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Three phone conversations with Liza without a single opening and now, here was Aldo, handing one to him on a silver platter. “I thought Gianna was supposed to fill the space left open when Keeley started dating Gio and Rafe.”
“Yeah, that’s what Liza thought too, but Gianna’s been pretty resistant to putting herself back out there. Liza’s invited her over for dinner several times so that she can help Gianna upload her profile on those stupid online dating sites.”
“She won’t do it?” Elio asked, his curiosity piqued.
“Nope. Gianna just keeps pushing her off, claiming she’s too busy at work, or sick, or wrapped up in planning Penny’s bachelorette party, or helping with the wedding prep.”
Elio had thought it strange that Liza hadn’t mentioned Gianna getting back with Sam, but now it appeared his sister didn’t know. Which made sense. While Gianna had found a way to forgive Sam’s sins, Liza was made of sterner stuff, and there was no way she’d be able to keep her opinion to herself. Obviously, Gianna was trying to put off the inevitable explosion that news would detonate for as long as she could.
And Elio couldn’t blame her for that. Liza was a force to be reckoned with.
“Liza told me a little bit about the bachelorette party the last time she called. Sounds like it was a wild one.”
“Yeah. Kayden, Gio, Rafe, and I all followed their progress on Find My Friends. They hit four bars, and I can only imagine the state they were in when they stumbled out of the last one around three a.m.”
The old Elio would have laughed at Aldo’s grumpiness over their sister’s wild ways, but this time, he knew Gianna was out there too, and he didn’t like the idea of her being out so late and so intoxicated.
“I’m surprised the four of you weren’t there, shadowing their every move.”
Aldo laughed. “Oh, believe me, we would have been if not for Gianna.”
Jesus, Elio thought. His brother was two for two on the Gianna goods today.
“What’s that mean?”
“Apparently, she’s been fighting some sort of stomach bug, so she offered to be DD. She texted me all night with progress reports and assuring all of us that everyone was fine. She made us promise not to rat her out to the rest of the gang because she was sure her texts would have annoyed Keeley and Liza to no end. But Gianna’s also clever enough to know that by appeasing us, she was keeping us from crashing the fun.”
Elio felt a strange sense of pride in Gianna’s actions, while simultaneously worrying about her being sick, but before he could ask Aldo about her illness, his brother continued speaking.
“Without her texts, we totally would have broken up the party early, especially when they kept venturing deeper into South Philly.”
“South Philly?” Elio asked, scowling. Gianna might have been sober and providing updates, but she was hardly qualified to keep them physically safe on her own.
“Relax. Penny’s bachelorette party wasn’t just for women. Penny—being Penny—has two attendants in her bridal party. Jess is her maid of honor, while her buddy at work, Toby, is serving as her bridesman. He and another guy, Rich, were invited to the bachelorette.”
Elio remembered both men from the holiday party. They were nice guys, but he wasn’t sure he’d exactly call them “the muscle,” when it came to keeping the women safe. He and Toby had spent the better part of a half hour talking video games, the man bragging about the fact that he was what he referred to as a “virtual weapons expert.”
“Even so,” Elio started, but Aldo just chuckled.
“Kayden’s buddy, Seth, was on duty that night, and he did more than a few drive-bys of every club they went to, patrolling the general vicinity, so he was never more than a few minutes away if trouble broke out. We’re not new to stalking the kid sisters. You sure you don’t want a piece of that action when you get back home to stay?”
Elio laughed. “I’ll let you guys handle the heavy lifting. I prefer to keep my weekends free.”
“I bet you do,” Aldo joked. “You get back on the horse yet? Now that you’re all healed up?”
Elio didn’t like to lie to his brother, but he also knew if he told Aldo the truth, that he hadn’t had a date since losing the sling, it would rouse his suspicions.
“I’m getting there. So is Gianna better now?” Elio asked, unable to shake his concern.
“What?”
“You said she was the DD because she was sick.”
“Oh, yeah, I suppose she’s better,” Aldo said. “Liza mentioned the two of them went out to lunch a few days ago. The flu’s been running rampant around Philly the last month or so, just like it does every year at this time.”
“Yeah, I guess.” If she was out for lunch, she must be feeling better. He tried to let that set his mind at ease.
“Well, I’ll let you go. Just wanted to thank you for the tickets. Looking forward to seeing you in a couple of days.”
