“Then where is it?” I assumed it was his mother who did the yelling.
Constantine chuckled to himself like he was used to this. “Feels like home.”
“Should we offer to help?” I asked.
“Antonio, where’s the grated lemon?” she yelled. “I told you to leave it here.Where is it?”
Constantine shook his head and guided me to the outdoor terrace. “I think they’ve got it handled.” He stepped through the open doors to the outdoor terrace. Quite a few people were excited to see him, or they were already drunk, because they all lifted their glasses and let out a unified cheer.
The exact same way everyone in town did whenever they saw him.
It was the first time I’d ever had social anxiety in my life.
Constantine was immediately overrun with people giving him hugs and embraces, sharing jokes and pleasantries. “Guys, this is Aurelia.” He didn’t explain further who I was, if I was a friend or something more. But how would he explain to people that I was basically a vacation fuck buddy?
They all seemed thrilled to see me, like I was automatically included in this club just by knowing Constantine.
A bunch of ice chests were scattered on the patio, so he walked over to one. “Sweetheart, what do you want to drink?”
“Water is fine.”
“We don’t have water.”
“You don’t have water?” I asked in mild surprise.
“We aren’t really water-drinking people. How about wine?”
“Sure.”
He grabbed an already uncorked bottle of white wine from a chilled bucket and poured two glasses. A group of guys came up to talk to Constantine, and I recognized one of them from the beach, Francesco.
He greeted me with a tight hug. “Aurelia is cool. She jumped off the rock with us at the beach the other day.”
Constantine introduced me to the rest of the guys, and they all seemed to be first, second, and third cousins. They talked about tennis and football, and they joked they’d heard his mother screaming from the kitchen earlier.
It was definitely casual, and I didn’t feel on display as I’d feared I would be. Looked at as an outsider. Judged for not being pretty enough for Constantine. Because, let’s face it, the guy was way out of my league.
A woman I assumed to be his mother, because her voice sounded the same, stepped onto the terrace. “Dinner is ready.”
Everyone raised their glasses and cheered.
It was definitely the most energetic and festive party I’d ever been to.
People filed into the house, and we joined the line.
His mother was in the hallway when we passed, and her eyes lit up at the sight of Constantine. It reminded me of the way my mother used to look at me, like I was the light of her life, the only thing that mattered.
“My boy.” She hugged him tightly and kissed him on the cheek several times.
“You drunk, Ma?” he asked as she continued to hold on to him. He rubbed her back as she remained buried in his chest, a foot and a half shorter than him. She had to be five feet tall, and I didn’t know how she’d pushed himandhis brother out of her special place.
She pulled away without answering the question, and her eyes immediately landed on me, absorbing me with a slightly glossy stare. Analyzing me like every mother did to make sure I was good enough for her son, even though I was just fucking him at the moment. “Oh my god, Con. She’s beautiful.”
“I told you.”
“Oh, you’re so beautiful!” She hugged me hard and squeezed me tight.
The gesture was so unexpected I let out a laugh as I looked at Constantine over her shoulder.
