Page 18 of Mario
“Your home?” I ask. “And which bills will you be paying then?”
Tomasso grins. “I contribute charm.”
“Charm does not pay for electricity.”
“It should.”
“I’ll be sure to suggest it.”
Matteo closes his laptop halfway. “He also contributes laundry.”
Tomasso turns to him. “I do my own laundry.”
“You put clothes in the laundry room. That is not the same thing.”
“They come back clean.”
“Through no effort of yours.”
Tomasso points at him with the hand holding the glass. “This is why no one invites you anywhere.”
“I was invited somewhere tonight.”
That catches my attention.
Tomasso’s too.
He turns slowly, delighted. “Were you?”
Matteo’s expression remains calm, which means he is already regretting saying anything.
“Yes.”
“By whom?”
“No one you know.”
“You don’t know anyone I don’t know,” he says smugly. “And that is not an answer.”
“It is the only one you’re getting.”
Tomasso looks at me. “Papà, did you hear that? Matteo has secrets.”
“I heard.”
“Are we proud or concerned?”
“Both,” I say, enjoying them.
Matteo gives me a dry look. “I’m not going.”
Tomasso groans. “Of course you’re not.”
“I have work to finish.”
“You always have work to finish.”
“And yet it gets finished. A mystery.”
