“Your husband is a lush,” I told Matty.
She smiled. “I know. He’s so silly when he’s toasted. It’s one of the things I love about him.”
“We just want to make sure you’re happy,” Nana said. “We know it can be tough. Paul and Vince have found love in a hopeless place—”
“Jesus Christ,” I muttered. “I am never downloading music for you again.”
“—and Sandy and Darren are bumping uglies and being disgusting.”
That was true. They were disgusting. If you’d told me last year that Sanford Stewart and Darren Mayne would be some weird power couple, I would have laughed in your face before kicking you in the balls for even considering such a thing. But here we were.
“And,” Nana continued, “your Vietnamese friend got him some cop love like the heroine of a torrid romance novel.”
I rolled my eyes. “Vegetarian, Nana. Ty is vegetarian, not Vietnamese.”
She frowned. “Oh. Are you sure? I could have sworn he was Vietnamese.”
“I’m sure.”
“Well, regardless. With all of your friends coupling up around you, it can be tough when you’re the only single one left.”
“Not all my friends. I have other friends!”
“You do?” Larry asked as he was handed another cocktail. “Really?”
“Name two,” Matty said.
Meddlesome bitches. “There’s—like. Okay. Hold on. Um.”
“Exactly,” Nana said, as if that solved everything. “You don’t have any other friends. Which is sad, yes, but that’s another intervention entirely.”
“I knew it! I knew this was an intervention!”
“Jig is up,” Larry said, poking himself in the eye with the umbrella.
Matty sighed as she sat up, the cucumbers falling on her chest. “We were doing so well too.”
Now I was grumpy. “Who cares if all my friends are dating each other? I don’t. So what if Paul and Vince are on their honeymoon? And so what if at the same time, Sandy and Darren decided they needed two weeks away in Las Vegas? Who the hell spends two weeks in Vegas? And so what if Dom went all stupidly romantic and now he and Ty are going to be together forever in Seafare? I’m fine.”
“Are you?” Nana asked gently.
I crossed my arms, feeling strangely claustrophobic. “Yes. I’m happy for them. They got everything they ever wanted. And they deserve it, especially after all the crap they’ve been through. Besides, they’re all old. I’m only twenty-three.”
“Hoo boy,” Larry said. “I remember saying that when I was twenty-three. And now look at me.” He grinned. His teeth were stained blue.
I groaned as I put my face in my hands.
I felt a hand on my shoulder, squeezing gently. “A lot of things changed quickly,” Matty said. “We just want to make sure you’re okay with all of it. We worry about all of our children this way.”
That caused a tiny ache in my chest. I had fit in with the Auster family almost from the very beginning. Matty and Larry made sure I knew I was one of theirs. It’d been weird at first, since I wasn’t used to parental figures acting… parental. I’d been on my own longer than I cared to think about, and there was an adjustment period where I’d been unsure of their motives. But I learned that with the Austers, motives were the furthest things from their minds.
Except for times like right now.
And all the other times.
I dropped my hands and laid my head back against the chair. “I’m fine,” I said again, and this time I tried to make it sound like they could believe me. “Really. I promise. And even if I wasn’t, it’s not like I have time for anything more right now. I’ve got my future to think about. Plans to make.”
“You’re very driven,” Larry agreed. “It’s one of the things I’m most proud of.”