“Look at you.” She waved wildly at him, and we all glanced down at his body. Compared to me and Jake, Logan was thinner, but not unhealthy. He had muscles that were more compact. “You are too skinny. I’ll feed you. We’ll get fat on your bones.”
“Nonna, he’s fine,” Jake tried, but without avail. No one could win against Nonna.
She pointed a finger at him, and he closed his mouth immediately. “Good boy. Let your nonna take care of your friend.”
Jake held up his hands. We both knew we’d lose, and Nonna took no shit. She winked at us and dragged Logan off. All we could do was watch.
“She’ll take care of him,” I said, sliding my hand into Jake’s.
He leaned his head on my shoulder. “Of course she will. There’s Elsie.” He nodded over to the right, and sure enough, Elsie was sitting in a very comfortable armchair with a small bundle cradled in her arms. She already had a few people around her, but she waved when she saw us.
“Let’s go say hello to the new family member.” I laughed.
13
Logan
The last thingI wanted to do was somehow mess up meeting all of the people Jake and Declan knew and loved. I was terrified as Jake’s nonna happily patted my hand and dragged me along in her wake with her dress fluttering behind her like a battle flag.
Nonna had passed along her dark eyes and kind mouth to Jake. It was funny to see those same things I liked about him in her, and it made me like her, even though I didn’t know her at all. She dragged me along through a doorway into the main house and didn’t let go as she marched in a direct path through a couple of rooms packed with people sitting and standing, all talking and having a good time.
Folks got out of her way, usually with sympathetic smiles in my direction or a few words to Nonna, until we reached the kitchen. The melon-orange walls had me blinking rapidly at the assault of color, but the black counters all gleamed, or at least the parts that weren’t covered in trays of food did, and the laughter floating around the room made it inviting. I dragged in a deep lungful of rich, wine-scented air. Nonna finally let me go as she stopped to investigate a tray of meats, cheeses, and crackers. People were gathered around a large slow cooker on the table nearby, ladling out what I thought might be mulled wine into mugs. Nonna picked up a paper plate from near the finger foods and began to use tongs to load it up.
“So, who are you, dear? What’s your name? Tell me.” I must have waited too long to answer, since I was kind of panicking, because she gestured at me in a hurry-up sort of way with her tongs, in between dropping food on the plate.
“Um, just what Jake said. Logan is my name.”
She turned and handed me the full plate. I gaped at the mountain of calories she’d managed to balance in one spot. “Eat. No, no, your family name.” She patted my arm and stared expectantly up into my face. My anxiousness twisted into a tight knot in my chest.
“Indry.”
Her face fell. “Oh, not Italian? Or are you?” She squinted and poked at my cheek. “Maybe your mother? Northern Italian.”
“Uh, no. I’m sorry.” I chuckled. “As far as I know we’re Irish and question mark. As in, we don’t know.”
She clucked her tongue. “Maybe Italian, then. Yes, you have the look. It’s fine if you don’t know. You are. I can tell.” She beamed and hooked a hand around my elbow, pulling me off toward another tray of hors d’oeuvres. There were little fried foods with toothpicks shoved in them, and she took another plate and started stacking food on it.
“I don’t need any more—”
“You’re a friend of our Jake.” She smiled at me, her curly gray hair not moving at all with her actions, and I had to wonder how much hairspray was in it. The curls were perfect and sure weren’t about to go anywhere. “He doesn’t bring people around unless they’re close to him, so you must be a good one.”
“Uh, maybe? That would be nice. I’d like to be a good one.” I laughed and was a little uncomfortable, but she nudged me in the ribs, then handed me the second plate. I shifted around to get away from her pointy elbow, and embarrassment washed through me as my ass twinged. This was the worst place and time to be thinking about last night, but the good little aches in my body wouldn’t let me forget about the way I’d taken both JakeandDeclan. I struggled to pay attention and nearly dumped one of my plates. Nonna steadied my hand.
“Oh, this is Calla and her daughter Corinne. Ladies, this is Logan. He’s here with Jake.” She stopped two women on their way past us with plates—both over seventy, if they were a day—who also had the same curly hair Nonna did, only chestnut brown. They were about her height with wide, friendly smiles, and they came over and gave me light hugs, even though I didn’t know them from anyone.
Calla steadied my plates and gave me a conspiratorial wink as she took the one with the cheeses from me. I mouthed “thank you” and she laughed. “Nice to meet you,” they said, almost at the same time.
Corinne, apparently the younger of the two, sidled closer and gave Nonna a hug. “Sorry we missed the other party.”
“No worries! Two in two days is exciting. We don’t usually have a reason. But a baby, that’s a reason!” The women laughed, and it was strange because they turned toward me and made me feel included, rather than like I was an outsider.
Nonna introduced me in the same way, as an offshoot of Jake, to everyone who walked within five feet of us. I quickly forgot the names of the people I met because there were so many brand-new faces, but everyone wasniceto me, which I hadn’t had much of lately. Most of my social circle had been influenced by Miranda in some way, and no one had wanted to piss her off, which meant that since she was usually irritated in my general direction, everyone had been very cool toward me.
At the time I hadn’t really noticed.
But the comparison between my life in Minetto and this one-off afternoon with Jake and Declan’s family was so stark I couldn’t help but see the difference. As yet another one of Jake’s family members gave me a pat on the shoulder, and Nonna handed me a plate of cookies, I missed Declan and Jake. Social situations had never been my forte, and now I was ass-deep in one without their support. I hadn’t been away from them long, but the kitchen was also starting to feel far too crowded, probably because more people were beginning to migrate toward the munchies. Somewhere in another room a baby cried, and there was a chorus of “awws” from all the women, including Nonna, who put her hands over her heart and sighed.
A teeny brown Chihuahua in an adorable white poufy sweater came sniffing along at my toes. My insides went pathetically mushy in a way the baby didn’t exactly inspire. I’d always wanted a real pet, not just a fish like Coy, but I’d never lived anywhere I could have one. I crouched in front of the pup and his black nose quivered. This had to be the dog Declan had caused trouble over.
