Luca’s gaze hit mine and his expression was so sweet it made my heart lurch.
“That’s so nice … She’s so nice.” Charlotte hid her face in her brother’s shirt and took a couple deep breaths.
I heard footsteps coming up behind me seconds before a male voice asked, “Everything okay in here?”
I looked over my shoulder to see Luca’s friend, Damon, saunter into the room.
“Hey, man, yeah, everything’s fine. Can you give us a minute and we’ll meet you in the den?”
“Yeah, sure,” Damon said, shooting a look of concern at Charlotte before nodding at me and turning to go as Luca requested.
“Oh my gosh,” Charlotte whined. “It’s like adding salt to the wound.”
I raised an eyebrow at Luca, who grinned and said, “Char’s had a crush on Damon since we were kids.”
“Ah,” she cried, slapping him in the arm, but he only laughed. “Stop. I look terrible.”
Sensing things were taking a turn for the better, I said, “I’ll head to the den, too.”
“Whitney, wait,” Charlotte said, disentangling herself from her brother and hopping off the bed to come toward me. “I want to apologize. I was rude and callous, and I feel absolutely terrible. I never should have come in the house that way and shouldn’t have made assumptions about you without meeting you. I’m exhausted and spending more time as a single parent than I’d expected, but that’s no excuse. My behavior was abhorrent, and I hope you can forgive me and give me another chance to get to know you. I promise I’m usually a really nice person.”
“Of course,” I assured her. “Don’t give it another thought. Like I said, I’ve been in your shoes and understand how the exhaustion and stress can get to you.”
“You’re so sweet. I promise I’ll make it up to you and, if the day comes, I’ll be the best sister you could ever want.”
I blinked at that but gave her a small smile before exiting the room.
This family was giving me whiplash. So many emotions and expectations. I’d only just arrived, and I didn’t feel like I’d been fully prepared to handle it all. We hadn’t even gotten to the dinner yet and I wasn’t sure I was going to make it.
I paused in the hallway, leaning against the wall as I tried to catch my breath.
What am I doing here?
Am I really ready to commit to Luca and become a member of his family?
I’d already done this … merged my family with someone else and started a family of our own. I’d thrown my entire being into it, positive it was going to last forever, and had had my life ripped out from beneath me.
Could I really go through that again? Did I have it in me?
I felt panic flutter in my chest just as Luca came out of the room and turned my way.
“Hey, you okay?” he asked.
I was about to tell him everything that was currently running through my head when his mom called out, “Time to eat.” So, I let out a breath, gave him a weak smile, and said, “Of course. Better not keep your mom waiting.”
He looked like he wanted to argue, but I walked past him toward the dining room, and he had no choice but to follow.
Thirty-Two
Luca
I wasn’t sure how things had gone so wrong so quickly.
Everyone had been friendly, and Whit had seemed to relax, and then Char had walked in and word vomited all over the place.
It seemed like her apology had worked and Whitney had understood that Charlotte’s behavior was due to stress and lack of sleep and she actually wasn’t actually a horrible gossip who was determined not to like my new girlfriend.
Yet, when I’d seen her in the hall moments later, she’d suddenly become closed off.
Dinner had so far been strained and uncomfortable, which was the exact opposite of how dinners with my family usually were.
Because of it, I found myself disappointed and a little annoyed by how weird everyone was acting. Whitney included.
“Ma, you really outdid yourself with the swordfish,” Damon said, trying desperately to ease some of the tension in the room.
I shot my friend a grateful look and tried to take his lead.
“Damon’s right, it’s cooked to perfection,” I agreed.
My mom gave us a halfhearted smile and said, “I’m so happy you boys are enjoying it.”
I glanced at Whitney, whose eyes were on her plate, and felt another surge of annoyance.
Couldn’t she at least make an effort to get to know my family? It wouldn’t take much to make them happy, but the absolute lack of participation was not going to make a great impression.
“Isn’t it great, Whit?” I asked, trying to pull her out of whatever funk she was in and into the conversation.
She looked up and blinked, like she momentarily forgot where she was, then nodded and said, “It’s amazing, Franny. Everything is.”
When she turned her attention back to her plate, I looked desperately at Charlotte.
“Uh, Damon,” Char said, a little too loudly. “Have you been working on anything new recently?”
“I’ve been in my studio a lot lately, actually. My muse has been very generous, and I have a number of new pieces to show you.”
“Wonderful. I’ll be going back to work next week … thank God,” Char said with a little laugh. “I’ll talk to Giles about the schedule and see if we can get a show on the books for you, if you want.”
“You know what?” Damon said, his leg bouncing under the table like it did when he was nervous. “I think I am finally ready to do a show of my own.”
“You’ll have to send us an invite,” my dad said, and my whole family murmured in agreement.
“Thank you. It would mean a lot to me to have you all there.”
Damon often said he was closer to my family than his own.
“We wouldn’t miss it for the world,” my ma said, with her first genuine smile since the whole Charlotte debacle. “It’ll give us the perfect excuse to get all gussied up and spend a night on the town.”
“You always look amazing,” Damon quipped, and Ma preened under his compliment.
“You say the sweetest things.”
This was a common back and forth between the two of them and the normalcy of it had my mood lightening a bit.
“Hey, remember when Damon asked Ma to junior prom,” I said with a laugh, which was mimicked by Vanni.
“Oh my God,” he said, slapping his hand on the table. “He would have done it too, and I swear, she would have gone, if Char hadn’t had a conniption fit.”
“Come on, it’s not like they would have actually done it. Dad wouldn’t have agreed,” Char said, her cheeks reddening.
“Sure I would have. Hell, I would have volunteered as chaperone and taken pictures,” Dad replied.
“Char was just jealous because she wanted to be Damon’s date,” I teased, then yelped when she kicked me under the table.
“Instead, I had to go stag with this guy,” Damon said with a sigh.
I slapped his shoulder and said, “Hey, we had a blast that night. And if you’d taken my ma, you wouldn’t have had the opportunity to take Simone Childress behind the bleachers.”