Page 51 of Two for Charging

“Ugh.” Chris took one of the decorative throw pillows from the armrest under his knees and buried his face in it. When he talked to Luca about his pathetic love life, he could barely get the words out, and Luca was— Well, Luca was the only person he would trust with it. Plus, Luca promised to help him once they got home. Chris had gotten a delay of sentence during the thirty-six hours the team had spent in St. Louis, where Luca took him out for amazing barbecued ribs. But they were home now. After their flight, which had arrived at two in the morning, they had a rest day, meaning there was no more avoiding Luca’s coaching.

Not that Chris wanted to. He was just nervous. What if Luca laughed at him? Chris would definitely deserve it, but he didn’t get why.

Michelle hummed. “So, no on number two as well?”

Chris nodded into his pillow.

“Okay, how about number three. You want to talk about Luca?”

“Absolutely not.” Talking about Luca would mean talking about the sex thing and how Luca would realize how much cooler and smarter and all-around better he was than Chris the second they took their clothes off. Maybe before then, when they kissed, and Chris slobbered all over him. He had to be doing something wrong, and it must start before anyone got naked because Chris felt wrong just thinking about it.

“Well, four is about hockey, and you crossed it off, which leaves us with number five. Why is your mom setting you up a big enough worry to make the list?”

Chris sighed and rolled onto his side to look at Michelle. “I don’t know. I guess it’s not a big deal. I asked her not to, and she gave some girl my number anyway.”

He’d seen the text this morning, an unknown number with a Montreal area code and a message mentioning how his mom had invited the girl over for her famous spaghetti and meatballs and passed along Chris’s number while she was at it. She never made meatballs for Matty’s ex, Tabitha. That might have been because Tabitha, being Jewish, didn’t eat pork, but she’d adapted her recipes for lesser reasons.

“Does she often ignore things you’ve asked her not to do?”

“No!” Chris considered. He’d asked her to stop setting him up after Chloe, but then came Brittany. “Well, maybe sometimes. But she means well.”

“What does she mean?”

“She wants me to be happy, I guess.”

“And happy means dating someone?”

Involuntarily, Chris’s mouth twitched downward.

Michelle swung her feet off the desk and leaned forward to look at him. “It means dating someone she picks?”

“Yeah, I guess.” Chris wrapped his arms around the pillow on his chest. “My brother has—had a girlfriend for most of high school. Tabitha. And my parents were… I mean, they weren’t super rude, but they want us to date Italian girls, I guess?”

“Uh-huh. Why is being Italian important to them?”

“My parents are both from Italian families,” he explained. “Their parents set them up to, like, keep it in the community.”

“Okay.” Michelle jotted something down on the sheet of paper in front of her. “What I’m hearing is you feel pressured to follow in your parents’ footsteps, but your brother doesn’t?”

Chris laughed. “Nah. Matty never lets them get to him.”

“And why do you think that is?”

“He’s pretty headstrong. Always does what he wants.”

Michelle didn’t say anything, but Chris couldn’t leave it there. It sounded too mean.

“Not in a bad way. Matty’s super smart. He started university last month. He knows what he wants, so he doesn’t let Dad bully him.”

“Mm. Lots to unpack there.”

Chris jerked his head up to look at her. “Really?”

She smiled at him. “Unpacking is good, Chris. I’m glad you’re telling me about this. Before you gave me this list, I thought you had a great relationship with your family.”

“I mean, it’s not bad or anything. My mom doesn’t want me to marry anyone I don’t care about.”

“Things don’t have to be bad to be complicated or make us feel uncomfortable.”