“Thank you,” I say quietly.
Erin smiles. "Everyone deserves somewhere they feel safe."
Valentina reaches across the table and tears off a piece of my bread roll. "You're being deep again."
Erin throws a napkin at her. "I'm having a conversation."
“You're scaring her.”
“I am not.”
I laugh. “No, you're not.”
Erin points at me. “See.”
Valentina rolls her eyes dramatically. “You're both exhausting.”
Our food arrives and we dig in. I'm having a great time. I owe Valentina so much for including me in her life. She didn’t have to, but she’s made my transition into the Mariano family seamless. I don’t know what I’d have done without her help and friendship.
"So," Erin says, taking a bite of her pasta. "Has anyone told you about the Great Marco Disaster?"
Valentina immediately starts laughing. "Oh my God."
I look between them. "The what?"
Erin points at her. "You tell it."
Val shovels more food into her mouth and shakes her head. "No. You tell it."
"You're both terrible."
"Marco got arrested," Erin announces.
I blink. "What?"
"He did not get arrested," Valentina says.
Erin waves a hand. "He was detained."
"He was questioned," Val corrects.
"He spent six hours in a holding cell."
Val groans. "Because somebody told him undercover officers were supposed to act natural."
Erin starts laughing so hard she nearly chokes. "I told him nobody would suspect a man carrying a traffic cone."
I stare at her. "You gave Marco a traffic cone?"
"He carried it for three blocks."
Valentina loses whatever composure she had left. "Three blocks, Quinn. Three. Then a cop stopped him and asked why he was stealing city property."
"And what did he say?" I ask.
Erin grins. "'Because Erin told me to.'"
My God, these women are hilarious. I haven't laughed this much in a long time. Maybe ever, and for the first time since becoming a Mariano, I stop feeling like an outsider looking in, and I feel like I actually belong.
