Hate to Date You (Dating #4) - Monica Murphy Page 0,85

why in the world wouldn’t you tell us that?”

My mouth drops open. She’s really not bothered by this? “Because…I’m living with a man who’s not my husband?”

“A man who has his own bedroom in your apartment, is that what you’re saying? You are just roommates?” Mama asks.

“Umm…” I cast a glance at all of them, and they’re watching me. Not a one of them touching their food, which is very unusual for my family on a Sunday night. “At first?”

“I knew it!” Michael says, pointing at me, practically bouncing up and down in his chair. How old is he again? He then shoves Tony in the shoulder. “Didn’t I tell you I thought Stella and Carter were hooking up?”

“Michael! Language,” Mama scolds, and I burst out laughing.

“Oh come on. All he said was hooking up,” I tell her.

“I could’ve said they were fucking,” Michael says with a shrug.

Our mother rises to her feet and swats Michael on the head with her cloth napkin. “Stop being so crude in front of your nonna.”

“I caught Carter making out with Stella in the kitchen of my new condo,” Nonna says with a gleam in her eyes. “I saw tongue and everything. He even had his hand on her ass.”

“Mama,” my father says, his eyes wide with shock.

“What? You act like I’ve never done that sort of thing before. Well, guess what? I have. We all have.” She points her fork at every single one of us sitting at the table. “Let Stella be. If she wants to mess around with handsome Carter, so be it. And how convenient that he lives with her. At least she’s not out running around in the streets, picking up strangers.”

I gape at her. I can’t believe she just said that. “Do you really think I do that sort of thing?”

“I heard from your cousin that when you were in Italy, you did exactly that,” Nonna says, forking up some chicken.

“I was nineteen,” I stress. “And dumb as a bag of rocks. I’m not out running around in the streets, picking up strangers.”

“Well, thank goodness for small favors,” she says.

“Anyway, he moved out,” I say, and they all turn to look at me once again. I really know how to get their attention tonight. “We got into a fight that night, Nonna, when you made the offer on the condo. He was so mad at me when I said we didn’t matter, that we weren’t serious. He…I think he wanted to be serious. With me.”

“And you two lived together,” my father says. “In sin.”

Shame hits me hard. “It didn’t start out that way,” I admit, my voice small. “We were just friends at first.”

Sort of.

Mama is watching me with pity in her eyes and I want to go to her. Feel her arms come around me and bury my face in her chest as I cry my eyes out. The tears are right there, hovering on the edge and I can’t even look at my father right now. I can feel the disappointment emanating from him.

“We should’ve got her married in Italy when we had the chance,” he finally mutters.

“Renzo, hush. I told you from the start our girl wouldn’t stand for something like that. She’s too strong willed, too independent,” Mama says, and I study her in surprise.

She really felt that way about me?

“She’s just like me,” Nonna says.

“You found your husband in Italy,” Daddy starts but Nonna sends him a look and he clamps his lips shut.

“I ran all over the city that summer, trying my best to sample everything I saw, but I found my future anyway,” Nonna explains, her kind eyes finding me. “It just took our Stella a little longer to find hers.”

“I’m pretty sure I lost it,” I say, my voice shaky.

“Oh, my darling girl.” Nonna rests her hand against her chest, her expression forlorn. “You can’t be so sure.”

“Yes, I actually can.” I press my lips together, trying to control my emotions.

But tears spring to my eyes, and though I try my best to stop them, it’s like I turned on the waterworks. Within seconds, I’m full-blown crying, and my mother gets up from her chair to come to me, hovering as she wraps her arms around me, holding me close as she murmurs reassuring words against my hair.

This is so not how I planned for this evening to play out. I thought I’d come in late, eat some food, make some quick small talk to appease the fam squad, and