“I’m sorry, sister. I guess I didn’t speak enough about you to Mateo.” I chuckle helplessly.
“Well,” she says finally. “You also didn’t mention him to me.”
“I didn’t mention him to anyone.” I take Mateo’s hand. “I am sorry, mi amor. I will not make that mistake again. You are very important to me.” He flushes. “You are also important to me, mother. And father. You are also important to me.”
“You are important to me, Florian,” my father says loyally.
“And to me,” my mother coos.
I turn to Annika, my cheeks warm. “And you are…”
“Important to you?” She rolls her eyes, but I am certain she is smiling behind her pressedlips. “Likewise.”
Mateo backs into the kitchen. “I can make tea. Who likes tea?”
I laugh. Mateo is so funny.
“None of us drink tea, mi amor.”
“None of you?” His eyes round, then he blushes and does some sort of laugh.
It’s…
Well, it’s not my favorite laugh. Strictly speaking. But that’s only because Mateo has so many beautiful laughs. There is a nervous sound to this that feels wrong, but he is meeting all my family. They are bound to be overwhelming. Germans are very tall, and we Richters are tall Germans.
Annika studies us both for a moment longer than is comfortable.
“You should call Gina,” I say. “Tell her to come over.”
“Who is Gina?” A line appears in Annika’s forehead. I’ve never noticed it before. Perhaps she is studying too hard.
I must really speak to her about that.
“Gina is my twin sister,” Mateo says. “We live together.”
Mama claps her hands. “Well, then she must come over.”
“Please text her,” I tell Mateo.
“I’m not sure…”
“It will be nice,” Annika says. “We are exceedingly curious.”
Mateo’s hands tremble, but he nods. “Right. Yeah.” Then he takes out his phone and texts her.
I give a relieved smile.
Mateo then gives everyone some of the San Pellegrino in the refrigerator, and we all go to the couch to sit. We look out of the floor-to-ceiling windows. There is not room for all of us, so I put Mateo on my lap as the others clap, and Mateo’s cheeks turn redder and redder.
When the doorbell rings, Mateo leaps up. Shortly after, Gina enters the apartment.
She grins when she sees everyone. “You look like Florian!”
“I know you mentioned you had to leave soon and could only stay a short time,” Mateo tells her.
“Oh, no, the event was cancelled.” Gina sweeps into the living room. “I can stay here all night!”
Mateo’s throat moves.
