Then, as we were about to leave, my cell rang and I smiled. “Sorry, it’s Marissa, let me take this.”
I walked back to the kitchen to talk with her without grandma hearing. Max and Ben wouldn’t listen in, they had better manners, not that it really mattered. I’d tell them everything anyway.
“Hey, you,” I said as I leaned my butt on the edge of the counter.
“Hey. So, I ended up having a few hours free tonight after all. Do you want to meet at the hotel bar and not drink?”
I laughed. “Of course. We’re just leaving Nonna’s now. Give me an hour or so?”
“I’ll answer emails if I get there before you. See you in a bit!” Her voice was so damn familiar, and it hit me that I hadn’t seen her since we parted ways when I escaped the chaos after Will’s death.
I went back to the others, where Nonna was hugging the stuffing out of my men.
They both were a bit flustered at the maternal affection, and I put my jacket on while they talked about staying in touch. They’d exchanged numbers, and I felt like there was some plotting that would lead to, but I couldn’t have been more excited.
“Okay. We should go.” The car was there. I pulled Nonna into a hug and squeezed her. “I love you, and I’ll see you in the summer, okay?”
“Yes. And we will video call. And I will send care packages for your pack.”
I knew better than to tell her not to do that. She was the queen of care packages. “Sounds good.”
“You did good with these two, tesoro,” she said, patting my cheek.
“Oh, I know.” I grinned and kissed her cheek.
We left the house and got into the car. I looked at the guys and they both seemed pleased but also a bit stunned.
Chuckling, I said, “I’m not going to even ask what these expressions are about.” I gestured at their faces.
Ben shook his head and grinned. “She’s great. We’re not….”
“Used to this sort of thing. But she’s awesome,” Max concluded.
“She is,” I agreed, smiling at them. “And she’s right. I did good.”
Max blushed and Ben kissed my cheek.
“So did we,” Ben murmured.
“Hey, so Marissa has time to meet after all, so I’ll go chat with her at the hotel bar for a while,” I said casually. “I’m sure you two can figure out how to entertain each other while I’m there.”
Max let out a choked little sound, then coughed.
Ben chuckled under his breath and shook his head. “I’m sure we can.”
Iwent to the bar where I spotted Marissa at a quiet corner table, tapping away on her phone. As soon as she saw me, she beamed and got to her feet.
We exchanged a long, tight hug, then sat down.
“It’s so good to see you,” she choked out through tears that she was furiously dabbing away with a napkin. “You look so healthy!”
“Yes, turns out vampirism does that to a person,” I deadpanned.
She kicked my ankle under the table, something she’d done numerous times in the past when I was being a brat.
Something about that familiar gesture did it to my tear ducts, which promptly opened and then we sobbed together for a while. I was glad we were in a tucked away spot so others didn’t get a view into our moment.
“Okay, enough of that,” she finally said after a while and dug out a little mirror from her purse to check her makeup that was still pretty much intact.
