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“Where the Serenghettis were having an outing and invited you. How nice.”
Sera held her mother’s gaze. “Where Jordan and I were going, just the two of us.” After spectacular sex.
Dante coughed.
Rosana tilted her head, puzzlement drawing her brows together. “So the story is true? You and Jordan have been dating?”
“Yes.”
“And now it turns out he’s fathered a child with another woman?”
Sera felt her face heat again. Put that way, it sounded like just another scrape that, in her family’s eyes, poor Sera would get herself into. “That’s what the press is saying.”
Her mother seemed to be floundering, unsure of how to process what she was hearing. “You didn’t tell me that you and Jordan...were seeing each other.”
Right. Precisely to avoid situations like this.
“But he’s been injured...” Her mother’s voice trailed off, as if shock had left her at a loss for words.
“I’ve been giving him physical therapy.” And more.
An uncomfortable silence hung in the air so that every tinkle of a fork sounded loud and clear.
Dante cleared his throat. “Sera got mixed up with Jordan because she was helping me out.”
Rosana’s bewildered expression swung to her son.
“I asked Sera to take on Jordan as a client so I could look better at work.” Dante shrugged. “You know, new job and all.”
Sera threw her brother a grateful look. For a long time, she’d been out to stake her independence and competence, and these days her family—or at least one of them—seemed ready to acknowledge her help.
“I don’t know what to say,” her mother said after a pause.
“Don’t worry, Mom,” Sera said quickly, because old habits died hard and she still felt the need to reassure her mother. “Jordan and I are no longer seeing each other.”
“Because of the story that’s circulating?” Rosana asked.
“That was part of it. More because it took me by surprise. He didn’t feel the need to tell me.”
Her mother sighed.
Dante helped himself to some more meatballs from the serving bowl. “Well, the world has tilted on its axis,” he joked. “Sera is bailing me out these days, and Mom has a beau.”
“What?” It was Sera’s turn to look surprised.
Her mother suddenly looked flustered.
Dante cracked a smile. “Mom’s not the only one who has her sources among the town gossips. The gentleman caller is alleged to be a mild-mannered accountant by day, and one mean parlor cardplayer by night.”
Sera tilted her head. “Let me guess. You ran into one of Mom’s friends from her monthly card-playing posse?”
“Yeah,” Dante said slyly. “One of them let it slip. In her defense—” her brother paused to throw their mother a significant look “—Mom’s friend thought I already knew.”
“Wow,” Sera said slowly, her gaze roaming from her brother to her mother and back. “Anyone else have any secrets to share?”
Dante swallowed his food. “Not me. I play it straight.”
Sera resisted rolling her eyes. And then, because her mother continued to look embarrassed, she added, “I’m happy for you, Mom. Really happy. It’s about time.”
