I’m a little nervous about meeting Aidan’s parents on Friday night.
I blame Teo Vitali. Teo gets this hundred-mile stare whenever his boyfriend’s parents are brought up in conversation. I know most of what went down during the IFF attack on Hillview House because Aidan told me about it, but also because I eavesdropped when Teo gave his debriefing to Luca after they’d returned from Boston. So I heard all about how Aidan’s dad was an honest-to-fuck bank robber in a former life, and how his brother went bad, though Aidan’s dad switched gears and went straight. It wasverydramatic, and I had to smother more than one gasp when I was listening outside Luca’s study door.
That night before bed, I found out I hadn’t been quite as quiet as I should, because Luca stopped me while I was undressing, frowned at me, and said, “We agreed, baby bird: no more listening at doors.”
“Aidan’s my best friend,” I retorted. “And I knew you wouldn’t tell me what Teo said.”
“Because I don’t want you mixed up in the unsavory side of the business,” Luca had sighed, like he’d said it a million times before…
Because he has.
Look, after I shot my own sister, Maggie, without hesitation—to save Luca, but still—I was a little shaken up. You would be too, even if your sister was a megabitch who’d tried to kill you a few times already, like mine.
But I scared myself that night.
I scared myself with my capacity to do what needed to be done. I’d never thought of myself as particularly pragmatic, let alone a killer. And I knew that I’d do it again, no matter who was standing there. Anyone threatening Luca—if it was Tara, if it was Aidan, if it was Brother Frank—I’d take them out just like I did Maggie.
That was what scared me the most.
Tonight, though, I’m just nervous. Not about having dinner with a former bank robber, since I know Aidan’s father is a good man—he’d have to be, to raise a son like Aidan, and he and Aidan are very close—but because I want to make a good impression. I’ve never really had a friend like Aidan, and the way he stuck with me when Luca was in the hospital was amazing. I don’t want to fuck up and embarrass him.
I make sure Luca doesn’t wear the damn Armani suit he tried to struggle into—God, I love the man, but he would wear Armani to a fucking pool party, I sometimes think—and dress him in more appropriate loungewear with an elastic waist that doesn’t cause him agony like the suit pants would have, cutting into his bandaged middle, but I choose a pair that didn’t looktoocasual either. I allow him the plain long-sleeved tee with the Armani insignia stitched on the breast, just to keep his Giorgio obsession under control.
When we come down to rendezvous with Tara, she looks just as nervous as I feel. “What’s this, sister?” I ask, surprised. “You, of all people, worried about making an impression?”
“I’ve already made one,” she says miserably. “And it wasn’t stellar. The last time I saw Aidan’s parents…” She fades out, even though no one else is listening to us. Luca’s in the corner being briefed by Gio, Conor and Rory on the location. We’re all six of us going tonight, but taking two separate, nondescript cars.
Make that separate, nondescript,bullet-resistantcars.
Plus another carful of Donovan guards, who will span the street, keeping watch.
“The last time you saw Aidan’s parents?” I prompt Tara.
“Well, I shot a few IFF soldiers in front of them,” she says in a low voice. “In front of Aidan’s father, anyway. And I didn’t get much chance to apologize for the whole…” She waves a hand around. “Utter destruction of the house while they were staying here, supposedly under my protection.”
“I’m sure it’ll be fine,” I say after a momentary pause. I sound unconvincing to my own ears.
“I don’t know,” Tara says, her mouth still turning down at the corners. “Mr. O’Leary was pretty down on me from the start. On the Donovans as a whole, really.”
“Yeah.” There’s a lot of complicated history there, to say the least. “Well,” I say, grabbing her hand and squeezing it, “we’ll just have to prove to him how fucking amazing the Donovans actually are, won’t we?”
“I thought you were a D’Amato these days,” Tara says.
“I am,” I retort. “But, well. I guess I’m still part-Donovan.”
Tara’s deep blue eyes are finally twinkling again as she grins at me. But as we head out the door, my anxiety spikes once more.
* * *
We arrive right on time,both cars pulling up from opposite ends of the street, having followed different routes. Gio wanted us to arrive at different times, too, but Tara and I were more worried about being late.
Aidan’s parents’ place is not exactlysqualid, but it’s not far off what I would have considered a shack in my asshole younger years. I mean, it’s fine. It’s a house. It’s a squat, fat house with a roof that looks like it could do with some repairs, a porch running all the way around, and lace curtains in the windows at the front.
We knock on the door. Tara and I are right at the front of the group, and I feel exactly like we did when we were kids and Mom made us go knock on the neighbor’s door to apologize for hitting a baseball through their window. Next to me, Tara is twisting her fingers together in front of her, her lips moving in a silent prayer.
The door swings open faster than I was expecting, and I jump a little, feeling Tara do the same next to me. But the woman in the doorway has a wide, delighted smile on her face and reminds me so much of Aidan that I immediately feel my nerves draining away. “Well,hellothere!” she says, as though she’s never been so happy to see anyone in her life. “Tara, sweetheart, it’s so good to see you!” She gives Tara a hug and then turns to me. “And Finch! Aidan just talks about you all the time, when he’s not talking about Teo, of course. I’m so sorry Teo couldn’t be here tonight, too. My goodness, there’s a crowd of you! And that must be Luca, of course—I see you there, don’t think you’re escaping a hug—”
We start filing in, and Luca actually smiles as he leans down to accept a hug from Mrs. O’Leary, although I see a wince of pain as he does. “Come in, come in, let’s get you into a chair,” she says, shepherding Luca through to the front sitting room.
