The three of them were still sitting on the lawn playing with the two furballs who came running when they saw me coming. Little shits are always trying to blow my cover. “Hey, call off Cerberus and Argos.” The twins fussed at me for misnaming their mutts, and Gianna was back to ducking her head into her chest like she was trying to disappear.
I don’t know what it is about her subdued reactions that bug the hell out of me, but I don’t like it. She always looks beaten, like she’s struggling under the weight of the world. Just what the hell is that Victoria person doing to her behind closed doors? The idea of familial abuse though not unknown, is still foreign to me.
Growing up in the lap of love and luxury, I find it hard to accept that someone like her could be made to suffer at the hands of others. I know, naïve way to think for someone with my beginnings, but she just seems too innocent to face such things.
Once again, I found myself making comparisons between her and the young Sophia, something I haven’t been able to shake since my mind started down that path the day we met.
Seeing her in that light confuses the hell out of me. Because only I know that sometimes my thoughts go off course and into places I have no interest in. Like seeing her face in the glow of a candle’s light as we sit across from each other. Shit like that has no place in my mind and shouldn’t be renting space in my head.
But it’s there, mingled with a need to protect someone I see as weaker than me, someone who, from everything I’ve seen thus far, isn’t being given a fair shake. I refuse to look any closer into why I can’t seem to help myself where she’s concerned. Why now, of all times, I’ve broken my own hard and fast rule of not giving a fuck.
My sisters were scrutinizing the hell out of my every move even as they chatted away with her, so I played it cool, not giving anything away, but she bothers me. I heard the rumble of Lancelot’s old beat to shit car and sighed in relief. He came around the side of the house and jogged over to us all smiles with his nosy ass. “Hey, the gang’s all here. What’s up, Gianna?”
“Her name is Gia.” Fuck!
GABRIEL
“Her name is Gia. So how come you call her Gianna?”
“Because…just drop it. And that’s a poor imitation of me if that’s what you were going for.” At least he’d waited until we were alone before starting his shit. The girls were walking ahead of us back to the house, and I guess he’d held it in for as long as he could. “Where’s Uncle Marvin?”
“He went ahead inside, probably lecturing unc about something or another.”
No doubt! Either that or they’re debating something that they won’t ever see eye to eye on. That’s usually the way when those two get together: the Anglican priest and the catholic scholar.
“Hey, what’s for dinner?” His freaking mind flits around more than a two-year-old on meds.
“How the hell should I know? Do I look like the cook?”
“Hmm, let me guess since I’m Aunt Sophie’s favorite nephew…”
“You’re her only nephew.”
“Semantics, don’t interrupt. Now let me see since she invited us, and she knows my favorite food, I’m thinking chicken parmesan with homemade linguini and her famous sauce. Wait…” He grabbed my arm, stopping me in my tracks.
“Did unc go to New York today?”
“I didn’t ask; why?”
“I’m trying to figure out dessert, let’s see, cannoli from La Bella’s or her own chocolate hazelnut tiramisu.” He licked his lips like a heathen.
“I have no idea, but do me a favor, try to act at least part human at dinner tonight.”
“Why? Who am I trying to impress?” I bared my teeth and growled, which sent him running after the girls with laughter. Jackass.
They’re going to find him buried somewhere years later, or not. He’s so obvious in his machinations a toddler could see right through them. First, he made it a point to sit on Gianna’s other side at the table. Maybe the twins were working with him because instead of sitting next to their guest at the dinner table, they sat on either side of Ma.
That left Pop at the head of the table with Uncle Marvin at the other end, and there was no sign of Shelia. She tends to hide from the priest when he’s in attendance. Something about her sins before a man of the cloth, at least that’s the excuse she playfully gives. More like she finds him cute, and that’s the only way to control herself, her words said in confidence to ma, not mine.
Once we were settled at the table and had barely started on our salads, Lance really started his shit. “So, Gian… I mean, Gia, how was your first tutoring session?” I’m not sure why I was the one who tensed up. Maybe because I knew she was shy, and his singling her out put her on the spot. I tried glaring around her at him, but the jerk was purposely avoiding my gaze.