Family Ties (Morelli Family 4)

“I can’t believe she made me miss my family. I’m not dreading family dinner tomorrow anymore. Mateo has already made peace with Sal, there are no more assholes on Sal’s payroll with a hard-on for killing Mateo; everything should be just fine.”

Mia’s gaze drops to the table, a little glumly. “Yeah, no more of those murdery assholes to deal with. Hooray.”

My eyebrows rise. “You want him dead now? What’d he do?”

Vince shakes his head, smiling a little bitterly as he grabs another fry. “Nah, she wasn’t talking to you. Don’t mind her.”

“Yeah, don’t mind me,” Mia says, shooting an unpleasant little look at Vince.

I grimace, glancing between them. “Is today a fighting day? I should’ve called Adrian.”

Vince snorts. “Yeah, Sal would’ve been psyched to have Adrian pick you up at his mother’s house. No doubt.”

“We’re all family now,” I say, almost as glumly as Mia now. “I don’t want there to still be a big divide, I want things to be nice.”

“Then you should’ve fallen in love with a goddamn accountant,” Vince states, grabbing his pop and taking a drink.

“I would’ve loved that, but I don’t meet many accountants. I love Sal, I just wish things were easier with our families.”

“He sounds like a bit of a momma’s boy,” Mia observes. “I bet you’ll have to spend every holiday there.”

“In theory, I loved that he was close to and protective of his female family members. If they all liked me as much as his sister, that would’ve been awesome. If his mom never gives up this grudge, though… Jesus.”

Mia nods. “I guess I don’t envy that.”

“You’re welcome,” Vince says lightly, grabbing the ketchup bottle to squeeze out a little more on the tray.

“Vince has lots of good attributes,” I acknowledge, to be fair. I still like the idea of Mia with Mateo better, but since he’s shacked up with the maid and showing no signs of ceasing his self-sabotage anytime soon, I should probably keep my eggs in more than one basket.

“He does,” Mia agrees. “He just needs anger management or something.”

“Sitting right here,” Vince states.

“I know,” she says, with an aggressively plucky smile.

“I don’t need anger management,” he mutters, a bit darkly. “I need a loyal girlfriend.”

My eyes widen and Mia guffaws, equal parts shocked and reluctantly amused. “Wow. Cool. Make sure you say things like that when Sal gets here so he thinks I’m a cheating ho-bag.”

Vince lifts his eyebrows, but doesn’t respond.

Mia scowls at him and elbows him hard in the side.

They’re buckets of fun.

“I can’t wait to give a toast at your wedding,” I tell them, flashing them both smiles and grabbing a fry. “Remember before I left when you threw him kisses and things seemed pretty okay between you?” I ask. “What happened to that?”

“Things change,” Mia states, losing interest in the French fries and digging her phone out of her purse.

As she starts texting, Vince doesn’t even attempt subtlety as he bends his head to look at her screen.

“Would you like me to read aloud as I type?” she asks mildly, not taking her eyes off the phone as her thumbs fly across the screen.

“Nah, I’ve got eyes.” Apparently the text is nothing to worry about, because he stops monitoring her messaging and grabs another fry, glancing at me instead. “Did Sal say when he’s coming? I’m hungry.”

Chapter Thirty Five

Salvatore

After the shit show of trying to introduce Francesca to Ma, I’m feeling more than my share of anxiety about the future. I didn’t want to let Francesca leave; I wanted her to stay so Ma would see that I wouldn’t back down on that. I couldn’t blame Francesca for not wanting to stay in such an uncomfortable situation, but I still felt shitty letting her flee my mom’s on her own.

Now as I hustle inside the diner, my gaze searching the dining room, I see her in the corner, looking almost as uncomfortable as she was last I saw her. I thought hanging out with her own family for a bit would chill her out, but as I approach the table, I pick up a weird vibe. Vince’s broad back is to me, a girl with long dirty blonde hair beside him, but she’s paying more attention to her phone than anything else.

Francesca’s gaze lands on me and relief transforms her features. “Oh, thank God.” She climbs out of the booth, even though there’s room next to her for me. Throwing her arms around my neck, she gives me a big hug and my anxiety drains right out of me. All the stress of the day, all the bullshit, it doesn’t stand a chance with Francesca in my arms.

God, I love this woman.

Stepping back, she takes my hand and holds it even as we slide into the same side of the booth. “Guys, this is Sal. Sal, Vince and Mia.”