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“Hey, now! I’ve been practicing!” Antony holds up a martini shaker and tosses it quickly from one hand to the other before dropping it with a bang on the hardwood floor. “Shit!”
“Language!” An absolutely gorgeous woman wearing a slinky black dress walks into the room. She slides up to Nate and looks pointedly at Antony. “What will our guest think of us when you’re throwing dishes around?”
Nate reaches down and squeezes my hand.
“This is my sister, Nora,” Nate says. “Nora, this is Cherry.”
“So you’re the one who’s been occupying my poor brother’s head these last couple of weeks, hmm?” She takes my offered hand but doesn’t shake it or let go. Instead, she takes a step back, still holding my outstretched arm, and looks at me unabashedly. “She’s adorable, Nate. How old are you, dear? Eighteen yet?”
“I-I-I’m twenty-five!” I stammer out as I pull my hand from her grasp.
“She’s just fucking with you,” Nate says, glaring at his sister. “Nora, cut it out. We’re the same age.”
“And you stop with the swearing!” Nora snaps at him. “So rude! Now give me a minute to get to know her before you start trying to show off.”
Nora grabs my hand forcibly and drags me over to a small, Queen Anne loveseat. I glance at Nate, but he only gives me that half smile and lets his sister drag me away. She plops herself down next to me and takes my other hand in hers as well, holding them both as she stares at my palms.
“I see.” She looks up at me, her eyes narrowed. “Have you ever had your palms read?”
“No.”
“See this line here?” She points to the long crease running from the space between my thumb and forefinger to my wrist.
“Yes.”
“That is your love line…or maybe it’s the life line. It’s a really important one, I think. Or maybe the other one is the important one. This one here, hmm? I don’t know. I’ve never had my palms read either. I think we should go get it done. Wouldn’t that be fun? I wonder where they do such things.”
I try to pull my hands back, but she keeps her grip.
“I have another question for you,” she says as she stares at me with her dark brown eyes. “Have you ever been in love?”
“I don’t think so.” I clear my throat.
“Are you going to break my brother’s heart?”
“I-I-I…” My mouth opens and closes a couple of times. I look to Nate for help, but he’s leaning against the wall near the doorway, grinning. “I wasn’t planning to.”
“Wasn’t? Does that mean you didn’t want to plan such a plan before, but now you do, or that you don’t want to plan such a plan now?”
“No!” I shake my head as I try to count the number of negatives in her sentence. “I’m not planning to break his heart!”
“Well, okay then!” Nora yanks my arms forward just before releasing my hands, then wraps her arms around me in a tight, brief embrace. “Let’s open a bottle of wine, shall we?”
She jumps up and scampers over to a large rack of wine occupying the corner of the room. I look up at Nate and shake my head. I have no idea what just happened.
“She thinks she’s cute,” Nate says with a shrug. “I ignore most of what comes out of her mouth.”
“Rude!” Nora calls out from the other side of the room.
A blonde woman in her mid-forties bounces into the room and announces that dinner is ready. She looks at me for a moment before walking up and extending her hand.
“I’m Andrea,” she says. “Mr. Orso—”
“It’s dinner night, Andrea,” Nate says. “Keep it casual.”
“Right. Sorry.” Andrea grins. “Nate asked me to make something extra special for you for dinner.”
Nate hands her the bag with the banana bread in it, and she pokes her nose in the bag before heading right back out of the room. I don’t get a chance to speak at all. Nate takes my hand once again before leading me to another doorway. Antony and Nora follow, arguing about which wine to open first.
