Acquiring Hearts (16 page)

“No mom, he’s an only child.”

“Damn.”

Gia looked at her mom like she had two heads. “Plus, she’s still married to Vinnie, remember.”

“Yeah… Well, I think something’s going on. It just doesn’t seem right. I don’t trust him. You know all my neighbors know what happened.”

“Did you tell them?”

“No, why would I do that? They suspect something because the kids are here.”

“Maybe you just love your grandkids.”

“I raised these kids this summer.”

“Mom, come on, you’re exaggerating.”

“The Andersons stare at us as if they want to ask.”

“They are just nosy. You’re paranoid. Rachel and Vinnie looked fine when I picked them up at the airport.”

“He’s shady.”

“Mom, stay off Facebook. You’re talking like you’re fifteen.”

“Whatever. Your dad seems to like Brad a lot.”

“What’s not to like, plus look what he has to compare him to? I think I’m going in the pool.”

“You have to eat first. You’re skin and bones.”

“I’m not hungry. I’m actually a normal weight.”

“I worry about you a lot.”

“I’m fine. I’ll be in my room getting changed. What’s on the agenda for tonight?”

“I made a ton of food. Aunt Cecily and Uncle Dom are coming over.”

Gia loved her aunt and uncle. Dominick was her mother’s brother. He and his wife had three children: Lorraine, Dominick Jr. and Lucas. She and Rachel were very close to them.

“Lorraine is coming alone with the kids. Derrick had work and is staying in Philly. Lucas is stopping over with Jennifer later for dessert. Did you know Dom went back overseas?”

“Yeah, I saw his Facebook post. Everybody knows everything nowadays with Facebook. What about Uncle Sam and Aunt Josie?”

Josie was her mother’s only sister. She had a gambling addiction. She and her second husband, Sam, were always at the casino.

“They’re in Vegas.”

“I’m not surprised. Are we having a barbeque? If so, I may invite Maria and Carson. They should be down this weekend. They probably won’t be able to come but just in case they can, I’m letting you know.”

“Invite whoever you want.”

She kissed her mom. “As crazy as you are, I love you.”

“Gee thanks. Oh, I bought you some clothes. I left them on your bed. There’s a really cute bikini in the pile. I got it on sale.”

I’m twenty-eight and my mother is still buying me clothes!

“Thanks, Mom. Can you send Brad up when you get a chance?”

About twenty minutes later there was a knock at the door. “Are you dressed?”

“Are you kidding me? We live together.”

“I’m not disrespecting your parents.”

“Oh, so I can’t touch you like this.” Gia grabbed Brad between his legs.

“Are you nuts? Your dad will put me on a fishing rod and use me as bait.”

“So, Mr. Genius, where are you sleeping tonight?”

“On the floor”

“Great! My mom’s planning a BBQ for a million people. The whole neighborhood is probably invited and my fiancé is sleeping on the floor.”

“You seem so tense.”

“This is stressful for me.”

“Why? I’m fine.”

“Yeah, well the dick isn’t here yet.”

“What does this guy do for a living?”

“He’s a manager. He works for the city. His dad got him in. He thinks he’s a tough guy, but he’s all talk.”

“Gia, I deal with all kinds of people. I can handle myself, if that’s what you’re worried about. Why does Rachel stay with him?”

“She stays because of the kids and because they’ve been together since they were teenagers. He cheated on her and she took him back. Listen, I knew he was an asshole, but I never thought in a million years he would’ve cheated on her. I don’t want to see my nephew’s go through all of this, so I don’t say anything about my feelings, but it hurts me.”

“I’m sorry, baby. I’m here for you. I want you to know that I’d never do anything like that to you.”

“I know, honey.”

“I love you so much and I’d never hurt you.”

She embraced him. “Thank you. Get changed into your swimming gear so we can go into the pool.”

Rachel, Vinnie and the boys had arrived back at the shore house.

“
Aunt Gia!” They ran over to her and gave her the biggest hug. They were now almost taller than her.

“Hey, Guys! How have you been?”

“We’re good. We had so much fun,” Jason enthusiastically stated.

“Awwww, I missed you so much this summer. I want to introduce you to my fiancé, Brad.”

The twins both shook his hand. “Cool. Can we call him Uncle Brad?”

Gia eyed Brad nervously. She wasn’t expecting that question so soon.

Brad loved the family interaction. He would never have any nieces or nephews of his own, so he welcomed the endearment. “I wouldn’t have it any other way.” The boys were so excited.

“Brad this is Vinnie. Vinnie this is Brad. You already know Rachel.”

Vinnie eyed up Brad and then said, “Hey man, what’s up?”

“Hi, Vinnie, It’s nice to meet you.”

They shook hands and Vinnie walked over to fridge and grabbed a beer. He proceeded to the sofa to watch television.

Brad and Rachel greeted each other with a hug.

“We’re just going in the pool for a swim.” Gia threw it out there in case anyone wanted to go in. Jason and Jeffrey ran up the stairs screaming that they wanted to go.

The situation was a little awkward. Rachel broke the ice by speaking first. “Where’s Mommy at?”

“She’s probably out back with Daddy worrying about the Anderson’s.”

“Oh My God, she’s obsessed with these Anderson’s. They have been acting like this for years.”

“I know. She’s planning a huge BBQ for tonight. It should be quite interesting.”

“I’ll say. She said she’s been cooking for days.”

Gia realized that Rachel seemed distant and was acting fidgety. She decided not to bring it up in front of Brad and Vinnie.

“We’re ready to go,” said the boys as they ran back down the steps. They headed to the pool. Gia thought she heard Rachel tell Vinnie he was fucking rude but she chose to ignore them and shut the door behind her.

Despite the tension she sensed in her sister, Gia had a lot of fun in the pool with the family. Brad seemed to get along great with everyone; even Vinnie started up a conversation with him for a few minutes.

Around mid-afternoon, Gia and Rachel went into the kitchen to help their mother prepare for the big bash. Gia was tasked with mixing the ground meat for the burgers.

“What’s wrong with buying boxes of burgers?”

“Your father likes them fresh not frost bitten.”

“He’s so particular. Where’d you get this gigantic bowl from? Should I dare ask? There’s no reason why we need all this meat. Do you have other stuff too?”

“I bought the bowl online on clearance. I used one of those online coupon codes too.”

“At what point did you feel you needed a big bowl for ground meat and then decided to go online to purchase one?”

“They’re good to have. I use them for the holidays. I have one for here and one for home.”

Gia thought about her mother’s shopping addiction. It seemed to be getting out of control lately. She didn’t feel like getting into it now but she planned on bringing this up in the near future.

Meanwhile, Rachel was husking corn and staring into space.

What’s her deal?

“Dreaming of cornfields?”

“What?”

“You were on another planet.”

“Oh, I was just thinking.”

“Are you ok?”

“I’m fine.”

Something was going on but Gia had no idea what it was. She knew Rachel would eventually tell her because they had a special bond. Their mother chimed in the conversation to change the subject.

“Gia, Brad seems really great.”

“He is mom. I love him so much.”

“Have you set the wedding date yet? You’ve been engaged for two weeks already.”

“Mom, I’m still planning his thirtieth birthday party. After that is over, I will set the date. It will probably be in 2014.”

“Well then we need to get planning.”

Rachel excused herself. She said she was going to lie down because she had a headache.

“Do you need anything for your head? I have Advil in my bag.”

“No, I’m ok,” she replied and went upstairs.

“She doesn’t seem right.” Gia said to her mother when she heard the door close.

“It’s Vinnie. He’s an asshole. Would you be happy if you were married to him?”

“Um no, definitely not, but I would have left his stupid ass.”

“She’ll be ok. She just needs to make decisions.”

“Yeah, well that’s her deal if she wants to keep it in and suffer. I can’t do anything to help her. Oh well, I’m going out back to see if Brad is ok.”

“I’m happy for you, Gia.”

“Thanks, Mom. I love you.”

“Love you too.”

Gia walked through the sliding doors to the pool. Brad was playing basketball in the pool with the boys. Donato was reading the paper and Vinnie was on his phone texting someone.

“Hey baby, come in!” Brad yelled from across the pool.

Gia took off her cover up and dove in the deep end. Brad swam over to her and kissed her on the cheek.

“I missed you.”

“I missed you too.”

“Where’s Rachel?”

“She went to lie down. She has a headache. It’s almost three. I wanted to go meet Maria and Carson at the bar for a drink or two before the barbeque at six.”

“We can go now. I just have to change my shorts.”

“Ok, I’ll meet you in the car. I’m just going to throw my cover up and flip flops on. It’s the no shower, happy hour.” She kissed him before he got out of the pool.

Vinnie was watching the interaction from the table. He knew he and Rachel would never be in that place again and it pissed him off.

“You can learn from that guy,” Donato said interrupting Vinnie from his thoughts.