“Buy her a purse,” Vince suggests, drumming his fingers on the tabletop. “That’s how her favorite Morellis compensate her for her favors.”
Ignoring him completely, Mia asks us, “Where are you going for your honeymoon?”
I glance from him to her, but if they want to ignore it, I will, too. “Uh, Italy. Puglia, Sicily, Sardinia. I’m expecting to gain 54 pounds. We’ll have to take a spin class when I get back or something.”
“Definitely,” Mia agrees. “Send me lots of pictures. I’ve never been anywhere, I want to vacation vicariously through you.”
“I will. I’ll stop over and show them all to you when we get back, too. I want to make a honeymoon photo album, because I’m lame.”
“That’s not lame,” Mia assures me. “If I ever go on a honeymoon, I’m sure I’ll want to do the same thing.”
Vince rolls his eyes like she’s sorely testing him, but he refrains from sniping at her and instead looks at me. “I hope you guys have fun in Italy. We should hit up the diner when you get back and you can tell us all about it. Admittedly, I’m not yearning to thumb through a honeymoon photo album, but I’ll look at it if you want me to.”
“It’s a double date. Don’t tell Meg,” I joke.
“No, really, don’t; she’ll probably invite herself along,” Sal agrees.
“She’s won’t even bring Mateo, she’ll just comfortably attach herself as a fifth wheel on our double date,” I say, nodding my head. “We’ll keep this plan under wraps.”
Normally this is where Mia would run to Meg’s defense, assuring us all that Meg is great because of bla bla bla, but now her eyes drop to the table and she is quiet.
Before it can get weird, Vince stands and comes over to give me a hug. “I’m glad you’re happy.”
I give him a squeeze, sighing. “I want you to be, too,” I murmur.
“Yeah, well.” He doesn’t finish his sentence, just pulls back and offers his hand to Sal. “You take good care of her, Castellanos.”
“I sure will.” Sal nods for a few seconds, eyes on Vince. “What about you guys? Haven’t seen you out on the dance floor yet tonight. Too cool to dance?”
“Yep,” Vince says, nodding. “That is the issue. I’m just too cool.”
“Well, you should warm up. There are far less cool things than dancing with your lady,” he advises.
Vince casts Sal an unimpressed, knowing look. “Thanks for the advice.”
“I try,” Sal says, a bit dryly.
I’d like to chat a little longer, but it seems like Vince and Mia are one wrong syllable away from a blowout, so we make our way on to the next table, mingling and thanking them for coming. Dante came with Colette, so I thank her for doing such a nice job on all my flowers. Every table has a lovely blue hydrangea centerpiece from her flower shop, and I was so busy with everything else I didn’t give her much to work with. “Make something with blue hydrangeas” was literally all I told her, and she came up with a gorgeous, classy centerpiece, dripping with crystals and lit by floating candles. I’ve hardly had a chance to look at them since we got here, but she did a great job.
“I hope the photographer got pictures of all this stuff,” I remark to Sal as we head toward Meg and Mateo’s table. “I had no idea I’d be so busy I wouldn’t have time to even look at anything.”
“I’ll make sure there are less people at our Entourage wedding so you have time to really soak up the experience,” he assures me.
Chuckling, I shake my head at my crazy husband. “The Entourage wedding is never gonna happen. I think that’s the only way I wouldn’t marry you.”
“If I’m gonna wear a cupcake tux, you are definitely going to have an Entourage wedding. It’ll be hilarious. Mark will love it.”
“Then Mark can have an Entourage wedding.”
“Considering he’s pining away for a girl he can never have, I consider it unlikely we’ll be attending his wedding anytime soon.”
“Maybe he and Maddie will run off to Vegas and surprise us. Solve two of my potential matchmaking assignments in one fell swoop.”
“Francesca, I adore you, but you’re not allowed to pimp my sister out. Not to your family, not to my friends—let’s just leave Maddie alone.”
“I just want everyone to be as happy as we are,” I tell him. “Plus, girls get way more flexible about letting you cross names off your hit list once they’re happy with someone else. Sure, you crossed off número uno, but Maddie’s hipster ex is still roaming the streets, taking random ladies for free vacations and breaking hearts. Obviously a menace to society.”
Draping an arm around my shoulder, he says, “You know what, I’m so glad I married a Morelli. You guys are nuts, but it works for me.”