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I mean, all of that was true. But he should have known it would freak her out. It was a lot of pressure.
“Massimo, I don’t have a good history with this. Rizzo hated me. Even before Colin kidnapped me. When I just started dating Cody. She hated me. I wasn’t good enough for him.”
“Baby, she was the woman who helped create a shithead like Colin. Her opinion doesn’t mean dick.”
“I mean, you might have a point there,” she agreed, but didn’t look any more relieved.
“Cammie, listen, my mom isn’t a scary mom. She’s not going to grill you and make you think you’re not good enough for her son. In fact, if I know my Ma, she’s going to beg you to stick with me despite my many flaws,” I said, smiling. “And then she is going to tell you that you’re too skinny and try to shove food down your throat.”
“Well, that part doesn’t sound so bad,” she said, giving me a small smile. “So long as the food isn’t fish.”
“Babe, we’re Italian. Sure, we have some fish dishes, but we’re mostly about the pasta and pizza in my family. I mean I was at a lasagne potluck dinner when I was at my mom’s last time.”
“I haven’t had lasagne in… I don’t even know how long. Will there be lasagne?”
“I can almost guarantee it,” I told her. “Maybe some meatballs, or ravioli, or gnocchi. Plus appetizers. A salad. Dessert.”
“So, do you guys just start a rigorous workout routine when you are, like, seven, or something? Because you’re all fit. And fit and lasagne potlucks don’t really seem like they go together.”
“We all have our things. Luca runs. Some of us hit the gym. My sister does pilates and hot yoga. I like the pool.”
“I used to do cheer practice,” she said, shaking her head at herself. “And then I had my diet strictly controlled by a lunatic…”
“Wouldn’t mind watching you work on doing the splits again,” I said, getting an easy giggle out of her.
“I think I might pull something if I tried,” she admitted. “Okay. So. Dinner at your mom’s house. I need to bring something.”
“No, you don’t. The party is for you.”
“Oh, God. Don’t say that.”
“I’d be lying to you if I told you it wasn’t about you. We just had a family dinner, so this one is special. Because everyone wants to meet you.”
“Everyone?” she asked, swallowing hard. “It’s not just, you know, your close family?”
“Oh, no. Pretty much never,” I said, moving forward to wrap my arms around her lower back, pulling her close. “You are going to need to come to terms with the fact that when I say my family, I mean my mother and siblings and cousins and second cousins and everything in between. There is no such thing as a ‘small family gathering’ in this family.”
“But what if you are just, like, helping your mom clean out the garage and she invites you to stay for dinner?”
“Then she will make me dinner, then call my siblings to say she’s cooking. And then it will get out from there that she’s cooking. Eventually, half the family is there.”
“So we can hope that maybe it is only half—no?” she asked when I shook my head at her.
“None of us has brought home a woman. This is a big deal. They will all clear their schedules. Don’t worry, I’ll be there. And Valley and Smush will help you not get too cornered.”
“Smush is not supposed to be called Smush, right?” she asked, trying to keep it all straight.
“Right. Sophia. But if you slip up, she will slap us, not you.”
“So, what I’m hearing is… if I somehow let it slip that August called her Smush…” she said, looking devilish. “That’s mean of me, isn’t it?” she asked.
“Maybe. But it will also make you fit right in. And, trust me, August has it coming.”
“Okay. So what are we saying about how we met?”
“Eventually, yeah. For the time being, everyone knows we met while on a job. That’s all they need to know until you get more comfortable. The men will know the whole truth, since we discuss work shit. And, eventually, that will leak out to the women. But for tomorrow, we can get away with just saying on the job.”
“Are they going to freak out when they hear it?”
