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“Hi Nana,” I said. “What’s new?”
She smiled broadly and shrugged as I straightened. “Too much testosterone in here before you showed up. What’s the phrase that George just taught me—a real sausage fest?”
I burst out laughing as Nana grinned mischievously and took a sip of her own, considerably less full glass of wine. Her fingers shook as she brought it to her lips. Worse than ever, I noticed, but I ignored the pang in my heart and slid down to the floor next to her chair to chat with her until Mom called us in for dinner.
“You seem a little low,” Nicky remarked as he slid into his seat next to me at the table after we’d been summoned to come and eat. “What’s up?”
I shrugged, unwilling to share my relationship—or lack thereof—woes, with my family. “I’m okay. Don’t worry about it.”
His eyes narrowed suspiciously. “Is it a guy?”
I stabbed a bite of tender beef and shoved it in my mouth. “I’m fine,” I insisted through my mouthful of food. “Don’t make a thing out of it.”
“Don’t make a thing out of what?” Andy asked from his spot across the table. “Is it a guy?”
“If it’s a guy and he’s treating you like shit, I’ll beat him up for you,” Nicky offered. “No charge.”
I rolled my eyes, even as my heart tightened painfully in my chest. Nicky would never really do that—none of my brothers would, even though they had always been protective of me. I considered myself lucky to grow up with so many good examples of what to expect from men.
Of course, at twenty-four, I was waiting around for an older man who just couldn’t seem to decide what he wanted, so I wondered how useful that example really was after all.
“Stop bugging your sister,” my dad ordered as he scooped up a forkful of rice. He looked me dead in the eye as he brought the fork to his mouth. “But seriously, is he Greek?”
“I don’t want to talk about this,” I muttered as I poked at my fragrant plate of kokkinisto and reached for another slice of bread. “I’m entitled to some privacy.”
Ian swigged beer and cocked his head, studying me thoughtfully. “Seriously, is it some dipshit guy? Because you’re not usually like this. You’re usually a little more…” he trailed off as he searched for a word.
“Mouthy?” Mom offered brightly. She dumped a little more stew on my plate. “Here, have some more.”
I inhaled through my nose, counting to three before I bit someone’s head off. “Family. Please. I just…don’t need to talk about this right now.”
Dad shrugged. “Well, if he’s not Greek, then I don’t see the point anyway.”
That did it. Without warning, tears welled up in my eyes and spilled down my cheeks, hot and angry, and I set my fork down with careful, deliberate slowness before wiping them away. The mealtime chatter died away as everyone looked over at me.
Crying at the dinner table like a teenager.
Nicky wound an arm around me, pulling me close as he dropped an affectionate kiss on the top of my head.
“Sorry, Frankie,” he murmured apologetically. “We should have listened when you told us to back off.”
“Yeah, you should have,” I replied, sniffling as I dashed another tear away.
One by one, my brothers and my father all murmured their apologies as I wept silently into Nicky’s shoulder. Finally, my mom leaned forward and placed a comforting hand on mine.
“C’mon, Francesca,” she said gently. “Let’s go take five.”
I rose and trailed after my mom into her bedroom, where I sank miserably into the bed and cried into my palms. She settled down next to me and rubbed my back in soft, soothing strokes, murmuring nonsense until, red-eyed and hiccupping, I finally straightened and looked up at her.
“So it is a guy, right?” she said.
“Obviously,” I sniffled. “He’s just being a jackass right now.”
Mom sighed. “Well, I’m sorry I poked at you at dinner.”
“It’s okay.” I took a deep breath and pushed my hair back. “I can usually take it.”
My mom glanced over at her bedroom wall, covered with pictures of our family. “Yeah, but you’re also the baby. None of them want to hurt your feelings, and you know that they all love you like crazy. Nicky’s a softie, but he probably would beat somebody up if you really needed him to.”
