I sighed. “No. I just don’t know how it’s going to work.”
“We’ll figure it out,” he said, rinsing a plate, then setting it in the dishwasher.
I wrapped foil over the lasagna and slid it into the fridge. “How do you want to go about telling him?”
“I say we rip the bandaid off.”
“I was going to say we ease into it,” I admitted.
“Babe, he’s gonna find out somehow. You know what secrets are like. I’d rather it come from both of us. Together. And have your family back it up.”
“Yeah. Maybe I should talk to Luca first.”
“If your brother gives me any shit—”
“Auntie, we’re home!” Felix called, and I heard the door close indicating Luca was close behind.
Felix appeared in the kitchen doorway and stalled. “Hi, Stoney.”
“Hey, bud, how was your night?”
He frowned. “Are you my auntie’s boyfriend now?”
“No,” I rushed to say as Luca walked in. “We’re friends. All of us are friends. Right, Luca?”
“Yeah, sure,” Luca said, scowling at Stoney. “We’ll go with that.”
“Let’s get your jacket put up,” I said, unzipping Felix’s coat. “What did you guys do?”
“We played glow golf,” Felix said. “And I had two hot dogs.”
“Wow, two? That’s a lot.”
“And fries.”
“Whoa, fries, too?” I exclaimed. “That’s crazy talk.”
He grinned. “It was so fun. Uncle Luca only said two swear words, so he owes you two dollars.”
“I think that’s a record,” I said.
“That’s what he said.”
I ruffled his hair. “Did Uncle take you for dessert?”
“He said you’d want me to have that here.”
“I bet he did.”
I’d made the stupid mistake of telling my brother that Stoney was coming by to talk about Felix, so I had a feeling he made sure they cut their night short.
“Come on,” I said. “I’ve got ice cream in the freezer.”
“Mint chocolate chip?” he asked, hopefully.
“Of course it’s mint chocolate chip. I’m not a monster.”
Felix laughed and followed me into the kitchen where we walked into a rather heated something between my brother and Stoney.
