Chapter Twenty-Seven

Sebastian

" Get up and change, Z." Alessia tosses jeans and a clean shirt on Enzo's horizontal form. "When one twin looks bad, it brings down our combined average."

Enzo glares at her from his couch. His dark hair is disheveled, and his gray sweatpants are torn.He reaches forward for a glass of wine, which sits on his coffee table next to the entire box of Barefoot Merlot and an untouched deli sandwich.

The Italian equivalent of a cry for help.

"Is there a purpose to this surprise visit other than to pass judgment on my clothing?" He does a crunch to take a sip.

"We're playing poker tonight at Sebastian's grandma's house." Alessia looks at her watch. "She's preparing a feast. You have five minutes to change before you make us late."

He sits up. "I didn't— I don't— Wait, what?"

"You know better than to keep an Italian grandmother waiting. Let's go."

"Since when does your grandmother play poker?" he asks me, as if that's the point.

"Since Truman was in office, if I had to guess. I invited you multiple times. You were busy."

This gives me a nice segue into but you were mysteriously busy due to a secret relationship with Ro, and speaking of, how are you feeling about all that?

He chews the inside of his cheek. "I guess that's accurate."

Alessia and I stand there waiting.

"Will there be booze?" he asks.

"An abundance," I assure him.

"Fine." He sighs and strips off his shirt. "Are you going to watch me take my pants off, too, pervs?"

"Ew, you aren't wearing underwear, are you?" Alessia stalks across his living room toward his bedroom. "Stand by, Man Child. I'll help you get dressed like an adult human."

"Do not go into our dresser unless you want to see a lot of Rosalina's stuff ," he yells after her.

Her voice gets quieter as she moves deeper into their bedroom. "Please, we've all got— oh wow . That's a lot of stuff. So many colors."

Enzo's expression shifts from smug to distant.

I clasp a hand on the back of my neck. I've apologized no less than five times in text but doing it in person seems like the next step. "Listen bud, I'm sorry—"

"Don't, Rossi. I'm fine. And I'm about to be even better after I rob you silly in poker." He rises to his feet. "Now excuse me while I put on some underwear hand-picked by my twin sister because that's totally fucking normal."

…

Nora's car pulls up to my curb right as I park in the driveway. The distraction of adult-napping Enzo from his couch and then picking up Eloise almost allowed me to forget that I'm breaking my own rule and inviting a woman to Nella's house.

A woman who, historically, I have difficulty not looking at, talking to, or touching.

Nella buzzed around the kitchen like a worker bee all afternoon, treating the meal more like Thanksgiving than poker night. Manicotti, cucumber salad, three apple pies. I told her it was just two extra people compared to usual, but she was not deterred.

Nora is new to us! We have to show her our best so she feels very welcome in our home.

Did I tell Nella what happened between me and Nora at the wedding? No way.

Did she find out anyway when Alessia came over and blurted the whole story to her while I was mowing the grass, unaware that I hadn't mentioned it myself?

You bet.

Nella is living her best life, knowing I invited a woman over and gleefully misinterpreting what it means.

I am in hell. This won't end well.

"Nora's here!" Alessia shoots me a shit-eating grin before turning her baseball hat backward, which she deems the appropriate way to wear hats in the house. "Can't wait to watch you stare at her like a lovesick teenager."

"Shut up," I utter miserably. "That's not what this is."

But I can't come right out and say what it actually is—an intervention in which we get Enzo drunk and make him talk about where he stands with Ro so we can figure out how to fix things—with Enzo present.

Alessia is first out of the car, followed closely by El and Enzo. They bound toward the front door, stopping to clap Nora on the shoulder or give her cheek a kiss as they pass. "No man left behind" doesn't apply to my friends, obviously, since they left me in the dust in their haste to get inside.

Nora waits for me on the paved walkway. I feel like I'm moving in slow motion as I come to a stop beside her.

There's something about nighttime, warm summer air, and this woman that makes it hard to string together a coherent greeting. Her summer dress is short and clingy. But it's seeing her bright lipstick and the clear effort she made to curl her hair that twists the wrench she puts on my heart even harder.

I want her to get dressed up like that for a date with me. I want to pretend she's here for me.

"Hey." I put on a polite smile. "Glad you could make it."

"Thanks for having me. Hopefully this goes well." She offers me the dish in her hands. "This is for you."

There's a joke on the tip of my tongue about how we now will have enough food to feed two armies thanks to Nella's prep, but it dissolves at how excited she looks to give it to me. "Great. Come on in."

The foyer feels smaller than usual as she trails me. I walk fast toward the kitchen so she's not tempted to slow down and look at any photos on the wall.

Her jaw drops. "Holy moly. Look at all these—"

"No thank you." I usher her into the kitchen as she giggles.

"Party don't start till they walk in," Eloise sings as she flounces around the kitchen with a frozie already in hand.

Let the games begin.

Alessia grabs one of the pre-poured frozen drinks and hands it to Enzo. "Nella, you remember my brother, Enzo."

"Enzo. It's been a long time, good to see you." Nella gives an affirming nod. "How's your poker game?"

He scratches his neck, eying the unconscionable amount of fake greenery decorating the top of Nella's cabinets. "It's decent. I guess I'm about to find out, competing with all of you."

"He's bluffing already," Alessia says with a wink.

"Nella, this is Nora," I say.

Nella, apparently, has already prepared an overflowing plate of food for Nora.

"Hello." Nella slides the plate across the island. "I made this for you."

I try to step in. "Nella, she doesn't need ten pounds of manicotti—"

"Wow! Thank you so much." Nora slides past me. "I'm starving ."

"That's great news," Nella says, nearly cooing. "And plenty more where that came from."

Frankly I can't imagine there being any more left, given the quantity on Nora's plate.

Nella overtly studies her. "Has anyone ever told you that you look like a celebrity? There's one I'm thinking of but for the life of me I can't think of her name. Sebastian, what's that show I like?"

I sigh. "You like a lot of shows. Can you narrow it down?"

"The one with the beautiful woman, I think she's shipwrecked on an island? It'll come to me." She keeps studying Nora with naked curiosity. "Hmm. This is going to bother me."

Someone needs to put her out of her misery. "You've seen her at the Y," I say. "Nora swims there, too. That's probably why she looks familiar."

Nella's expression screams betrayal . "Why didn't you tell me, Sebastian?" She turns to Nora. "My grandson never told me or I would've said hello."

I'll be paying for that one later.

Nora waves this off with an amicable smile. "I'll be sure to come say hello next time."

Time to move this thing along. "Do you like margaritas, Nor?"

"I love them."

I move toward my grandmother and pull her in for a side-hug, guiding her away from Nora. "You know I'm no good at making frozies. Mind showing me how it's done?"

Nella's eyes light up. "Of course! I'll whip up another batch. Everyone, make a plate! Eat, eat!"

We take our full dinner plates to the kitchen table, which will serve as our poker table as soon as everyone is finished stuffing their faces. The six of us fit around the rectangle with little room to spare. If there were one more player, we'd have to take it to the formal dining room, where everything feels untouched by time and the chairs are less comfortable.

Nora and Nella become fast friends through dinner, chatting so much I have to remind Nora to eat. I'm not sure what to make of the two of them, so I shove forkfuls of food into my mouth and keep my ears peeled for any conversational turns that require my intervention.

Alessia, Eloise, and Enzo nurse their frozen drinks but pound a few straight shots of tequila. Nella, not to be left out, takes one shot and starts telling inappropriate stories about her wedding anniversaries that make me want to evacuate this homestead.

Alessia goads Nella on as usual, asking about "Mr. Georgie's best attributes" and—spoiler alert—it was all of them. Nonno was a chiseled god, a man who was begging to be painted, the only man who made Nella's heart race.

The table gets progressively drunker, trading out our plates for poker chips and starting the game. Nella deals the first hand, as is our tradition.

As the night moves along, Enzo keeps offering everyone shots. Nora and I take them, since I'm pretty sure it's established that we're doing whatever Enzo wants tonight.

Whatever gets him talking.

Beside me, Nora's chair almost touches mine. Our knees knock under the table every time we have to move, and all we do is move, it seems, lunging for poker chips, reaching for cards, passing the deck. At one point I swear I feel something slide against my ankle, and I accidentally bet too much on a risky hand.

When Eloise wins her fourth (or maybe seventh?) hand of the night, I realize my plays are getting sloppy. Should've folded on that one sooner.

"That's my girl." Alessia plants a loud, sloppy kiss on her cheek.

"Your nose is looking awfully red, Alessia," I call across the table. "You trying to outdrink the rest of us tonight?"

"That is not a competition you want to have, my dude." Alessia looks at Nora, an evil glint in her eye. "I don't know if you're aware of this, but our guy Sebastian here thinks he's king of the world when he drinks tequila. You'll have to cut him off."

"I don't need tequila to think I'm the king of the world, Alessia." I extend my arms. "Behold my palace."

"Aw, Sebastian can't handle his tequila?" Nora rests her cheek on her fist to look at me as Eloise deals the next hand.

I fucking love it when she looks at me in a room full of people.

"Should I tell everyone about the summer after senior year of high school?" Alessia tosses back the melted remains of her frozie. "The first time Sebastian drank tequila, he went off the rails. We were working at North Hills Country Club and—do you want to tell it or should I?"

I whip my gaze her way. " No one is going to tell it."

"Wait, I don't remember this story. What'd you do?" Enzo chimes in, arms crossed. "Can't be worse than anything Alessia ever did."

Alessia kicks him under the table and he whimpers.

Nora pokes me in the biceps. "I want to know."

I tilt my head toward her. She's so damn close .She looks good tonight, skin flushed and tan, hair wilder than usual as if she was at the beach today.

"Well, Nora"—Alessia leans all her weight forward on the table, incapable of sitting on her ass like a normal person—"what had happened was—"

"I will slash your tires." I follow this threat with a tiny sip of water, because I am the responsible adult at this table.

And then I follow it with a shot, because Enzo slid it in front of me.

Nora shifts in her seat as the liquor works through me. The heat of her body is tangible. I grip my knee under the table so I don't put my hand on her in some way, because there's no crying in baseball and no touching in poker.

"What is so scandalous that it's worth slashing tires over?" she asks, and I'm fairly confident her eyes are on my mouth.

No. That's just the liquor talking.

"Let's just say Sebastian's favorite animal back then was a cougar," Alessia says.

The table erupts in laughter as I consider the financial ramifications of a retaliation, should I key her car.

Nella shakes with laughter. "That's the Rossi men for you. Charmers, the lot of them. Your grandfather would be proud."

I groan. "Please stop."

"I'm going to run to the restroom. Then I'll top off our glasses," Nella says, her house shoes dragging on the tile.

I throw a poker chip at Alessia. "Really? In front of my grandmother?"

She shrugs a bony shoulder. "You're thirty years old, Sebastian. It's not like she thinks you're a virgin. Plus, she lives for my stories about you."

"What makes you think I won't start spilling your secrets, eh?"

"Because I don't have anything to hide. El already knows everything about me, and Enzo couldn't care less."

Enzo nods, hands steepled. "That is correct."

"Wait." Nora gives me an urgent look I can't decipher before she subtly nods past me at Enzo. "I'm the newcomer here, I want to know more about everyone. We should all take turns telling a story or something. Maybe how we met the people we're with?"

Yes .

She's a pretty genius. This is the conversational segue we need to get Enzo talking about his relationship, and I almost missed it.

No more shots.I need to be sharp.

"How'd you two meet?" Nora points between Eloise and Alessia, wading into the topic slowly.

"Eloise catered an event in the building where my clinic is located." Alessia picks up the cards Eloise just dealt her. "She was very good at her job, and that's very hot."

El—a notoriously sentimental drunk—sighs happily in her seat. "And I wanted to kiss the hot girl pacing in the lobby. Then I wanted to date her. Now I get to marry her."

Nora gets cartoon-eyed over this. "That's so sweet." She turns back toward me, an innocent smile on her face. "And Sebastian, how'd you meet your cougar?"

Alessia laughs so hard it turns into a hacking cough, which makes Enzo and Eloise laugh even harder.

"Clever girl." I nudge her leg under the table with mine, just to see her react.

She nudges back, tipping her head sideways. "Go on, then."

"I was the server to her private cabana. She was a twenty-nine-year-old divorcee whose husband cheated on her." I shoot Alessia a look. "Hardly a cougar. And she was nice enough, I guess."

"Wow, what a glowing review," Alessia deadpans. "You should look her up."

Nora's mouth pulls into a line.

She does not like that.

I smile in spite of myself. My fingers drift over the hem of her dress and settle on her thigh. "Something wrong, Nor?"

"Nope." A blush lights up her cheeks as she shifts to look past me, her chest practically lying on my arm, to drop the bomb we've been waiting for. "Enzo, how are things going with Rosalina? You two talking again? Heading toward reconciliation?"