Page 45 of Fall Into You
She squeals in excitement, clapping her hands and jumping up and down in place like a teenage girl. “Ohmigod, this is so crazy. Iknewit.”
“Yeah, yeah, okay, you knew it.” I roll my eyes at her. Omniscient Danielle.
“God, I’m so happy for you,” she says genuinely with a huge smile on her face. “You look so glowy and in love.”
I can’t keep the smile off my face when I blush. “I feel it.”
She squeals even louder, but I cover my ears just in time.
“Jeez, Dani! Keep it down,” I say, but I laugh because I really am so happy to be with Matt. “We really are way too involved in each other’s lives as a family, you know.”
“This is an Italian family. It comes with the territory,” she says as if I’m new here and haven’t been part of it my entire life. “So, what’s the deal, then? When are you guys going public?”
“I wanted to chase this a little bit to make sure it was something real, and he agreed. But I think we’re pretty much on the same page that we’re committed to each other. I just have a lot of mental paperwork to do—it’s not just about my brother.”
Danielle frowns but doesn’t say anything.
“What?” My stomach flips, suddenly nervous.
“I thought it wouldn’t be as difficult to get your brother on board, but he keeps talking about how happy he is to have ‘his bro back,’” she says with air-quotes. Danielle shakes her head and then takes another sip of her wine. “I guess I underestimated how much Vinny needed a friend.”
It’s true. Vinny and Matt have been spending quite a lot of time together recently. It seems like whenever he isn’t with me or at work, Matt is at my brother’s house, playing video games or watching sports. It has gotten to the point where the twins are already calling him “Uncle Matt” (I will not put into words what hearing that did to my heart—or my ovaries, for that matter—but I think you can guess). The two of them have really rekindled their friendship, which has made Matt feel even worse about lying to him every time he comes over.
It’s been tough, but he’s been really good about not pushing me now that he understands it’s not just about my brother but about giving me the chance to learn how I can let myself be happy with him.
“No, I know they’ve gotten really close,” I say. “I think closer than when they were in college, actually, since they’re real adults now and their relationship is not based just around partying. But still. I think, once he figures out how serious we are about each other, he won’t be that mad.”
“How serious?” Danielle narrows her eyes at me. “Because you obviously have to be sure.”
“Dani, I am definitely sure about my feelings.” I take a deep breath, ready to say it out loud to someone for the first time. “I think I might actually lo—”
“Elisabetta.” My mother walks into the kitchen with my brother in tow. That was a close one. “Is your friend Barbara coming for Thanksgiving this year again?” she asks.
Barbara’s parents refuse to celebrate Thanksgiving, so she’s spent it almost every year since I’ve known her at our house. My mother has always loved Babs’s eccentricity and sense of humor, which she especially brings to dinner with the family by making a crazy centerpiece for the table.
“No, Ma. She’s shooting a commercial in Japan,” I reply, finishing off the rest of my wine. It’s actually kind of ridiculous—a cat shampoo commercial where she’s dressed as a cat, and a bottle of shampoo is chasing her all over Tokyo. I really don’t get it, but whatever. Not my problem.
“What a shame! She always brought such a fun twist to the holiday weekend, especially when she would have a little too much wine and start to sing some of her favorite show tunes.” She sighs. Mom loves Barbara. “Vincenzo, what about you? Do you have a friend you can bring?”
No, no, no, no.
“Actually…”NO! “I’m pretty sure Matt doesn’t have plans that day. I think he mentioned his mother bailed on him last minute.”
This is true. Matt was supposed to go down to Florida to spend the holidays with his mother, but she decided to go to Europe with her husband and their friends instead, leaving him alone for the holiday weekend. I hated the thought of him spending Thanksgiving by himself in his apartment, but there was no way I could invite him to our family dinner even if I wanted to (which I don’t). He told me he would be fine, that he would just order Chinese food and watch a bunch of bloody movies—the kind that he doesn’t get to watch when he’s with me because I can’t stand them. I thought about skipping, making up an excuse about a paper I had to finish or something, but I couldn’t do that to my mom. She spends almost every day alone in that house. The holidays are what she looks forward to the most, especially since my dad died.
“Oh, yes. He’s such a nice boy. Call him!” Her eyes flash to mine and then back to Vinny.
Whoa, wait. What the hell was that?
Vinny pulls his phone out and starts to scroll through it. “‘Kay, let me give him a call.”
I jump out of my chair, tripping over my feet, and make it to my purse. The three of them look at me like I’ve gone absolutely insane, but I ignore them. I’m a woman on a mission to stop my secret boyfriend from accepting a friendly invitation to dinner at my mother’s house. “Sorry, just forgot I had to reply to an email ASAP.”
I pull my phone out of my bag and quickly type out a text to Matt.
Liza: DO NOT ACCEPT THE INVITATION.
Vinny puts the phone on speaker so he can make himself a sandwich while it rings. I pray to God Matt sees the message before he picks up or at least realizes how completely horrible it would be if he were to spend the holidays with us. We would be too obvious. They’d find us out in the first five minutes. I’d want to touch him constantly, want to steal kisses. I’d lose my mind, trying to pretend like I wasn’t into him, least of allin love with him.
