Page 24 of The Pretender
Deo scrunches his nose. “I wanted it to be a surprise and Brogan has a big mouth.”
Nonna laughs. “Isn’t that the truth.”
She steps outside and hops onto a golf cart. I stand behind Deo and we both wave as she tears off towards the main house.
“She’s a feisty one, huh?”
Deo nods. “And hasn’t softened with age one bit. She’s pretty awesome.”
“I can tell.”
After closing the door, Deo turns to me and pats my chest. “We should chill and enjoy the silence while it lasts. They’ll be all over us by tomorrow.”
“Sounds good.”
We return to the couch, and as we sit, Deo’s cushion sinks and he slides right next to me. I drape my arm around his shoulders to give him room, and he gazes up at me with his pretty eyes.
“I think it helps that you’re Italian too. You know what to expect.”
I chuckle. “They don’t scare me.”
“That’s good.”
“Am I being a good boyfriend so far?”
He nods. “Just be yourself. My nonna can sniff out a fake a mile away.”
That’s not great news, but as long as we don’t talk about my work, I should be okay.
“No problem.”
“How about some trash TV before dinner?”
A distraction sounds great. “I’m in.”
EIGHT
amadeo
As expected,my phone buzzes with an announcement from my mom that dinner is at seven and everyone is coming. This should be awesome. I must make a noise, because Balt perks up, shifting in his spot and turning his gaze from the TV to me.
“Something wrong?” he asks.
“No. Just dinner, like I said. My brothers are coming and they’ll interrogate me.”
“Why?”
I grab the remote from the coffee table and mute the TV. “To hear Brogan tell it, they kind of blame me for the family business struggling and causing my folks a lot of stress.”
“That doesn’t seem fair.”
“It’s not.” I shrug. “I defied everyone’s expectations of me. I guess growing up I gave the impression that I didn’t have a lot of ambition. I didn’t have dreams like they did. Nantes knew he wanted to be a doctor when he was still a kid. Guiliano decided to study law when he was still in high school. Not me. The default was running the family business, and I didn’t do that.”
“Not yet. You’re back now. That should be the focus. The past is already done.”
“True. Maybe it would help my confidence if I had a clue what I was getting into.”
“We can prioritize that. We can start tomorrow.”
