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Chapter 7

7

Kaitlin tried to keep herself from biting her nails. Her nerves were frayed around the edges, and she hadn’t had enough sleep. From the moment Brando had called the night before to tell her he would arrive tonight, she’d been so excited she could not seem to think about anything else.

“You are not paying any attention to me,” her grandmother said.

Kaitlin blinked and brought her mind back to the present. She smiled at her companion. Dorothy Colleen Fitzpatrick was eighty-nine and still as quick-witted as she was at thirty. Or Kaitlin assumed, since she wasn’t around then. From the stories her father told them about his mother, Kaitlin was sure her grandmother was.

“Sorry. I have a lot on my mind.”

“Yeah?” Her grandmother narrowed her blue eyes. “You seemed to have been like that since you got back from New Orleans.”

She shook her head. “I have not.”

“Yes you have. Give over, Kaitlin. What’s his name?”

Her grandmother was too smart for her own good. “Why do you think a man is involved?”

“Because, no woman looks all dreamy-eyed like that for anything else. Unless you’re a lesbian. Which is fine, but I am not sure how your mother would take it.”

“I was engaged.”

“According to Aeden, there is a good chance Glen was a woman.”

She snorted. She was going to have a talk with her brother.

“So, tell an old woman about your romance. I need something to spice up my days here.”

Kaitlin shook her head. She didn’t need her grandmother getting excited about something that may never happen.

“It isn’t much of a romance. He’s moving here. I knew him in college, and now he’s going to teach at the university. ROTC.”

“He’s military?”

She nodded. “Marines.”

“Well, I for one am glad for it. You need a man to make you happy.”

“I don’t need anything to make me happy. I am happy. I don’t need a man.”

Her grandmother shook her head. “No. I mean that you need a man that can make you happy. Glen never did.”

She could not argue with that because it was true. In all the years she had spent with Glen, he had never made her laugh. He never tried to.

“Either way, I’m not sure he wants to have a relationship, but I do like him. He’s really sweet.”

“A Marine who is sweet? This man I must meet.”

What a nightmare. Not that she didn’t want him to meet her grandmother, but it would get back to her parents. She needed to ease Brando into getting to know her family. They could be…overwhelming.

“You’re not eating,” her grandmother said.

She looked down at her plate and felt her stomach turn. The last few days, she had been like that. Kaitlin knew she didn’t have the flu, but she felt slightly like the way she had during finals. It had to be the fact that she hadn’t been able to fight the nerves since she knew for sure Brando was going to stay with her.

“I’m kind of nervous about Brando coming by.”

Her grandmother nodded. “It will all work out.”

She sighed and noticed the time. “I better get going. I have an appointment with Mr. Salter.”

Her grandmother’s eyes narrowed. “You be careful with him. He’s had a few incidents.”

She chuckled. “Yes, he does like to pinch the nurses. Me though, he doesn’t touch.”

“Why is that?”

“I told him who my grandmother was. Apparently, he’s scared to death of you. You seem to have a reputation around here for some reason.”

Her grandmother laughed. “Good. Be good, sweetie.”

She rose and leaned down to give her grandmother a kiss. “Do you need me to walk you back to your room?”

“No. I’m going to go see Bernice,” she said, mentioning her best friend.

“Okay. Be good.”

Kaitlin stopped to empty her tray in the trash, then she went on her way. She was glad she worked in a place where she got to see her grandmother every day. It was one of the many joys she’d had with her job at the retirement community. She could probably earn a little bit more money elsewhere, but she loved it there.

She had become intrigued with the idea of speech pathology when her grandfather O’Conner had a stroke. She had been a freshmen in college and it had convinced her that is what she needed to do. Getting to do it right where she wanted to live and getting to spend a lot of quality time with her grandmother made it even better.

But, it also made her a target. She loved her family, but they had to be the most gossipy family ever. Her mother liked to keep informed about everything and she knew her grandmother was going to call tonight. What she did not need was her brothers interfering. They tended to scare men off.

Not that she thought Brando would get scared off easily. She smiled. That was one self-confident man. But, then, being a Marine, it was probably a prerequisite.

Her smile faded as her stomach rolled over again. Dammit, she would not allow her nerves to get in the way. She would be cool when he showed up tonight. Kaitlin could play the part of the sophisticated lover. Maybe.

She swallowed and forced herself to put one foot in front of the other. She would get through her appointment with Mr. Salter, then she would dash home to clean up the house.

Her phone vibrated on her hip. She looked at it and noticed it was Wendy.

“So, you want to go out tonight?” Wendy asked.

“Do you ever say hello when you call other people?”

“Yes, but I don’t love them like I love you.”

She chuckled.

“Are you going to answer me?” Wendy asked.

“No.”

“No you aren’t going to answer me?”

She laughed. “No. Brando is getting here tonight.”

“Damn, I thought that was tomorrow. Okay, well, after you have hot monkey sex, you can report it all to me.”

She rolled her eyes. “You want to know too much about my sex life.”

“Well, until you went to New Orleans, you didn’t have one. It was dead on arrival.”

“Gee, thanks.”

“As a nurse, I can assure you, it had flat lined and was on the way to the morgue. Of course, now that Mr. Studly has shown up, it is resurrected.”

“Are you finished?”

“Like a second coming.” Wend sighed. “Okay, now I am finished.”

She tried not to laugh but failed. “Is that all you wanted to talk about?”

“No. I do need to talk to you, you know, a gab fest.”

Oh, that wasn’t good. When Wendy had issues, they tended to deal with her family. Her parents had a tendency to wreak havoc on her life when they blew into it.

“I am going home after this appointment. We could hang out until Brando gets there. I was just going to veg out.” Or take a nap. She had seemed exhausted the last week, and she had no idea why.

“Can’t. I’m on until five today. Call me tomorrow and we can set something up.”

“Sounds good.”

“Do all kinds of naughty things to that man. Bye.”

She hung up and slipped her phone back in her pocket. Her nerves had her stomach rolling over again. Damn, she hadn’t had a case of a nervous stomach since the day she’d defended her thesis. How was she ever going to get accustomed to the fact that Brando was coming to see her? If this developed into more of a relationship, she might have issues keeping anything down.

With a sigh, she pushed those thoughts aside and headed off to her appointment. She had to get done with work so she could make sure to get home in time to get ready for Brando.

Brando’s phone rang the moment he parked in front of Kaitlin’s house. He would ignore it, because he was already nervous enough. He had been so sure of himself, but at the moment, there was always the worry she’d had second thoughts. When he talked to her the night before, she had given him directions to her house.

He glanced down and saw the number. Great. His mother. There was no way he could ignore her call. She would end up calling his Aunt Joey, and that wasn’t a complication he needed. He was hoping to hold off the Santini matriarch as long as he could.

“Mama, I just got here.”

“I was worried.”

“I am thirty-two years old. I think I can get to places without you worrying by now.”

“A mother is never going to quit worrying about stuff like that. If you were a parent, you would know this.”

He sighed and got out of the car. “I just got here and I haven’t even settled in. Can you give me the ‘I need grandchildren in my life’ speech tomorrow?”

She ignored the question and rolled right on. “What hotel are you staying at? Is it near the campus?”

This was dicey. He could never lie to his mother. Actually, he found it difficult to lie to any woman. Elena had figured it out when they were younger and used it against him. His mother could always detect when he was lying—even over the phone. He’d had an accident while he’d been deployed to Iraq, and the moment he told his mother he was fine, that nothing bad had happened, she had known. It was kind of eerie the way she could tell things like that.

“Yes, it’s close to the campus.”

There. He didn’t lie. Kaitlin did live near the campus. He was so busy congratulating himself, that he didn’t realize he’d slipped up until it was too late.

“What aren’t you telling me?”

Dammit. His mother should have worked for the CIA. “I am telling you everything.”

“No. You are not .”

He could come up with another lie, but like before, she would know. There was no getting out of it. He leaned against the hood of his car.

“I am staying with a friend.”

There was a beat of silence. “A female friend.”

Dammit. “Yes. Kaitlin Fitzpatrick. I ran into her when I was in New Orleans.”

“You met this woman in New Orleans and now you are staying with her?”

He heard the condemnation in her voice. “No. I knew her in college.”

“Ah. Well, that is good you have a friend in the area.”

His mother sounded a little too easily appeased, which made him suspicious.

His suspicions got the better of him.

“Did you talk to Carlos?”

“I always talk to Carlos. I talk to all of you. In fact, we’re at his ranch right now.”

That immediately caught his attention. “Why? There isn’t anything wrong, is there?”

“No. We just wanted to see how it was operating. We have not been here since he bought it.”

He released a breath he did not know he had been holding. His brother hadn’t showed signs of extreme PTSD, but Brando still worried. Of course, now that he knew Carlos was doing all right, he wasn’t above diverting his mother’s attention.

“How’s Tia?”

“She’s a very nice young lady. Very talented.”

Brando might regret it, but he decided to throw his twin under the bus. He did not need his mother meddling with Kaitlin. He would get Kaitlin to agree to a commitment before he unleashed his family on her.

“I thought it was interesting that he never told us about her.”

Another pause.

“Yes, that is interesting. You say he never said anything to you about her?”

“Well, he did when I stopped by on my way out here. He said she didn’t listen to him. When I met her, she said he was too controlling.”

“Is that a fact? Well, that is a bit of information he kept from us.”

Carlos was going to kill him, that was for sure, but he saw no way around it.

“I had the idea he was a little interested in her.”

“Hmm, well I will have to pay attention. You need to call Joey. She will want you to come over for dinner I am sure. Vince is back from a deployment, so I know he would love to see you too.”

His mother still thought of them as kids, always. She probably thought they would go down to the arcade and play games on Saturday afternoon.

“I’ll call her tomorrow after I check in on campus. I could definitely do with some of her lasagna.”

“I’ll let you go. Call me tomorrow so I can hear about your new adventure.”

He smiled. His mother always saw each move as an adventure. She would get excited and made the entire family join in.

“I will.”

“Te amo, Brando.”

“Te amo, Mama.”

He hung up and studied Kaitlin’s house. It was a cute little colonial with a pretty garden filled with bright, happy flowers. When he pictured a house for Kaitlin, this was pretty close to what he expected. He walked up the path to Kaitlin’s front door with a smile. It had been a long five days of travel, but it was worth it to get here.

Ringing the doorbell, he had a sudden case of the nerves. Maybe he should have checked into a hotel for at least one night. Had he been too pushy? He had no time to change his mind. The door swung open.

Instead of Kaitlin, a very large man stood on the other side. He frowned at Brando. It was easy to tell the man was not happy to see him.

“Who the hell are you?”

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