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“Honestly, as much as I love being a librarian, I keep wishing there were an overnight version. Stocking, processing, setting up for the morning activities. That would be heaven.”
“That would be amazing! People need quiet places late at night to chill that aren’t bars.”
“See, you get it.”
“Allie, dear, what’s your favorite color?” Mom asked.
“Red.”
“And your favorite flower?”
I narrowed my eyes lovingly at Mom, sighing softly. “Mom, are you trying to covertly plan a wedding?”
“I just want to be prepared,” she defended. “Weddings take a long time to plan. Our family in Italy will need time to save money to come over.”
“I promise we’ll give you plenty of notice when we decide we’re going to get married on top of the bond,” I assured her.
The look in her eyes said that she didn’t quite believe me, but she nodded anyway.
I knew Mom was going to be stuck on this for the foreseeable future, but lucky for Allie and me, I tended to be relatively immune to Mom’s guilt powers. Nicky and Luca weren’t so lucky.
After dinner it was time for another family tradition: game night.
We played teams of two for Monopoly, with Allie on my team, Nicky and Luca paired, and my parents on the final team. Ordinarily, Nicky absolutely dominated game night, but we quickly found out that Allie was just as brilliantly vicious as my sister. Within two hours my parents were out of the game, and Nicky and Allie took turns cleaning out each other’s banks while Luca and I watched.
It was strange seeing Allie hold her own against Nicky in our family tradition. For some reason it made me think that we really and truly would be okay. I didn’t spend an inordinate amount of time with my family, but they were important to me, and I wanted Allie to feel comfortable around them. The fact that she and my sister were staring at one another across the Monopoly board, their gazes electric, the air taut with excitable tension, told me everything I needed to know about her future with us.
A series of unfortunate rolls finally had Nicky being declared victor. Luca had been on her team, but realistically he was mostly moral support.
“I feel so alive,” Nicky said with a laugh and high-five across the board. “It’s been a long time since someone gave me a run for my money.”
“Happy to give you some competition. It was nice to have someone on par. I used to crush everyone in my dorm, so this was super fun.”
Once the energy of board game night dissipated, and tea was handed out, we settled onto the couches, Allie snuggled up at my side. Mom busted out the photo albums, showing Allie a plethora of embarrassing baby photos, from bathtub time, to Halloweens, to first days of school.
“You’re all way too adorable!” Allie announced. “If you met my mom at her place instead of yours, she definitely would’ve pulled out the photo albums for you, too.”
“A treat for next time then,” I said.
I kissed her temple and she looked up at me with warm affection, wiggling closer and wedging herself under my arm. By the time we were ready to head home, she was hugging each of my family members fiercely and promising to come to the next family dinner. Mom was pleased as anything when Allie tucked back against my side. I was pretty sure it was safe to say Allie had made a good impression.
She skipped along once we were outside, swinging our joined hands. “Your family is so much fun. I’m sorry meeting my squad was more about grilling you than fun.”
“That’s okay. I’m glad you have people that are protective of you. So you liked them?”
“Absolutely, I do. They’re all such cuties. Your dad’s pretty quiet. I don’t think he made much of a peep the whole night.”
“Yeah, he’s like that. He’s been quiet my whole life.”
“I guess that’s a good balance for your mom.”
“I’m not sure how we’d all have survived if they both talked the same amount.” I laughed. “At least one of them had to have chill vibes and that was never ever going to be Mom.”
I opened her door for her and waited until she was buckled in. She snagged me by the collar of my shirt for a kiss. “As lovely as your family was, I’m eager for some alone time.”
I grinned and stole another kiss. “What my omega wants, my omega gets.”
I stepped out of the shower after my run, finding the scent of coffee wafting into the bedroom. Allie appeared in the doorway a moment later, dressed in leggings and a short denim dress.
