Family Ties (Morelli Family 4)

“No,” Mateo corrects, meeting Vince’s gaze. “You’ll leave. She’s not going anywhere. This is family dinner, and no member of this family leaves until the last fucking crumb has been cleared.”

At Mateo blatantly telling him Mia is more family than he is, Vince throws back his head and laughs.

Sensing impending disaster, Mia gives up her rightful irritation and reaches for Vince’s hand, looking up at him with big, pleading blue eyes. “Please sit down,” she says softly. “Please.”

Vince looks down at her, watching her for a moment. The alcohol softens the sharp edges of the very real feelings beneath his currently belligerent exterior, but I can see them all in his eyes now as he looks at her: the pain, the fury, the longing. My heart sinks for him and I feel like such a voyeur that I have to look away.

He sits down.

The table is quiet after that. It also calms down. Mia engages the side of herself I haven’t seen as much with Vince lately—the endlessly loving storm calmer. It’s the reason I thought she would be good at withstanding Mateo, but tonight Vince is the storm, so she begins to ooze calm. Between bites of food, she reaches over and caresses his thigh, his arm, his hand. At one point she wraps an arm around his shoulder and leans her head against him. It’s been a long time since she’s given him that much tender affection in front of me, at least, but it has the desired effect. Even though he’s drunk and angry and hurt, Vince’s temper winds down and he comes to rest in the palm of Mia’s soft hand.

When we clear the last of the dinner dishes and bring out dessert, everything is fine. Sober, Vince may not trust Mia’s easy affection when she clearly didn’t have any for him a half hour ago, but he’s not sober, and he’s not questioning it. When she bends to put down his dessert, he grabs her at the nape of the neck and pulls her in for a kiss, right there at the table.

Mia’s flushed again when she sits down. Maybe it’s only so visible tonight because Mateo threw her in the pool and all her makeup washed off. Maybe she’s always overwrought at family dinners.

Then again, she’s not always volleyed between two dangerous men with volatile tempers and loaded guns, so maybe not.

Whatever the case, we make it through family dinner without any fatalities. No one lingers tonight; we all want to get out of here. Meg walks Mia to the door, but stops because Adrian has pulled Vince off to the side to chat with him. Vince looks passively aggravated, so I don’t think it’s a friendly chat.

Mateo kept his distance while we walked toward the door, but now that Vince is otherwise occupied (actually, that may be why Vince is otherwise occupied) he wanders over to stand beside Meg. Sal and I are standing by Mia, and she looks up at Mateo as he comes over, but her expression doesn’t change. She’s tired and ready to go home and potentially deal with even more bullshit—and it’s his fault for deliberately provoking Vince.

I guess I can see why she doesn’t have the warm fuzzies for him tonight. If I got a little worried that he might rip Vince’s head off his shoulders, surely she did. Mia may have her conflicted feelings, but she doesn’t like violence between them.

Mateo reaches forward and gives Sal a handshake, thanking him for coming to dinner.

“Always a pleasure,” Sal says lightly. “You guys should add a course for popcorn.”

Mateo smirks, and Meg casually wraps an arm around his back, tenderly rubbing his arm as she smiles at Sal. “We always bring the entertainment.”

Mia scoffs lightly. “Entertainment. Yeah.”

Meg lets go of Mateo to raise her arms in her best Gladiator impression, “Were you not entertained?”

Mia rolls her eyes, then glances over where Adrian still has Vince. “I should go round up my Hulk. I’ll see you guys next weekend.”

As she turns to walk away, Mateo’s hand shoots out, catching her arm and gently pulling her back. Her eyes widen slightly as she looks up at him, startled.

“I don’t think you should leave with him tonight. Why don’t you stay here?”

Mia’s gaze darts to Vince, then she pulls her arm out of Mateo’s grasp. She shakes her head and avoids his gaze. “That won’t help anything.”

“I don’t care if it helps anything,” he states. “He’s drunk and capricious tonight. I’d feel much better about you staying here. Let Adrian take him home. Vince can sleep it off and you can go back to the house tomorrow.”

“I can handle Vince. I will be perfectly fine,” Mia states.

“You always think you’re perfectly fine; your danger sensor needs calibrating.”

Mia rolls her eyes. “Thank you for the offer, but I’m going home with my boyfriend.”