“They’ve halted construction on my new office building,” he says. “I’m losing money on it every day. The slab was supposed to be poured a week ago. We need to get their focus off the business side of things and get personal.”
“I say pour the slab, anyway,” Uncle Donny says. “When has a little red tape ever stopped Tony Dolce?”
Donny is pretty much the adult version of Duke—loud, crude, and proud as fuck of our family name.
“You’re right,” Daddy says. Then he turns to my twin brothers. “In the meantime, one of you needs to keep the mayor’s daughter happy. Buy her whatever she wants.”
“On it,” Duke says, lifting a hand.
“Good,” Daddy says. “Baron, I want you to work your charms on the old bastard’s favorite granddaughter. Show them if they want to get personal, we can play that game, too.”
“Wait, what?” I ask. No one pays any attention. They’ve moved on to the next Darling they need to ruin. Well, I wanted to step out on my own a bit, to see what was beyond the little bubble my family so carefully maintains for me. This is a chance to do that. To be treated as an equal, or as close to it as they can manage. I’m not naïve enough to think my brothers treat girls with love and respect, but I don’t want them to do to anyone what Devlin did to me.
“Mabel?” Baron asks, making a face.
“Yes, Mabel,” Daddy says. “You think you can do that?”
Baron casts Duke a baleful look and then nods. “I’ll try. But I’m pretty sure she’s a robot.”
“And King,” Daddy says, addressing my oldest brother. “When you’re not working with your uncles, you can work on Mrs. Darling next door.”
“What?” I whisper, staring at my father like I’ve never seen him before. Whispers about the mafia are one thing. Mom’s paranoia about Daddy’s leaving her for a younger woman is one thing. This? This is something else.
“You wanted to sit at the grownup’s tables,” Duke says with a grin, leaning back in his chair and hooking his hands behind his head. “Welcome to the adult version of the Dolces.”
“Everyone clear about your assignment?” Daddy asks.
“Crystal clear,” I mutter. “If only I can pull it off.”
“You’re a Dolce,” Nonna says, smiling at me with a twinkle in her eye. “We women know how to make men fall in love with us.”
“We do?” I ask. “I’m pretty sure I didn’t inherit that trait.”
“Let’s take a little walk,” Nonna says, giving me a wink. “I could use the fresh air.”
“Now?” I ask, stretching my arms over my head. It’s close to midnight, and I know she just wants to smoke. In truth, though, I just don’t want to risk running into a certain insomniac football god out on the lawns.
“It’ll give us some time to talk, woman to woman,” Nonna says, tucking my hand into the crook of her elbow. Her grip is stronger than you’d expect if you didn’t know my grandmother has been taking martial arts lessons for years to keep herself in shape.
She drags me toward the door, only pausing to let my grandfather in front of us. He plucks her coat from the rack and holds it out while she slips her arms in. He leans down to give her a kiss on the lips, then opens the door for us. She slaps his ass on her way out the door. God, no wonder I’m such a horndog. I definitely inherited that trait from the Dolce side.
Once we’re out on the lawn, though, I’m glad to be outside. The air is cool and crisp, and a silvery half-moon illuminates the grass, dried by a brisk wind tonight. Leaves tumble and swirl across the grass, ripped from the giant oak where Devlin’s tire swing hangs and the lilac bushes between our properties. I pull my light jacket tighter around myself and hook my arm through Nonna’s. She stops at the corner of the house, using it to shelter the flame as she lights her cigarette. Then, we walk out across the grass.
“So, you’re going to tell me how to make a man fall in love?” I ask.
Nonna must hear the skepticism in my voice, because she laughs and bumps her hip against mine. “Don’t sound so surprised. Your grandfather and I still have a very active love life.”
“Ugh,” I say. “Never mind. I’m sorry I asked.”
“Don’t be,” she says. “I’m glad you’re old enough for me to share my wisdom. You know, I tried to share it with your mother once, before she married my Tony. But she wasn’t having any of the old ways. If you ask me, she’d have been a lot better off if she’d listened.”
“Not that it’s any of your business, and I wish they didn’t make it mine, but my parents still have plenty oflove life,as you so delicately put it.”
Nonna laughs again, then drags on her cigarette. Leaves skitter by, scratching together with an eerie, papery rustle. “Well, in my youth, I was given a piece of advice from my grandmother. I promised to pass it on. Your mother found it very scandalous, but it hasn’t failed me yet.”
Mom may be a lot of things, but she’s not uptight. If she found something scandalous, I’m probably not going like it too much, either.
“It hasn’t failed you in what?” I ask. “Improving your sex life?”