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“Thomas is out of town. I don’t get all dolled up unless he’s home, you know that.”
Enzo said something too low for either of us to hear, but I had to assume it was a jab at Maria’s husband.
“Mom and Dad will take Chiara for the night. They’ll put her to bed. I’ll stay here until closing and then head to their place after. I’ll probably just crash there since Thomas won’t be home until tomorrow night,” Maria explained. “You need to change before your date, so I figured you could drop Chiara off for me.”
I was sleeping in my old bedroom at my parents’ house to save money on rent. I felt like a time traveler every time I walked in there. Posters from my high school years still clung to the bedroom walls, bringing me back to days and feelings I thought I’d left behind years ago.
Living at home was something my thirty-two-year-old self wasn’t happy about, but my pride could suck it for now. The restaurant’s success was everything to me.
“Well, I really do need to get back to work and make sure the kitchen isn’t on fire.” Enzo kissed Chiara on the cheek and set her on Maria’s lap. “Go on that date. You deserve a night out,” he added.
Were they all teaming up against me now? I didn’t even know what the doctor looked like, and my mom was clueless about my taste in men. She kept trying to set me up with Anthony lookalikes. In truth, Anthony was the opposite of my type.
“So, what do you say? You have a spare blouse I can put on and pretend to be you tonight?” Maria briefly covered Chiara’s ears and said, “So you can get laid.”
I spied Enzo with his hand on the doorknob, grimacing. “Don’t listen to her.”
“Hey, someone needs to be getting laid. It for sure as hell hasn’t been me,” Maria blurted.
Enzo hung his head and patted the door twice. “My cue to leave.”
Maria waved at him, and he shook his head as he shut the door.
“Where am I supposed to have drinks with the doctor, and at what time?” I pointed to the cabinet behind the desk. “I have extra shirts in there.”
Maria stood and handed Chiara over, then peeled off her long-sleeved tee and tossed it onto the chair.
“And why aren’t you getting laid?” That was news to me.
“Hey.” Maria snapped her fingers, reminding me I had her daughter in my hands. Not that Chiara understood our conversation.
Before I could prod for information, the door shot open. “I forgot to tell—” Enzo dropped his words when his gaze cut to Maria. She’d stopped breastfeeding, but her boobs had always been well above average in size. And they were on the verge of spilling free from the nude-colored bra she had on. “Fuck. I’m sorry.”
“Hey. Baby ears,” Maria chided, pointing to her daughter, unfazed by the fact Enzo was seeing her shirtless.
“Shit, sorry.” He cursed again at his curse and then cracked a smile because at that point, why not?
“What’d you need to tell me?” I asked, attempting to draw his focus away from my married sister’s breasts.
“Right. Fuck if I remember now.” He frowned. “I’ll, uh, just leave you two to it.” He twisted the lock on the knob. “Just so no one else walks in on you,” he said before leaving.
“Whenever you finally get married, your husband will lose his mind with a man like Enzo in your life.” Maria slipped her arms into the sleeves of the white button-up blouse. “You were lucky Anthony didn’t care about other men. Ryan used to eyeball the”—she paused so I could mentally fill in the swear word for her—“out of you, and Anthony either didn’t notice or truly didn’t care.”
I couldn’t help but laugh as I swiveled Chiara around to my hip so I didn’t drop her. She latched onto my blouse with her little hand and busied herself with fidgeting with the top few buttons.
“You’re crazy. Ryan hated me. Still hates me. The feeling is mutual, and you know that.” I shivered at the memory of that man. I hadn’t seen him in the two and a half years since Anthony and I split up.
“And also, those were death glares from Ryan, not I-want-you looks,” I reminded her since she had forgotten how much Ryan had always disliked me. Maria was four years younger, and she hadn’t spent much of her “adult years” around Ryan since he enlisted twenty years ago.
“Sureeee.” Maria rolled her eyes.
Well, maybe there’d been a few times Ryan had checked me out, but he was a man, and I had boobs. Pretty much the same thing that caused Enzo to have that deer-in-the-headlights look just now. Men and boobs. Enough said. We both had a great set, so there was nothing else to discuss.
“Don’t think I’ll let you off the hook about that subtle nod to Enzo being hot, either.” I needed a subject change. I’d prefer to keep Ryan’s name from my mouth for the rest of the evening.
Maria finished buttoning her blouse and freed her long hair from its bun. “Forget what I said.” She combed her fingers through her dark mane, trying to detangle her curls a little. “Just go on this date with the doctor and have hot sex. Ignore Mom and stay single. Trust me, you’ll be happier that way. Then let me live vicariously through you.”
“Wait, what’s going on? Are you unhappy?” Why am I just hearing about this? “I get the whole lack-of-sex thing since you two have a new baby, but—”
