Marie looked absolutely terrified at the idea. Could she not see how blessed she was?
“Culinary school,” I murmured. “Wow. Oh, man, you should talk to Xa—” I cut myself off, realizing what I had almost said.
“Talk to who?” Joni pressed curiously, her hoop earrings swinging as she turned.
“Ah, no one,” I replied, all the while ducking Kate’s sharp gaze. “A friend, but he’s not around anymore.”
“Oh, bummer,” Marie said. “I could have used a friend in France.”
“Well, it’s not for two years, you dork,” Joni said. “You have a bit of time to figure out how to make some new ones. Or at least one.”
“Shush!” Marie hissed back.
“What about you?” Lea turned to me, clearly eager to change the course of the conversation. “Tell me something is happening to shake up that boring life of yours, Frankie.”
“Yeah, Frankie,” Joni chimed in. “With Mattie out of the house, are you finally gonna get some action? Have a little party? Let the mice play while the cat’s away?”
“Everyone else shared,” Marie said pointedly.
Four faces quite like mine turned to me expectantly. One of them—Kate’s—bore a knowingly arched brow.
Tell them.I could feel her mentally lecture. We’re your sisters. They should know too.
Maybe it would have been safe. Maybe they wouldn’t have immediately run to Matthew, told our overprotective brother what was going on at his house without him around.
But I knew I couldn’t trust them all to do that.
“Nothing much,” I squeaked, suddenly very interested in mopping up the rest of my sauce with a bit of bread.
“Well, you’re going out tonight,” Joni pointed out. “Otherwise I wouldn’t have to schlep Sof all the way back to Brooklyn in the morning.”
“It’s just a girls’ night,” I fibbed. “Some colleagues from work. I haven’t had a night off in a while, and Nonna said she would babysit, and—”
I was babbling. I knew it. And every green-eyed woman at the table knew it too. Which meant they knew I was lying. Which meant that unless something else came to my rescue, I wasn’t getting out of this house without an explanation.
But before they could press me more, the loud chimes of Nonna’s doorbell warbled down the hall.
“I’ll get it,” Lea said, jumping up from the table, sleeping baby in one arm.
“It’s probably Tino’s new waiter,” Joni said as she picked at a piece of bread. “He won’t stop asking me out. Like, he’s kind of obsessed.”
Marie muttered something under her breath that sounded like “because you gave him the milk for free,” but I couldn’t quite make it out.
“Well, maybe I’ll leave you to it,” I said, getting ready to stand up.
But then I turned, and we all saw the last person any of us expected.
“Mama?” I said. “Is that you?”
“It’s me,” said my mother as she walked into the room.
* * *
“Surprise,”Lea said weakly as she guided the stranger who happened to be our mother into the room. “With both Matthew and Nonna out of the way, I thought I’d take a chance. Mami wanted to see us, so I invited her over.”
“Holy crap,” Kate murmured on my right so only I could hear her.
My heart sank heavy in my chest. What were we supposed to say now?