“Kyan Byrne?”
The name rang a bell, but she didn’t know him.
“He was Dillon’s younger brother, Brendan and Jesse’s cousin. Me and Tony went to the funeral.”
Oh, my God.
“Dillon’s her brother-in-law?”
“Yeah.”
“Jesus, I’m an idiot.” She smacked herself in the head, then dropped some dough into the fryer. “I mean, they have the same last name, and it was obvious just how much he adores her and that baby, so I just assumed…”
“Linnea was his wife?” Nick’s brow lifted so high his forehead wrinkled.
“Yeah.” Fresh sweat erupted on her skin. “I gave him the father’s baby band and everything. It never even occurred to me to ask.”
“Would you have done anything differently if you had known?”
“I don’t know.” Shrugging, Gina took the fry basket out of the hot oil. “Probably not.”
“Don’t give it another thought, then.” And he squeezed her shoulder. “But if you’re seeing Matt, it’s likely you’ll be seeing a lot of Dillon and Linnea, too.”
“How do you figure?”
“The Byrne cousins and the Venery boys have always been… close.Reallyclose. Tight, you know?” Nick sprinkled sugar on the batch of warm doughnuts, and with a snigger, he popped one into his mouth. “Heck, they all live together behind that gate on Park Place.”
And?
But he left her, rejoining Teo and their dad on the other side of Rossi’s doublewide booth.
What she was supposed to make of that, Gina wasn’t sure, but what difference did it make, anyway?
Lina didn’t show until half past four.Figures. She strolled over, putting her hair up in a ponytail, like it was no big deal. “You can take off now, if you want.”
“You’re late.”
She’d been counting on every minute of those two hours before she went to meet Matt, but thanks to her selfish sister-in-law, her calculations were going to shit. Now, Gina would have to rush when she wanted the luxury of taking her time.
“Sorry?” Hands dropping to her sides, Lina’s ponytail swished as she slanted away from her. “It’s not like you’ve got somewhere else to go.”
“Actually, I do.” Wiping sweat from her brow, Gina plastered on a smile.
“Oh, yeah?”
“Yeah, I’m—”
“C’mon, Gi.” Before she could say another word, Teo grabbed her by the arm. “We got places to be.”
“We?” Gina asked as her brother dragged her away. She glanced back at Lina over her shoulder. Tony stood with her, shaking his head at them.
“Where you’re going, who you’re seeing, or what you’re doing is none of her business.” He squeezed her waist, maneuvering her through the crush on First Avenue. “Unless you want thatputtanarunning to Mom and Tony.”
“Heh. She wouldn’t dare.”
“You know she would.” His brows furrowing, the pain he refused to let go of was there in her brother’s eyes. “She’d post it all over Facebook, too—bitch loves to start trouble, and you are so not prepared for that bullshit.”
Until then, Gina hadn’t given any thought to the fallout of her relationship with Matt going public. Her family? Well, that was a completely different story. Rosemary would never approve, simply because Matt wasn’t Vinny Passarelli or a reasonable facsimile of him. And Tony? He’d lock her up in a nunnery and throw away the key if he could. So, seeing his little sister and his old pal together? Livid would be an understatement.
