Hm.” She shook her head. “I guess he work, he work. Are you hungry?” She looked at him. “You’re skinny, boy. You eat, yes? We eat snack before the lunch? Don’t tell your mother though. Your mother kill me if she know I feed him before her big meal. She not even let me make anything. She said she want to make everything. I say, ‘Why not let me make everything? I am from Greece. I know to make all the good food.’”
“We’re not that hungry, Grandma. Come on.” I walked over and hooked my arm through hers. “Let’s go to the living room and play some cards, and then you can ask Connor all the questions that you want, okay?”
“But I was a little hungry,” Connor whined.
I looked back at him and glared. My mom would absolutely kill me if I let my grandma feed him first, because my grandma wasn’t going to just give him a little snack. My grandma would pile him up with so much food that by the time we got to the table to eat lunch, he wouldn’t be able to eat any of my mom’s food, and then she’d be upset. And for all I knew, it would lead to some big argument, because there was always a huge argument in my family. Friendly, yes, but a bit overwhelming to a newcomer. I really didn’t want to overwhelm Connor, no matter how much he said he didn’t care or mind. It was a lot to be introduced to my family, and our relationship was still pretty new.
I loved him, and I knew that he loved me, but we needed to build a solid foundation, and I didn’t want any cracks in that foundation, so I needed today to go as well as possible.
We walked into the living room and sat down. My dad was already preparing some dominoes on the table.
“You play dominoes, Connor?”
“I haven’t played it since I was young, but sure, I’d be down.” Connor nodded and walked over to the table. He looked back at me. “Are you coming?”
“No.” I laughed. “Dominoes are just for the guys. So you’ll play with my dad and my grandpa, and I’ll be over here with my mom and grandma.” I smiled.
“Oh.” Connor looked surprised. “But ...”
“Aw, the boy misses you already.” My grandma laughed. “It’s sweet. I see the love, yes. It’s sweet. It’s sweet. But no Connor, you go play dominoes with the men, eh? They need to ask you some questions.”
“Oh Grandma, they’re not going to barrage him with questions, are they?”
“Gemma, they just have to make sure he’s a good guy, you know? Your father and your grandfather, they love you very much, and they need to speak to him to make sure he’s good. Because if not good, he no good, he gone.”
“Okay, Grandma.” I knew better than to say, “No, he’s not gone if you don’t like him,” because as far as my family was concerned, if they didn’t like a guy, he didn’t exist anymore.
I sat on the couch watching TV with my mom and my grandma, staring over at the table. I could hear my grandpa and dad asking Connor questions, but I couldn’t hear exactly what they were talking about. Finally, my granddad stood up, excited and happy that he’d won.
“Five games. I win five games. I’m the master. I’m the master at dominoes.”
“That is nothing. That is nothing,” my grandma said. “If you were chess master, you make us some money. Dominoes? You ever hear of dominoes master?”
“Hm,” he said and headed to the kitchen to get himself another beer.
“Is lunch nearly ready, Mom?” I looked over at her, hopeful. I wasn’t sure how much more of this I could take. I walked over to Connor to see if he was okay as my mom shook her head.
“How’d it go?” I said.
“Fun. I had a really fun time.” He grinned at me. “I was speaking to your granddad and your dad, and they’re both really nice.”
“Can you show me your room? I’d love to see where you grew up.”
“My room?” I stared at him, knowing exactly what he wanted. “I don’t know if ...”
“Please? I’d love to see your childhood room, Gemma. You can tell me all about how you were as a kid.”
“Connor, I think that—”
“Go on, Gemma. Show him your room. He wants to see it.” My grandma walked up behind me. “You have lots of photos in there from your childhood