“No.”
“Does she try?”
I broke his stare. “She called me the other day because I fell out with Dad and she wanted to remind me he was worried about me or some crap, but I can guarantee you if you’d asked her why I was mad, she wouldn’t be able to tell you.”
Dante nodded. “So we don’t talk about Mom,” he stated simply.
I felt stupidly grateful he wasn’t pushing it. “Thank you.”
“My dad left when we were younger,” he told me simply. Matter-of-fact. Very Dante. “He didn’t keep in touch, and my mom didn’t look for it. My pops — grandfather,” he explained unnecessarily, “helped raise us. If not Mom, then Pops took me to practice and stuff.”
“You saidwe?”
He looked at me for a long moment. “I have a sister, Jiana,” he said quietly. “It’s a longer story.”
“I made a pot.”
“Well, okay then.” He gave me a considering look. “Before I do this, you meant it last night?” he asked. “You’re mine?”
“I’m your girlfriend,” I confirmed, still feeling slightly in awe that I was. “If we’re labeling things,” I added teasingly.
“Totally labeling,” he said, his shoulders relaxing. “So, go get coffee, Property of Dante, and when you come back, I’ll tell you all about Jiana Spence.”
I had no idea why I was suddenly nervous for this conversation.
Chapter 34
Dante
When she came back in and handed me a fresh coffee, I didn’t start talking immediately.
I liked this, what I had with her. I took a drink, the hot coffee burning the roof of my mouth, making me wince.
“It’s hot,” Sav said with a small smirk. She seemed to pick up on my reluctance to start. “You don’t need to tell me, if you don’t want to.”
“I do.” I did. But how much should I tell her? All of it? Fuck, I saw the look of disappointment on her face when she spoke of her mom. What if she looked at me in the same way? I didn’t need to tell hereverything, but then... I’d be lying to her. “Fuck.”
Her eyes widened a little. “That bad?” she asked tentatively.
“Maybe?”
“Your sister can’t be worse than my mom,” she offered, and I knew she was trying to lighten the mood.
“Ji’s great,” I told her, only making her frown even more. “We have a really good relationship.”
“Oh. Then I don’t understand why we needed more coffee?”
It was her straightforwardness, no game-playing, that would make me fall for her. And Ihadfallen for her. Completely.
“I come from a town in northeast Ohio,” I told her simply. “Not much to do there, except talk football, hockey, and you know, stuff.” I sipped my coffee. “We don’t live in the best area of town,” I continued. “Mom’s a nurse, Pops is retired. We’re not poor,” I added. “We’re also not rolling in it. We get by.”
I took another drink, watching her watch me in that way she had. Like I was the only person in the room that she wanted to belistening to. The fact that Iwasthe only person in the room was irrelevant.
“High school parties can be dumb,” I said, seeing the small frown at what she thought was a change of subject. “Jiana is eleven months older than me. She’s also funnier, and she makes friends easier.”
“She sounds great,” Sav said with an encouraging smile.
“She is.” I smiled as I thought of my sister. “She’s also incredibly fucking stupid sometimes,” I added with more bitterness, thinking how stupidbothof us could be. “She hooked up with the guy, the stereotypical numbnut asshole who talked the talk, walked the walk, and dealt in poison.”
