“Make sure you’re dressed when I get there. Monroe, well, clothing’s optional.”
He was teasing.
But a strange growling sound escaped me.
It got a chuckle out of my cousin.
“Yeah, figured it was heading in that direction.”
With that, he hung up.
I checked on Roe again before leaving a quick note on the hotel stationery, telling her to stay in the room, that I just went to grab coffee and breakfast.
My phone blew up the second I walked through the hotel lobby.
“Hey, Ma,” I said, trying not to let any tension about the whole Domenico thing slip into my voice.
The women in our family obviously knew what we did, that there was often a lot of dangerous shit going on. But we tried not to worry them unless it was absolutely necessary.
“How many weeks is my table going to have an empty seat?”
“I dunno, Ma,” I admitted. I winced at the too-bright morning sun as I walked out of the hotel and headed down the Boardwalk. “Things are… moving along. But I don’t have an end date for this job.”
“How’s your cousin?”
“Dom?”
“Remo.” At my pause, not sure who talked to her or what she knew, she let out a little huff of a laugh. “I’m not completely out of the loop, you know. I always wondered about those kids. Ikept in touch with their mom for a while, but eventually, things just… fell off.”
“Remo’s a good guy. Mix of capable and a little feral.”
“He has his mama’s eyes, doesn’t he?”
“Yeah. He’s got his brothers here too. The youngest isn’t even drinking age yet.”
“Good. I like that they stick together. And his mom?”
“She’s got advanced MS,” I told her. “Seems like Remo and the brothers are taking care of her.”
“Good boys. Like mine,” she added.
I don’t know what possessed me to say it. Maybe it was just the urge to be able to talk about it to someone, and my brothers weren’t the ones who called me.
“Think I met someone, Ma.”
There was a pause long enough to make me think the call had dropped.
Then, well, the squeal.
I yanked my phone away from my ear. Even the man passing me while walking his dog looked over, startled.
“Ma, calm down. I didn’t say I married someone.”
“No, but you, my dear sweet boy, have never even mentioned a woman to me.”
“Maybe because I knew you’d act like this?” I teased as I walked closer to the bagel place.
“Yes, well, can you blame me? I want my children to be in love. How terrible of me. So tell me all about her.”
