Though at first I was glad to see Lorie, her obvious anxiety was making me so nervous it was affecting my stomach. Though I was managing, by some miracle, to keep from throwing up, I felt like I was queasy all morning just staring at the twisted wince that she’d permanently papered across her face.
“Are you okay, sweetheart?” Tamryn asked me. “Do you want me to get you some ice chips or water or something?”
“I’m okay. It’s Lorie.” I yanked on one of Lorie’s blond pigtails. “You have to relax, okay? You’re supposed to be calming me down, and instead you’re stressing me out so much.”
“I’m sorry,” she whimpered. “I’m just not used to this. This is all so crazy. I had to be searched when I came in. There’s a woman here with…” She looked back at Tamryn like she couldn’t hear her and then leaned in towards me. “A gun,” she whispered. “I’m visiting you because you got shot! Your brothers might have done it?!”
“Shhh, Lor,” I hissed. “I brought you here to not think about all of that stuff. Please. I’m so happy to see you. I don’t want to kick you out.”
Lorie took a deep breath and nodded. “Yeah. Okay.”
Even though I desperately wanted to see my best friend, I rapidly learned that it was a pretty bad idea to invite her. Due in part to the fact that she was the police chief’s daughter, and in part to the fact that the most insane thing she’d ever done was drink about fifteen days before her 21st birthday, Lorie wasn’t handling the turn of events in my life all that well. Gio said she could visit, but upon her arrival, Milli managed to convince him that it was necessary for her to be searched, and he ultimately agreed.
Milli, already a terrifying enough looking man, then proceeded to search Lorie like she was a drug lord, not the innocent daughter of the chief of police. I tried to explain to her that Milli was kind of like a scary-looking dog, the more afraid of it you act, the more he’ll try and scare you. He was barely able to hold back his laughter as he frisked her and asked her if she had any “bags” on her--she didn’t even know what he was talking about.
Needless to say, she’d been hyper skittish ever since.
“Okay.” Gio walked into the room with a couple of white bags with the tops folded down. “I’ve been told that disgusting, greasy street food makes everything better, so…”
His nose was turned up and Tamryn stood up and yanked the bags from him. “We literally plucked you off the street and now you’re turning your nose up at cart burgers?”
“I lived off of food from dumpsters for two years. Excuse the hell outta me for wanting to live it up with steaks from here on out.”
She rolled her eyes as she stuck her hand into one of the bags. “That was your father that gave you that expensive ass taste.” She pulled out a burger out and walked it over to Lorie and handed it over. “Here you go. Trust me. This is the best burger in NYC.”
Lorie reached up and shakily took it from her, then Tamryn reached back into the bag and handed one to me. “Maybe just half to start, baby. You don’t wanna overload your system.”
I smiled and nodded at her. “Yeah. Thank you.”
It’d been so many years since I’d been around a true, blue mom. Tamryn made me miss my mom, but at the same time, she made me feel like I was getting some of the mom I’d missed in the past ten years. Being around Gio had given me an opportunity to experience some of the warm feelings I’d lacked in my family, but I honestly never thought I’d get to experience what it felt like to have a mother around again until the mother was me. I was enjoying having Tamryn around so much more than I thought I would.
I’d have to be sure to mention that to Gio next time I got the chance.
After handing me the burger, she pulled another one out of the bag and shoved one at Gio, then she took another and sat back down on the couch and quickly started eating.
With his burger in hand and his nose still turned up, he walked over and sat down in the chair on the other side of me. He unwrapped and took a tentative bite of his burger, then his face relaxed. “Oh. It’s good.”
“Told you,” Tamryn barked between bites.
“Um…” Gio looked at me, then across at Lorie, who was just finishing her first bite. “Wh-what do you think, Lorie?”
The sound of her name coming out of Gio’s mouth made Lorie’ jump. She looked over at Gio, but she could barely hold eye-contact for more than a few seconds before she looked away again nervously. For the fact that Gio was actually making a valid attempt to try and get to know Lorie, she was acting more like she wanted to run screaming.
“It… It’s… It’s good,” she stammered out. “I’m sorry. I’m just not very hungry.”
“Lorie,” I snapped. “You’re constantly going on about how breakfast is the most important meal of the day. I’ve seen you demolish whole breakfast buffets. We get to have burgers for brunch. I thought you’d be thrilled.”
“I’m fine!” she yelped a little louder than I was expecting and everyone in the room jumped at attention to her voice. “Sorry.” She looked around nervously. “I’m sorry. I’m fine. The burger is good. Thank you for asking.”
She was staring straight at me, so I said, “I didn’t ask, Gio did.” I nodded my head in his direction and Lorie visibly shivered as she turned to face him.
“Yes.” She nodded at him. “Thank you, Giovanni.”
“You’re welcome,” he said. “I’m glad you’re enjoying it.” He gave me a side-glance and I could tell he was uncomfortable.
Weren’t we all?
“So,” Tamryn said, popping the last bite of her burger into her mouth and chewing it down before continuing. “Lorie, Avion tells me you two met in college.”
