“Riley, are you going back for Alumni Weekend in the fall?” Andy asked. “We could go together.”
“Over my dead body,” Nick snapped.
“Did you know he was going to say that?” Esmeralda asked her.
“Is it over yet?” Riley rasped.
“Do you see now why I didn’t tell them about us?” Nick asked, holding up the bottle of wine.
She shook her head. “I’m the getaway driver. Speaking of which, when are we getting away?”
“The second you’re ready.”
“Let me finish this pork first. It’s amazing,” she decided.
He respected her priorities.
They cleaned their plates while his parents argued about whose heritage was more vibrant, and Carmela lambasted Andy for not cutting his meat correctly. Esmeralda opened her book and ignored everyone.
Riley leaned over. “I’m sorry about all this.”
“About what?”
She gestured around the table.
“This? This is normal,” Nick scoffed. “All of our family dinners end up like this. You should see us on Thanksgiving.”
“Allyour family dinners?”
“That’s why we only get together once a quarter. It gives us enough time to forget about why we were fighting.”
“Wow. Then I guess you were right,” she whispered.
He slid his hand under her hair and rubbed her neck. “Of course I was. About what?”
“Your family is weird.”
“Told you. I’ve been thinking a lot about this in the past hour. I think we should never let our families meet.”
She nodded, considering his wisdom. “I think that’s an excellent plan. You know where they’d never meet? Costa Rica if we moved there.”
“God, you’re beautiful,” he said. “Now finish your pork so we can go—”
“Don’t say it,” Riley said, pointing her fork at him.
He grinned.
“Nicky, when you give up on this sleazy investigator thing, you can come work for me,” Miguel decided. “I need an assistant manager at the new tapas place.”
“You scared the new one off already?” Carmela scoffed.
“It’s not my fault kids these days are pampered little wusses! Why are you yelling at me, boss? Stop throwing forks at me, boss,” he mimicked.
“Why don’t you at least consider going back to the police force? Look at the job security Kellen has with all the poor people in the city killing each other,” Marie pointed out. “And think of the nice girls you met when you were a cop.” She shot a pointed look at Riley.
“You ready yet?” Nick asked her.
“One second.” Riley set her wine glass down carefully. “Thank you for a delicious dinner, Santiagos. Miguel, Marie, your blatant disregard of your son’s accomplishments, happiness, and well-being is truly terrifying. We’ll be going now.”
