Family Ties (Morelli Family 4)

“What are you studying?”

Grabbing her water glass and pulling it close, she starts stirring the ice with her straw. “I’m not really sure yet. I didn’t think I was going to be able to go so I didn’t really plan for it. I was just going to get a job once I graduated and see how that panned out. I’m just taking general education classes the first year anyway though, so I have time to decide. I’ll take like a literature class and psychology and then a couple of less fun things to get them out of the way, probably. I’d love to just study psychology the whole four years,” she says, smiling faintly and nudging Vince. “Maybe I’d have a better grasp on the Morelli family.”

Offering a smile, I tell her, “It seems like you’ve got a pretty good grasp already.”

“I pick up what I can,” she tells me, smiling. “But yeah, I probably won’t spend the whole four years studying that because I should probably study something that enables me to get an actual job once I graduate.”

“I wasn’t entirely sure Morelli women were allowed to work outside of the bakery,” I remark.

Francesca answers that one. “That’s more Mateo’s thing. Vince, Joey, Alec, Dante, they don’t care. Dante’s ex actually owned her own flower shop.”

Vince’s mood perceptibly darkens at the mere mention of Mateo’s name.

“Not his ex anymore,” Mia volunteers.

“Hm?”

“Dante—the one that kinda looks like Mateo? I finally met him. He brought that girl over while you were gone. She wasn’t happy about it. But he brought her to family dinner, so I assume they’re back together. Mateo said she was doing the flowers for Matt’s funeral, so presumably she’s still in the picture.”

Now Francesca is very interested. “Really? Well, that’s neat. I liked Colette.”

“I didn’t; she seems mean.”

For some reason, in defense of this Colette person, Vince tells Mia, “Well, not everyone takes to being essentially taken hostage the way you do.”

“I’ve never been taken hostage,” Mia says dismissively, like he’s crazy.

“Remember yesterday?” he asks, eyebrow rising.

“Mark was helping me out—not taking me hostage.”

“Yeah, he’s a real swell guy helping you out,” Vince says sarcastically.

Flashing me and Francesca a smile, she says, “Some guys would just be happy their girlfriends came out of the situation safely, but I was saved by the wrong people, so…”

“Hey, if anyone would’ve bothered to call me, I would’ve come riding to your rescue, too,” Vince states.

“Yeah, but nobody was trying to kill you. He could’ve been walking right into a trap, and he still showed up. I know he’s not your favorite person, but you have to give him a little credit.”

“All hail Mateo.”

I think Mia growls inaudibly, but I can’t really blame her. I want to kick him under the table myself.

“Anyway,” Mia says, glancing up at me, faintly apologetic. “Um, I haven’t had a chance to talk to Mark since, but tell him I really appreciated him doing that. And, I guess I should extend that to you too, because of the… sweatpants guy. Sorry about that.”

Is she really apologizing to me because the guy who came to kill her was murdered? She is, isn’t she?

She slides a cautious glance Vince’s way like she knows she’s asking for trouble, but she goes on to add, “Mateo wasn’t very happy when he found out Mark was on your payroll, but I tried to defend him as much as I could. I just didn’t have any idea why he actually was there, so it was kind of hard. But him saving me from Sweatpants was a pretty solid point in his favor. It seemed like it worked. After I talked to him, Mateo didn’t seem mad or anything.”

I can only faintly smile at how differently she sees that whole interaction from how Mateo took it. Here she is telling me it’s all good and she fixed it, and just yesterday he was nailing my balls to the wall with whatever he got out of her. I assumed she knew she ratted Mark out, but sitting here looking at her clear blue eyes, so confident she helped when she definitely didn’t, I realize it wasn’t like that at all. She’s just fucking clueless.

It’s a good thing she’s pretty.

Maybe that’s not fair. She’s fresh out of high school. Surely a little more time with the Morellis will knock that naivety right out of her. If Vince doesn’t cure her of it, Mateo will surely sponge off her innocence until there’s none left.

It’s almost refreshing, to be honest. It’s like she has no idea that we’re bad guys. My family could’ve left a religious pamphlet in her door instead of sending a guy to kill her yesterday and there’d be no difference. Someone needs to follow this girl around and keep her from getting herself killed, because I bet she’d hop right into one of those white murder vans with a man looking for his lost puppy.