Page 37 of The Great Dating Fake Off
“You found yourself a winner of a friend, Seb.” She pauses. “I have no idea why I just nicknamed you. I’ve been nicknaming the crap out of Benji and it just slipped out. Please disregard.”
And that marks the first time I’ve ever liked being called Seb.
“You can call me whatever you want, Nor.”
She grins. “Bash it is. Or maybe Tian.”
“Okay, maybe not those.”
Her smile falls away as she slows her gait. “I’m sorry about your grandfather, by the way. That must’ve been hard on the family. Especially your grandma.”
“Thanks. Don’t worry, Nella—sorry, Nonna Stella—is back to blasting music on her crappy sound system. Mostly Daft Punk. She’s okay.”
“Your grandmother is named Stella?” She grabs my elbow, her warm grasp sending a current of energy up my sweaty arm. “There’s an older woman with salt-and-pepper hair that comes to the YMCA named Stella. She’s really short and funny. We take the same water dan—uh, swim aerobics class on Tuesday nights. Could that be her?”
I shake my head. “You take swim aerobics with my grandmother?”
Her nose crinkles.
A laugh rockets from my mouth. “You’re young and fit! Challenge yourself!”
She scoffs at this. “I take all the classes that place offers from HIIT to spin to water aerobics; it’s part of my set routine. But that’s not the point here. Your grandma is a local legend. I always try to be near her because she knows all the gossip and tells the best stories.”
“That’s Nella all right.” I shake my head, scratching my chin. “I can’t believe you two know each other. Generally speaking, when Nella hangs out with someone even remotely near my age, she tells me all about it.”
And had I taken Nora on a date before all this, and Nella caught wind of the connection, not twenty-four hours would’ve passed before Nella cornered her in the pool and invited her over for a meal.
I dodged a major complication. That fact should make me happier than it does.
“I haven’t actually talked to your grandmother, for the record,” she says. “I wouldn’t just approach her. I hang back and listen to her and her friends.”
I side-eye her. “Why do you sound like you are scared of my four-foot-nine grandmother?”
“I’m not! I just don’t want to intrude on their time.”
I exhale and level her with a look. “You do not have to worry about intruding on her swim circle time, I assure you. Most of why she goes to the Y is to stay up to date on everyone’s business. Say hello. She will love it. Though you may want to proceed with caution unless you want an eighty-year-old best friend.”
As she laughs, I discern the faces of our approaching friends more clearly.
Mazzellis.
Shit.
I veer sideways and step off the path. “Wow, what a lake.”
She leaves a foot between us as she matches my stance. “Great Home Depot dad posture, Seb. Really selling this.”
Alessia’s relatives wander past our backs with no urgency whatsoever. We remain silent enough to hear their footfalls fade away.
Nora is first to let out a sound. “Okay, maybe that was a little stressful. Who were they?”
“Those were Alessia’s aunts,” I inform her. “Vinny’s sisters, who she claims are about as charming as he is. So not at all.”
“Delightful. Good thing we didn’t face them head on.”
She leads us back to the sidewalk. “So, will you and Enzo play pickleball at the Y? Maybe my new eighty-year-old best friend and I can stop by and watch.”
I grin at the thought. “Actually, I’m kind of in a time crunch through the end of summer, getting ready to move. I won’t be able to play much, depending on his schedule.”
