Page 36 of The Great Dating Fake Off
It doesn’t surprise me at all that she’s worried about Benji and Rosalina. She was willing to body block him from pulling an Irish goodbye at his own sister’s wedding back in that lobby, so she clearly cares something fierce.
I will the warmth that spurs in my chest to get lost.
“Well Enzo and Alessia are twins,” I remind her. “Close is in the job description.”
“I’m a card-carrying member of the Only Child Club,” she says. “I’m not sure what’s normal when it comes to sibling stuff.”
“So am I.” I nudge her with my elbow. “Haven’t seen you at the meetings.”
“Ha. I’ll have to drop by sometime. Did you ever ask Santa for a sibling or are you normal?”
I chew it over. “I guess I was never bored enough to consider it. I lived with my parents and grandparents. Lots of personalities under one roof.”
She lights up at this. “You all shared a house? How fun!”
“More like necessary. My parents work for Doctors Without Borders and always intended to return to service, even after I came along. They took off eleven years to raise me full time, then my dad went back to the field. I could tell my mother was miserable without him, and jealous he was doing the thing they both loved, so around the time I turned thirteen, I all but begged Mom to get back out there. She left me with my grandparents.”
Her lips form a circle. “Whoa. And they’re still in the field now?”
“Yup. My dad’s a pediatrician, and my mom is an infectious disease specialist.”
“They sound like saints. And your grandparents, too, for taking care of you when they left.”
I chuckle. “Yeah. Anyway, my grandparents always had friends in and out of our house, big loud parties with the worst music you ever heard blasting through their crappy sound system. My whole life, I was always surrounded by people.”
A group of three women come into view far ahead of us on the sidewalk, too far away to easily identify yet.
Walking toward us.
“Shit.” I tug off my hat and place it on her head. “Here, shove your hair up into this in case it’s another Ferraro. This place is crawling with them. Keep your gaze low.”
“Sebastian,” she laughs. “I think we’re probably fine on this sunny path in the middle of the day.”
“You say that, but did Benji’s grandpa get a good look at you last night? I’m not trying to draw more suspicion by being seen with you twice in a row.”
“I don’t think he did, though I was lightheaded by the time I rolled out of there. From all the heat, I mean.”
She and I both.
“And what if it’s a Mazzelli?” she asks. “Without your hat, your face is in even clearer view, and here you are with someone much shorter than your gazelle of a girlfriend.”
“Then I guess we’re shit out of luck, shorty.”
She peeks up from beneath the brim of my hat, gaze gently probing. “Two friends can walk together outside, right?”
I force my attention forward. “Theoretically.”
“And we aren’t in towels this time.”
“Right.” I stall on the visual of her in that tiny scrap of fabric for longer than I’m proud of. “What were we talking about, again?”
A weak laugh escapes her as she cups the back of her neck. “Full houses, I think? I always wanted a sibling. My mom was in her own world a lot, and I would’ve loved someone else to coexist with. It got lonely at times. And worse: I had no one to prank.”
“And now you’re making up for it by pranking over a hundred Italians about your relationship status.”
“That’s not the same!” She pauses. “It’s kind of the same.”
“Thought so.” I smile, my thoughts wandering back in time. “After my grandpa died, it would’ve been nice to have someone who understood. It was rough, especially with my parents having just left the country. But Alessia walked up to me the day after his funeral at school and told me she wasn’t letting me out of her sight until I smiled again, so I guess you could say I gained a sister that day. We were always friends, but that sealed the deal.”
