Alice said, and I cut my eyes at her furiously, trying to get her to stop. "With a few million dollars. Not good enough for a son-in-law?"

Mom turned on me. "Naomi! Do you like RobertDelaney?"

"His full name," I noted. "Makes it sound like he's introuble."

"Yeah, he's in trouble, if he thinks he's good enough for my daughter," Dad grumbled, helping himself to another serving of pasta. Which was pretty typical of Dad's usual shtick, but I wasn't sure he waskidding.

"You know I read an article," Mom said. "It was about how pretty much everyone who achieves the big successes, they had some big roadblock in life as children. Learning disability or a death in the family or poverty. Something theyovercame."

"So you're saying that Naomi and I are destined for a middling-life because you guys gave us a happychildhood?"

"No!" Mom said. "That's not what I'm saying. We come from tough stock, you girls were born to go out and chase your dreams down. Look at what you've accomplished so far. Alice is putting herself through law school, Naomi is growing thebusiness."

Dad nodded, his eyes on us girls fond. "We're so proud ofyouboth."

"Thanks, Dad," I said, although my tone came out quiet. I felt anxious about what my parents would think about what I'd just done with Rob Delaney. The thought of hiding the truth from them also made me feel sick. We never kept secrets from each other. "Anyway, I know you don't want me to get too close to the Delaneys, but I have to eat fast and then go pick Liam up from theairport."

"You work too hard," Mom said, shakingherhead.

"You're the ones who taught us there's no such thing as working too hard!" I exclaimed. I caught Alice’s eyes, looking for confirmation. "Right? Do you remember cleaning every Sunday after Mass? Dayofrest?"

"You got to watch a movie on Sundays!"Momsaid.

"And you'd be handing out the Pledge as soon as the credits rolled,"Alicesaid.

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