AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She shifted in her lounger so she was on her side, facing me. “I’m ready.”
“How many nieces and nephews do you have?”
I’d landed on the right track. Tali’s face immediately bloomed into a smile I’d never seen before.
“So, so many. Mike has four kids—Lena, Melissa, Tony, and Frankie. Gio has three. Kelsey is the oldest, and then he has identical boys, Declan and Liam. His wife’s Irish, so the names were a compromise. And then Arturo, my closest brother, has five children, none of which are multiples. He and Elise are rock star parents, and I’m honestly not sure if they’re done. But I’m lucky they keep having kids and taking the pressure off me. My parents are busy with their twelve grandkids, so they’re not asking when I’m going to reproduce.”
I let out an easy chuckle. “I think you just answered four questions at once.”
“I tend to lose myself when I talk about my siblings’ progeny. They’re all cool kids, and I rock the aunt thing.”
“How’re your parents?” I asked.
“Is this your second question?” I nodded. “Well...my mom is great. She watches Declan and Liam every day and babysits pretty much every weekend, so she’s basically in heaven. My dad is good now. He had a serious heart issue about two years ago, but he seems to have recovered. My mom has cut down his cheese intake, which he grumbles about, but he’s okay.”
“Does he hate me?”
That wasn’t one of the questions I’d had on my mind, but I couldn’t stop myself from asking. One of my biggest regrets was how my relationship with her dad had ended after he’d taken me in, accepted me despite my glaring flaws.
“He doesn’t hate anyone. And to be honest, I’m not sure he’s thought about you in a long time. We haven’t spoken about you in years,” she said.
I nodded. “I get that. You’ve probably brought home a lot of dudes since then.”
She held up a finger. “One.”
“You’ve only brought home one other guy?”
“Is this a question?” she asked.
“Yeah, if I’m allowed to ask it.”
“It’s allowed. And yes, I’ve only ever brought home one boyfriend besides you. Five years ago, and it ended fairly quickly after that visit.”
I chuckled. “Did your brothers scare him away?”
“I’m counting this as a question, and no. It was just obvious from his interactions with my family he was there to appease me, not because he cared to forge any kind of relationship with them.”
“Your brothers hated him, right?”
She laughed. “They did, and they weren’t subtle about it. That’s five questions.”
“Fuck…that counted as a question?” Before she replied, I waved my hand in the air. “Nope, that wasn’t a question. Do not answer.”
Tali pressed her lips together, watching me with amusement.
“Okay, next question: how did you start managing Blue is the Color?”
“I’m surprised you haven’t read the story.”
I tapped my fingers on my chest, raising my eyebrows. “You think I read every article written about you?”
Her pretty cheeks flushed a subtle pink. “No, but—”
Reaching out, I covered her hand with mine. “It’s cool. I do. I’ve read every piece of news with your name on it I could find. So yeah, I’ve read the story, but I want to hear your non-sanitized version.”
“I always tell people I met Nick at a party and we got into a long conversation about his career, which is true. But I leave off the beginning. This was...ugh, seven years ago now. I was still young and slightly tipsy, which are my only excuses for my poor behavior. Anyway, I’d just read about a deal Blue is the Color had signed for yet another company to use one of their songs, and I was shit talking with a friend of mine. I was going on and on about how if I were their manager, I’d guide them completely differently and not over-saturate the market with their music.”
“Nick heard you?”
