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Thankfully, Gaby’s mom, Mia, broke out into a wide smile at the sight of me. “Noah, it’s so good to see you again.”
After opening her arms, I rose out of my seat and walked into her embrace. When I glanced over her shoulder, AJ glowered at me. “It’s nice seeing you again, too, Mrs. Resendiz.”
She patted my back before pulling back to smile at me. “Oh God, you’re going to make me feel old calling me that.”
Winking, I replied, “As amazing as you look, there’s no way you could feel old. You look like Gaby and Bella’s older sister.”
Her dark eyes glittered with happiness. “I knew I liked you.”
With a grin, I replied, “You don’t know how glad I am to hear that.”
“Spare me,” AJ grumbled.
After shooting her husband a look, she said, “Please call me Mia.”
“Yes, ma’am. I mean, Mia.”
She patted my cheek with a smile. “You know it’s so sweet of you wanting to surprise Gaby like this.”
“I can’t take the credit. It was pretty much Bella’s idea.”
Mia laughed. “My daughters certainly inherited their father’s art of persuasion.”
“Even without Bella’s persuasion, I couldn’t bear the thought of not being there for Gaby’s birthday.
While a chorus of “Aww,” rang from Mia and Bella, AJ countered, “Trust me. She wasn’t going to be alone with all her family and friends there.”
My eyes bulged at my mistake. “Right. Um, I just meant that I didn’t want her to be missing me like I would be missing her.”
“And that’s exactly why you had to come along,” Bella said with a grin.
“Yes, we’re so glad you took Bella’s offer to fly and stay with us for free,” AJ mused through gritted teeth.
Jesus, there was no winning with this guy. Glancing between him and Mia, I swallowed hard. “I don’t want to impose. I’ll be happy to reimburse you for my flight and find somewhere else to stay.”
Both Mia and Bella turned wrathful expressions on AJ. “That is totally unnecessary. Right, Dad?” Bella questioned.
Mia patted my arm. “Excuse my husband. Sometimes he becomes an unimaginable stronzo.” After glaring at AJ, she smiled brightly at me. “Just so you know, stronzo means asshole in Italian.”
“I imagined as much,” I replied with a tentative smile.
“To which I then become a raging la cagna.”
“Let me guess. A bitch?”
She beamed. “Look at you. You’ll be cussing him in Italian before you know it.”
With a nervous laugh, I replied, “I don’t know about that.”
After shooting AJ one last murderous gaze, she then sat down in the row across from me. The pilot came over the intercom to inform us to buckle our seatbelts and prepare for takeoff. With one final smoldering look of disgust at me, AJ took a seat next to Mia. Before he could get his seatbelt on, she slammed her gigantic purse onto his lap, which caused me to wince in what I could only imagine was a set of wracked-up balls.
“Fuck,” he grunted before huffing and puffing out a few breaths.
“Oops, my bad. Would you stow that for me?” she replied, sweetly.
Without a word, he grabbed the purse and shoved it under his seat. When I met Mia’s gaze, she winked at me. Since I didn’t want to piss AJ off when his balls were in agony, I ducked my head where he couldn’t see my smile.
Focusing on my phone, I scrolled through social media as the jet taxied down the runway before taking off. Once we were cruising in the air, the seatbelts came off, and Bella rose out of her chair to get something out of the fridge. When she returned, she offered me a water.
