“That’s such a good idea. I’ll arrange everything,” Tori says.
Should I offer to help?
Before I can finish the thought, Adriano pushes me out the door. “See you all later.”
“Enjoy your wedding night,” Big Ricky calls out, a teasing tone to his voice.
“Shut up,” I hear Tiny grumble as we walk away. “Don’t embarrass Laurie like that.”
“Don’t start, you two,” Angelo snaps. “So what do you all think about her?”
“She’s so beautiful,” Tori gushes. “I just know we’re going to become good friends. What a lovely girl.”
“When I get married, I’m letting Adriano choose my wife. That boy of yours seriously has an eye for beauty,” Big Ricky mentions.
“Your ass is too old to get married,” Tiny taunts him, before laughter breaks out.
I don’t get to hear much more as we walk around the side of the house.
Honestly, I’m stunned speechless. I didn’t expect them all to be so normal, and Tori helped a lot to ease my nerves.
“How are you holding up?” Adriano asks.
Avoiding his question, I tilt my head to look at his face and reply, “I like your mother.”
“I’m glad to hear that, but it doesn’t answer my question.”
I stop dead in my tracks. In the past, whenever I dodged a question like that, people wouldn’t notice.
When I stare at Adriano, he begins to frown and moves in front of me. “Laurie?”
“It’s just weird.” I don’t know how to explain it.
“What? My family?”
“Oh no!” I shake my head quickly. “Meeting them went sooo much better than I expected.”
He takes hold of my arm and leans down to catch my eye. “What’s weird,mia piccola farfalla.”
I shrug, and not wanting to get into my past, I say, “Nothing. Forget I said that.”
Adriano’s expression turns grim, and it has my heart tripping over itself before beating faster.
“Tell me right now.”
I hunch my shoulders and wrap my arms around myself while lowering my eyes, because he’s downright scary when he gets that look.
Not wanting him to think this is about his family, I say, “I loved meeting your mother. She even hugged me. And the men seem nice enough. I like how Tiny and Big Ricky bicker.”
“Stop avoiding the question, Laurie,” he growls. “What’s weird?”
My shoulders slump, and I stare down at my scuffed shoes. “It was weird that you picked up that I was trying to dodge your question. Usually people get sidetracked real fast.” I wave a hand in his direction. “But you latch onto it like a dog with a bone.”
“You think it’s weird that I picked up on it because no one else cared enough to pay attention before?”
“Maybe weird was the wrong word to use.” I glance over the garden. “But yeah, no one really paid this kind of attention to me before and…I’m just not used to it.”
He takes hold of my chin and forces me to look at him before saying, “You’ll get used to it,mia piccola farfalla.For futurereference, if I ask you a question, answer it. Don’t make me ask twice. It’s a pet peeve.”
