“No, I’m gonna walk,” she said, glancing at the line of cars waiting to get out of the parking lot. “Wanna bet I make it to the house before you?”
“Yeah.” Teo hooked his arm around her. “C’mon.”
“What are you doing?”
“Walking with you.”
Oh.
His fingertips pressed into her shoulder. “Don’t let her get to you, Gina.”
“Who?”
“Mom.” He looked at the sky, shaking his head before his gaze landed back on her. “C’mon, I’m not stupid.”
“Yeah, well, I can’t seem to do anything right where she’s concerned.”
“Heh, and Tony can do no wrong,” he said and kicked at a pebble on the sidewalk. “Fuck that. Keep on doing what you’re doing, Gina, because you’re doing just fine. Don’t let her tell you different.”
“I’ve been thinking it might be time to get my own place, but if I do, then I can’t afford grad school.”
A certification in midwifery had been her goal from the start. Was it still? Forty hours a week in an office besides taking call, Gina wasn’t as sure as she’d been before. She loved obstetrics.The mamas. The babies. But she wanted a life outside of work, too, not that she had much of one now.
Teo’s hand dropped from her shoulder to her waist. He stopped walking. “Want a roommate?”
“And leave your cushy apartment in the basement?” Her brother had everything a guy could want down there. “You can’t be serious.”
“Maybe,” Teo said with a shrug. “If we don’t open up that location in Wrigleyville, I’m leaving.”
“You don’t mean that.”
Did he? No, he couldn’t.
“Yeah, I do.” Nodding, he wet his lips, then taking her by the hand, they resumed walking. “I can’t work with him anymore, Gina. I can’t stand to even look at him.”
“I understand how you feel, but…”
“No one does.”
She squeezed his hand. “He’s your brother, Matteo.”
“And he betrayed me.” The venom in his voice was unmistakable. Teo unlocked the front door and ushered her inside. “C’mon, I’ll help you get the sauce going.”
By noon, she and Teo had a pan of ziti baking in the oven and beefbraciolesimmering in a pot of marinara on the stove. Stuffed with bread crumbs, parsley, onions, garlic, and fresh-grated parmesan cheese, the kitchen smelled heavenly. Gina had just put down the last layer of bananas, chocolate pudding, and graham crackers on an icebox cake for dessert, when Nick and Sara, followed by Tony, his wife, and their four kids, came in through the front door.
“Gimme that baby,” their mother shrieked, and dashing out of the kitchen, she took the pink-wrapped bundle out of her daughter-in-law’s arms.
Teo’s features hardened. He took the icebox cake from her hands and put it in the fridge. “I’ll be downstairs. Let me know when it’s time to eat.”
“Teo, don’t…”
“Let him go, Gi.” Nick stepped in between her and their brother. “He’ll be all right. He just needs some time by himself.”
“I hate this,” she said, hugging herself.
“I know, babe.” Two solid arms wrapped around her. “I do, too.”
“Are they ever going to be okay again?” Gina asked, glancing up at her second eldest sibling.
