Anxiety grips me. He hasn’t spoken to his mom since that day they argued. “Do you want to answer it?”
His gaze flicks up to mine. “I should, right?”
My heart starts racing as wild thoughts flood my mind. She’s going to convince him to go home. She’ll make him see I’m not worth his time. “Do, um, do you want some privacy? I can go…” I start pushing my chair back, but Santino grabs my hand.
“No! Stay. Please.” His grip is tight and his eyes are a little wild with panic.
It’s weird seeing him like this. It’s weird being the one holding his hand rather than him holding mine. He’s always been the strong one between us, but now I have to be strong for him.
Santino answers the call and immediately puts it on speaker. “Hello?”
“Tino? Hold on a sec.”
He glances up at me and whispers. “That's my sister Luisa.”
“Mom, you have to speak to him!” Someone shouts in the background. His mom’s answer is too muffled to make out. “We talked about this, Mom.”
Santino stares at the phone like some kind of monster might jump out of it. I don’t like it. Still holding his hand, I stand and tug him to his feet. We go to the couch and I curl myself aroundhim as we wait for someone to start talking on the other end of the phone.
“Sorry about that, Tino. Here’s Mom.”
There’s a fumbling sound as the phone is handed off, but no one else comes on the line.
Santino and I exchange a look. “Hello?” he asks.
“Mom!” Luisa, I think, hisses in the background.
“Yes?” Santino’s mom finally speaks, sounding as if Santino was the one who called her and not the other way around.
“Uh, hi, Mom.”
“Hello.”
“Um… how are you doing?”
I give him a squeeze and nuzzle the crook of his neck.
“I’m fine.”
“That’s great.” A beat passes and when his mom doesn’t say anything, Santino continues. “I’m doing good too. Thanks for asking.” He rolls his eyes.
“Oh my god, Mom, you agreed to talk to him.” Louisa’s loud enough that we can hear her clearly.
A sharp huff of air blows across the microphone. “Your sisters said I need to talk to you,” she finally says.
“About what?” Santino’s expression grows more and more dour by the second.
“About you leaving me.”
“He’s not leaving you. You know what? Never mind. Give me the phone.” More fumbling sounds before Luisa comes back. “I’m so sorry, Tino. I thought she was going to be reasonable.” She puts so much emphasis on that word that she’s probably saying it as much to Santino’s mom as she was to him.
“That’s okay,” Santino says, but the disappointment in his voice is more than obvious.
“No, Tino, it’s not okay. She’s taking this way too personally when it’s not actually about her.” Louisa sighs and the soundof voices in the background fades. “Don’t stress, though, Paola and I are working on her. She’ll come around. Eventually. So tell me about New York. Do you have a place to stay? What are you doing there? Do you like it?”
“Yeah, I really like it. I’m working with this um, indie filmmaker and I’ve made a lot of new friends. They’re really great.”
“Look at you, my baby brother, all grown up and being an actor.”
