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Mirella laughs. “Did you think we didn’t have kid trouble like anyone else just because we live in a place like this?”
“I swear, this place makes it worse,” Olivia grumbles. “They’re spoiled rotten. They don’t know what it’s like to struggle.”
“Oh, like you did?” Karah laughs at Olivia. “You were a spoiled rotten cartel princess. Yeah, yeah, I know, you were kept in a gilded cage, whatever. Mirella’s the only one that grew up in a normal house.”
“Leave me out of this one,” Mirella says.
“I’m just saying, the kids are becoming damn brats.” Olivia crosses her arms.
“That’s your own darn fault,” Elise says, tilting her chin up and taking a sip. “I keep saying you need to whip them into shape.”
I cut in and say, “I just mean, ever since coming here it feels like I’m going through one long crisis, so it’s nice to hear about… normal problems.”
The girls study me and Olivia leans closer. I catch a whiff of her perfume: grassy and flowery. It’s surprisingly nice. She’s still got a hard look in her eyes, but there’s a softer smile on her lips. “Listen, honey, it was the same for all of us when we first came here. Except for Karah since she was born into the family, but for the rest of us? Total crisis. Constant nightmare.”
“I hated Fynn when I first met him,” Mirella says, shrugging. “Thought he was a dick. Super attractive, but a dick.”
“Same,” Olivia says. “Really hated Casso. I mean, despised him. But he grew on me.”
“I’m not going to fall in love with Gavino,” I blurt out, staring at them with my mouth hanging open, and they all burst out laughing. I sink back in my chair, feeling like a total idiot, but they’re talking like I’m joining their family instead of temporarily staying in this house while I work a job.
It’s not like my relationship with him is anything but professional. Yes, okay, there was that one moment in Malcolm’s office when he grabbed my ass and kissed me and cupped my pussy and, okay, yes, I’ve been thinking about it ever since—but they don’t know that.
“Sure you’re not,” Elise says, shaking her head. “It’s funny though. He used to be a lot different, you know, before Sonia.”
The table gets quiet again. Karah’s got a far-off gaze as she stares in the general direction of Gavino’s house.
Olivia sighs and stretches her legs. “I liked Sonia,” she says.
“We all did,” Mirella agrees. “She changed him.”
“She fucked him over,” Elise says sharply and glances at me. “Sorry, honey. I know this is all weird. Sonia was a girl Gavino was involved with a long time ago that died and he hasn’t gotten over her since.”
“What happened?” I ask and instantly regret it. “Sorry, I don’t need to know, I shouldn’t have asked.”
“It’s fine,” Karah says, smiling sadly. “It’s not really a story we should tell. But before Sonia, Gavino was…” She trails off, reaching.
“Funny,” Mirella supplies.
“Fun,” Olivia agrees.
“He was the light that kept everyone from getting too dark,” Elise says, looking down at her wine. “But then she died and he changed.”
“I have to admit, I find it hard to imagine Gavino as… light.” I chew on my lip, trying to picture it, but all I can see are his smoldering eyes and his constant anger.
“It’s been years and years of anger and bitterness eating him away,” Karah says. “He moved out to that house and he’s been coming here less and less. I swear, one day, he’ll just disappear.”
“He loves the kids too much to do that,” Olivia says sharply. “He wouldn’t just leave.”
“No, he wouldn’t,” Karah answers and shakes her head. “But he still might disappear. You don’t have to physically leave to fade into nothing.”
The silence is thick with anxiety and I’m not sure what to make of it. I could tell Gavino found being around his family painful and difficult, but I never really understood why. Maybe this Sonia girl’s death has something to do with it—but that’s none of my business. Gavino’s personal life is his and his alone.
I’m not here to get involved. It doesn’t matter that the more I learn about him, the deeper he seems. There are new mysteries beneath the mysteries on his surface, and I can keep digging into him if I want or I can leave them to the dark.
“All right, enough of this,” Elise says, drinking her wine. “Let’s pester Jeanie with questions until she hates her life and wants to shrivel up into a little ball, shall we?”
Olivia grins wickedly. “I’d love that.”
