Page 103 of Effortless

Calisto scoffed. “I can’t forget what your face looks like—not when I stare at your mother every single day.”

Cross chuckled. “She does look like Ma.”

“Darker hair.”

“Donati eyes.”

“Acts like her, too.”

“Jesus, have you seen how clean her place is? What nineteen-year-old girl keeps that clean of an apartment? Just like Ma.”

“Okay, we all know I look and act just like my mother, thank you,” Camilla grumbled. “Let’s not make it into a speech or something.”

Two pairs of eyes darted her way.

Her father’s brow shot up at her attitude.

Cross’s gaze narrowed.

Camilla looked away.

Fuck.

So maybe she was in a mood today, too.

It wasn’t unusual for her family to tease her about the likeness she shared with Emma. In fact, it was a regular thing that got brought up almost every dinner, or occasion. Camilla didn’t typically mind it.

It was no surprise that her brother and father picked up on her attitude, and thought it strange, considering.

“Just … don’t ask,” Camilla said.

She rested back on the couch, and used her arm as a shield to cover her eyes. That way, she didn’t have to see her father and brother staring at her.

No, she only had to feel their eyes burning into her.

“Someone’s in a mood,” Calisto muttered.

“Sounds like it,” Cross agreed.

“Any idea why?”

Camilla pointed a finger wildly in her brother and father’s direction. “Don’t even start. I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Sure you don’t,” Cross deadpanned, “because we all know to come here to this house when we don’t want to talk about our feelings.”

“You say that like it’s a bad thing,” Calisto grumbled.

“Sometimes, people just don’t want to talk, Papa.”

“Yeah, well, then don’t come here. You know how your mother is. She’s a fixer. She likes to talk.”

About everything, Camilla added silently.

“I guess we’re going to pretend like you didn’t make us sit opposite to one another and talk about why we were mad, or offended, or got our feelings hurt, and how it made us feel when we were growing up, huh?”

“Don’t be a smartass, son.”

“You did do that,” Camilla pointed out.