“Seven-thirty.”
“I’ll be there.”
He spoke to his mother for several more minutes, returning to the design before him when they hung up. He had no other plans for the day and decided to work on a few random designs. Maybe that would help spark his creativity and allow him to finish his current one.
3
Elias pulled up to his parents’ house a few minutes before seven thirty. Normally, he would have arrived earlier, but knowing his aunt and cousin would be there, he wanted to spend as little time in their presence as possible. There was always the possibility that Vince would irritate him. The chances of that were higher since Marco wasn’t there to take the brunt of it.
His Zia Celia’s car was there, and he took a deep breath before he got out. He knew his Zia Lorna and Uncle Matteo were there. They and his parents lived on the same street and would walk to whichever house was hosting the gathering.
He let himself in and found his uncle, dad, and cousin sitting in the living room. The first two had no doubt been kicked out of the kitchen when trying to help, but Elias knew him well enough to know the latter hadn’t offered. He greeted the three men before going into the kitchen.
“Ciao, Mamma. Zias,” he greeted, kissing his mother and Aunt Lorna’s cheeks. “Something smells good. Do you need help?”
Elias already knew the answer to his question, but he always offered. There were rare occasions when they would take him up on it.
“Will you set the table, Figlio?”
“Sure, Mamma.”
Elias grabbed the dinnerware stack and entered the dining room to set the table. He left the space across from him empty to save himself from having to converse more than necessary withhis cousin. He hadn’t lied when he told Eri he felt bad about Vince feeling left out, but he wouldn’t make himself miserable trying to appease the other man.
When the places were set, he stayed in the kitchen to help them carry the serving dishes to the table. He knew to stay out of the way so he wouldn’t get booted out like he was sure his dad and uncle had.
Fifteen minutes later, they were seated at the table as Elias listened to his mother and aunts discuss what they’d been up to the past week, like his mom and Aunt Lorna didn’t speak on the phone daily and likely already knew. The conversation was for Celia’s benefit. His dad and uncle discussed the plans for a bank that their company had been commissioned to build. Elias knew the polite thing to do would be to strike up a conversation with his cousin, but he wasn’t always polite, and he was fine eating his food in silence.
“So, Figlio. When do you plan on settling down?” his mom asked.
Elias wasn’t surprised the question had come up. He knew the spotlight would be on him now that Marco had done so. He’d just thought they would take a bit more time to bring it up, but he honestly should have known better. In his defense, it wasn’t like he was avoiding settling down. It was that the woman he could see himself with had a barrier up thirty feet high and fifteen feet thick. One that he felt he was digging away at with a spoon, but he was doing it because he wanted her to be comfortable. However, that wasn’t something he would tell them.
He liked to enjoy his time with whoever he was dating before introducing them to his family. There had been a couple of times when he’d dated someone for six months and hadn’t felt the need to divulge the information. He liked to see where things were going before he mentioned them to his family, specificallyhis parents. This was likely why they thought he opposed settling down, but that wasn’t the case.
“It’ll happen when it happens, Mamma.”
“He’ll settle down when hell freezes over,” Vince threw in.
“The same phenomenon that needs to happen before you move out of Zia’s house and learn to take care of yourself,” Elias countered.
“How is your current project coming?” his dad changed the subject. It wasn’t necessary. Elias doubted Vince would respond, and even if he did, he didn’t make it a habit of going back and forth with the other man once he said what he needed to.
“It’s going well. I’m almost finished with the general design, and once it’s approved, I’ll get started. I also have a couple of other appointments coming up.”
“I’m surprised you still have time for tattoos when you’re so focused on that. I don’t understand why Marco hasn’t filled your chair,” Celia stated.
Elias had to refrain from rolling his eyes. He wasn’t sure why she was still bringing that up. She’d already been told no to her son being hired when he finished the course. The last thing Vince would ever do was take his chair.
“Time management. Most adults know how to do that,” Elias responded, because he had no intention of letting her comment slide. “The same way they look for jobs independently and not rely on their mommies to do it for them.” He couldn’t help throwing the jab in there, even if it were true.
“Un bambino così irrispettoso,” Celia stated.
“Dice la donna il cui figlio maschio le parla come una cameriera,” he responded.
“Elias,” his dad attempted to chastise, but it didn’t have the needed effect since he was trying not to laugh while his uncle coughed to cover his up.
His mother and Zia Lorna struck up another conversation to shift from the current one. Elias returned to eating his food, conversing with his dad and uncle or his mother and Zia Lorna now and again, and purposely ignoring the other two.
He counted it as a success when dinner was over because it could have been worse. He could have put his hands on Vince, so he’d take that as a victorious gathering.
