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Leo frowned. “What about all your talk about exclusivity and business, and how you were making all this money?”
“It wasn’t what the brides wanted. They want to work with Gia. Besides, this is just a trial thing. It might not work out.”
Leo stepped closer. His face was stony. “Gia wants this so bad. If you fuck her over—”
“I don’t plan to fuck her over.” I wasn’t so sure what Gia wanted from this. I had a feeling she was going to break things off. She was so closed off to the idea of love that she’d never even consider it, especially not with me. That thought sank like a rock in my stomach.
It felt worse that Leo was threatening me about treating her right when he didn’t even know the whole story. I hated having to keep my true feelings from him. But what could I say?I love your sister, but she doesn’t love me.
He wouldn’t understand. He’d blame me. They all would.
I knew better than to mess with my best friends’ younger sister. But then I hadn’t been thinking with my brain. My heart had led me here, and I’d hoped I hadn’t made a huge mistake in falling for Gia when she wasn’t capable of anything more.
Nineteen
GIA
My chest ached when Silas left. I couldn’t believe he thought I’d go to my family’s dinner. It was like he hadn’t been listening at all.
I couldn’t be upset that he was going. He’d always been close with my family, separate from me. I wasn’t sure why I was so twisted up inside. When I thought he was seeing someone else, I felt something I hadn’t in a long time—jealousy—and I wasn’t sure what it meant.
We couldn’t tell my family we were together. They’d think I was crazy after how angry I’d been at Silas all these years. My brothers would be mad at Silas for hooking up with me. The whole situation was a disaster. We didn’t have a future, so why did it hurt when I sent him away?
I wanted to see him. I wanted to smooth things over, but I couldn’t go to my parents’. Every time I did, I got into an argument with my father.
I didn’t like how I’d left things with Silas. I’d needed space, room to breathe, but his leaving hadn’t helped. It only made everything worse.
We were in this weird limbo, where I wasn’t even sure we were seeing each other anymore.
I couldn’t pinpoint the moment that things went wrong. It could have been when I thought he was seeing someone else or when he said he wanted to be exclusive or that he was going to dinner with my family. It was probably all of it together. I’d felt this pressure build up, and it was like everything imploded. I couldn’t be around him anymore. I needed space and time to think.
But now that I had it, things weren’t any better. I wanted to go to him, to make sure he was okay, even if it meant going to my parents’ house when they weren’t expecting me.
I brushed my hair, washed my face, and reapplied my makeup. I wasn’t prepared to out Silas and me to my parents, so I’d have to pretend nothing had changed, and there was nothing between us. That might be harder than being with my family.
I took several deep breaths before I got into my car and drove the short distance to their house. They’d moved out of town when we were older to get some space from the restaurant.
But they still spent most of their time in the pizzeria, even though they claimed they wanted to retire.
I pulled into the driveway, where there was already a cluster of cars. Leo was with Harper and Evie now, but Matteo and Carlo were still single, or so they said. Mamma pressured them to get married and have kids, but she seemed slightly appeased with the addition of Evie.
When I walked into the house, the lively conversation in the kitchen stopped. Harper was the first one to recover. “Gia, I’m so happy to see you.”
She hugged me and whispered, “What are you doing here?”
I squeezed her in response, not sure what to say.
“We weren’t expecting you,” Mamma said. “We have plenty of food.”
“Are you sure it’s okay that I’m here?” I asked Mamma when she hugged me.
“Of course. You’re family.”
Tears sparked in my eyes as I moved to kiss Papà’s cheek. There had been this wall between us since I said I was going to start my own business. He’d never approved, and the worst part was how he’d kept bringing up how I could come back at any time.
I moved around the room, hugging Matteo first, who gave me a playful wink, and then Carlo. When I came to Leo, he asked, “What are you doing here?”
“I heard there was a family dinner tonight,” I teased.
