“Nope.”
“Who is this asshole?” He zeroed in on my brother. “Is he hotter than me?”
Lance snickered and found a chair near the window. “Not touching that one.”
Salvatore was undeniably handsome and knew it. Another checkmark in his hell no column as far as I was concerned. I patted his arm. “I wouldn’t want to ruin our friendship.”
“Ruin it. Please!” He patted his chest.
I laughed.
Romeo gave his son a shove. “Go on, get ready for the lunch rush.”
“Fine, fine.”
“Eat first, then we’ll talk about the wall. What can I get you?”
I sat across from my brother. “I’ll have the Cloud Nine.”
Lance rubbed his belly. “That sounds good to me too.”
“Your usual lemonade?”
I smiled up at Romeo. “Yes, please.”
“Coke for me.”
“You got it.” He bustled off behind the counter, the usual good natured arguments flying around in the kitchen area.
Lance folded his hands over the scarred table. “So, Atticus?”
“Oh, don’t start. You were ready to stuff him in your trunk before you knew who he was at the grocery store.”
“Well, no guy is usually good enough for my sister. Rich dude has a leg up. The fact that he’s my favorite author means you’ll get me advanced copies.”
My smile faltered a little.
“What?”
“Nothing.” I pushed up the watts on my smile again. “Not sure I have that kind of pull.”
“I bet you do.” He stretched out his legs. “So, that’s why you’ve been skipping Sunday dinners?”
“No.” I crossed my arms over my middle. “I’ve actually been really busy. I was up in the Adirondacks last weekend.”
“And you didn’t tell any of us.”
I sighed. “It was a last minute thing.”
“And we had no idea where you were.”
“Did you actually notice?”
Lance’s eyebrows shot up. “Of course we noticed.”
“I didn’t get a text.”
“I stopped by looking for you at the bookstore. I thought you were working on one of those crazy paper things with Court.”
