His mother shrugged. “Get used to it.”
Those in the room paying attention to their conversation laughed, and Marco patted him on the back.
“I find it easier to accept it than to try to debate or change it. Trust me, it won’t help,” his cousin said.
“You’re being dramatic. You know that, Figlio?” his Zia Lorna asked.
“I was your son for my entire life. You have a daughter for a couple of years, and I’m treated like a stepchild, but I’m the dramatic one. Okay, Mamma,” Marco responded.
“Besides, I wonder where he gets his dramatics from,” his uncle said, causing his aunt to side-eye him.
He and Eri finished his cake, and he took the paper plate into the kitchen and threw it away. When he returned to the living room, Avian was setting up a game of Scattegories. They split into teams and started the first of several games of the day.
∞∞∞∞∞∞∞
Eri walked through the front door of her family home the following afternoon. Her dad’s flight had landed late the night before. Her nose led her to the kitchen, Elias behindher, where she found her dad placing serving dishes in the middle of the table. He looked up when they entered.
“Hi, Dad,” she greeted.
“Hey, Bean,” he responded, rounding the table and pulling her into a hug. “You two are right on time.”
“Hey, Tony,” Elias greeted.
“Elias, good to see you again. I’m sure this one has been keeping you on your toes, so I apologize,” her dad joked, and Eri rolled her eyes.
“It wasn’t funny when you told him that at my graduation or Thanksgiving; it isn’t funny now. Are you going to do it every time you see one another?” she asked.
“Of course I am because you, my dear, are a handful, and him dealing with you is a load off my plate.”
Elias chuckled. “I don’t mind. I’m good at handling her.”
Eri looked over her shoulder to find him smirking, and she stuck her tongue out at him.
“You can put those in the living room by the miniature tree,” her dad informed Elias, nodding towards the gifts he held. “We can open them after we eat.”
Her boyfriend exited the kitchen, and Eri went to the cabinet to pull out plates and then silverware while her dad pulled out glasses. She set everything around the table and went to the refrigerator to grab the gallon of sweet tea as Elias returned.
As they ate, her boyfriend and dad discussed different topics, and Eri listened as she enjoyed her food. The conversation between the two men was easy, and she enjoyed that they seemed to like one another. Her dad was the only family she had outside her maternal grandmother and a few cousins, whom she only saw every couple of years, and she loved Elias. She wanted the two most important men in her life to get along.
Once they finished eating, Eri volunteered to tidy the kitchen, sending her boyfriend and dad into the living room. She put away the leftovers and did the dishes before joining them half an hour later. They were discussing a football team, and she went to the little tree, sitting on an accent table.
“Let’s exchange gifts,” she said.
“As impatient as you were when you were a kid on Christmas Day,” her dad replied. “Did she wake you up at the crack of dawn yesterday?” he directed at Elias.
“Pretty close to it,” Elias responded.
“It was not,” Eri countered.
They exchanged gifts. She’d gotten her father a recipe book centered on paninis since he used his press religiously, and a new white noise machine, because just like the press she’d replaced for his birthday, he’d had that machine for a while. He’d knocked it off his nightstand once, and from then on, the sound would cut in and out.
Elias gave him the gift he’d gotten for him. A set of wooden coasters with the logo and name of her dad’s favorite football team. Then the two opened their gifts from him.
He’d gotten Eri a pair of earrings and a candle subscription she was eager to start, and Elias a pair of magnetic earbuds.
“You can secure them in your helmet while you ride. There should also be an apology letter in there too, since Bean being spoiled is my fault.”
Eri sucked her teeth as both men laughed, and they thanked each other for the gifts.
