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“I just whipped up some wings real quick. I was hungry and I’ve been wanting to try out a new recipe.”
Those words were said too casually given their meaning. “Whipped up some wings?” I repeated.
Eli frowned. “You’re supposed to be staying off that foot.”
“Sorry,Dad.” Joystick’s voice was playful. “I promise I hobbled to the kitchen, and sat most of the time. Very little standing involved.”
“Were they good? The wings?” I should’ve guessed he could cook, too, since he wanted to open a restaurant. But I hadn’t even considered that was one more thing Joystick could do.
He shrugged. “Not the best, but they’re getting there. Thank you for the food though. We can heat it up later and share it.” He scooted closer to the arm of the couch, and patted the seat next to him. “You should both sit down. Talk a while. Tell me about your night, except maybe any of the kissy bits. Unless you want to tell me, then I’m all ears.”
Right. The yummy kissy, fucky bits that happened in a restaurant bathroom. That was going to be a favorite memory forever.
Eli left the space in the middle for me, and Joystick tugged me into the spot with no hesitation. They weren’t acting like two men who didn’t want me around, or who only wanted each other.
And being pressed between them like this was cozy and comfortable. It felt right.
“So, what did you do? Where did you go? Did you have a lot of fun?” Joystick was a lot of things, but politeness for the sake of politeness didn’t seem to be one of them. Was it weird that we were having this casual conversation?
Was it possible I could just stop over-thinking things now, please?
“We had alotof fun,” Eli said.
“Except when we ran into one of the actresses from his movie.” What was wrong with me?
Though, if anyone could tell me if that wastheIsabella, it was Joystick. She was the reason he’d gone to Italy in the first place so many months ago. The story was he’d met her at a party, gotten really drunk, and when the pretty woman saidI need to go save my daughter, he had them on a flight to Milan a few hours later.
“Anyone you knew? Anyone I know?” Joystick asked.
Eli found my hand again, and rested both his and mine on my knee. “She’s working on the movie, so yeah, I know her. Not sure you would. I think she’s pretty new to the US scene. She’s an Italian actress.”
“Named Isabella,” I added.
Joystick raised an eyebrow. “Really.” That was possibly the most serious look I’d ever seen him adopt.
I had to make him understand it was even more of a coincidence than he realized. “A little backstory, since you’re probably not as familiar with Andrew’s screenplay as Eli is… Andrew spent his late teens and early twenties backpacking around the world, and he spent some time in Italy in the process. Where he met two of his still good friends, Antonio and Tara.” Brother and sister. And Raul’s cousins. “She’s playing Tara in the movie.”
“Really.” Joystick repeated. “What’s she like?”
“Petit. Pretty. Snooty.” I wasn’t being catty, or maybe just a little, but I’d also just described a quarter of the population. Not helpful.
Joystick had his phone in his hand and was jabbing at the screen. He turned it toward both of us a moment later, and showed us a celebrity gossip webpage with a photo of the woman we’d encountered this evening, her arm looped through his. “Is that her?”
I swallowed the bubble of jealousy that swelled in my throat and the sight of her clinging to Joystick that way. The possessive mewl ofminethat echoed in my thoughts wasn’t so easily ignored.
“That’s her,” Eli said. “Do you know everyone I’ve met in the last few months?”
“I don’t know Andrew. I’d like to. Sounds like a fascinating guy. Then again,” Joystick leaned his head on my shoulder, “I’m interested in meeting everyone in your life.”
Hear that, brain? That’s not himjust being nice.
My brain scoffed at me.
“But if what you’re saying is true…” Eli twisted his face. “And I don’t know why you would make it up, why would she be here? Isn’t that kind of a big coincidence?”
Joystick sucked in a sharp breath through his teeth. “So, I may have possibly, probably, talked a lot about you, Eli, when I was around her. Not that I remember specifically doing that, but it’s a thing I tend to do.”
“You tend to talk about me.”
