Sure
Youdidn’t RSVP
Sent it weeks ago. Must have gotten lost in the mail. I’m bringing a date
We don’t have you down for a plus 1
It’s fine. She eats off my plate anyway
There’s no extra chairs
I like when she sits on my lap
Whatcha doing?
Shooting pool with our dads
Oh shit
Ignore my ridiculousness
Have fun
*kissy face emoji*
As if I’d ever ignore her. I put my phone away and get back to the game.
“Anthony, I’ve missed this version of you,” Marco says after a couple of games of Cut Throat.
“Me, too, Dad.”
Dad sighs. “I was worried I would never be anything other than who I’ve been this last decade.” He looks at me. “I asked your mother for a divorce months ago, but she ignored it. Same as she did when I told her I wanted one two years ago when you graduated. When she demanded you go to college and marry someone she chose for you, I realized how miserable you and I both were. The day after you left, I actually filed. All we’ve done is fight about it since then. She wasn’t supposed to come here with me, I was trying to just get a break from her, but she booked herself a ticket on the samedamn flight as me, and I didn’t know until we were already in the air.”
Marco and I are silent as he continues speaking.
“I didn’t expect her to demand that you come home once we got here. I think I was in shock when she did.” His eyes light up. “But then those two girls came barreling down the stairs fighting over a book so hard they didn’t even see five people sitting at a table twenty feet from them, and damn if they couldn’t breathe life into a dying man. It’s no wonder you came alive here, Luca.”
“I didn’t know how to be happy until I came here. I didn’t know how to even let it in at first.”
Marco snorts and points his bottle at me. “You fell head over ass for Ariana the first time you saw her, even with her holding a man at gunpoint and her face bleeding in two places.”
“Hell yes, I fucking did, but I had no clue what to do with it. Scared the shit out of me.”
“Who the fuck made that sweet girl bleed?” my dad asks, his eyes wide. I forgot he doesn’t know most of what’s happened since I got here.
“The asshole she was holding a gun on. She shot him, she and Lil both kicked the shit out of him, then Luca, Ford, and I took care of him.” Marco shrugs a shoulder, just casually discussing murder, and takes a drink.
“Good.” Dad looks at me. “That girl, she’s your match. And no one better fuck with her. That includes your mother. I don’t know if she’s just keeping to herself or planning to try something tomorrow, but you can be damn sure I’m going to be on her ass to make sure she behaves herself.”
Marco leans against the pool table, crossing his ankles. “Hmmm… I wonder… We went to a wedding a few months ago. The bride’s brother wasn’t happy with her choice in a groom, so Carbone ensured the brother knew to keep his mouth closed if he wanted to make it to the end of the day.”
“How did he do that?” Dad asks.
Marco grins. “He hired a sniper to keep a little red dot on the brother’s chest.”
“Do that, hire the sniper,” Dad says, clapping his hands together.
“Can’t hire the bride for her own wedding. I’ll have to hire whoever’s second best.”
