Engaging Men (47 page)

“Oh, that granddaughter of yours. She’s been making me nuts, you know?” he said, turning to me finally and crouching beside the chair where I sat.

He pressed a kiss to my lips, which I saw over his shoulder made Nonnie’s eyes go wide with delight. “How are you, Ange?”

“I’m…I’m good. How are you?” I asked, questions filling my mind. “I thought you were…you were gone.”

“Well, I’m back. Grace called me last night, told me what was going on. I took the first flight I could get. I went to the house, but no one was there. So I came straight here. I was worried about Nonnie—about you…”

“How could you get back from Vegas so fast?” I asked, still in shock, though it was beginning to be replaced by the warmest feeling as I gazed into those green eyes I adored.

“Oh, I wasn’t in Vegas—I was in Chicago,” he said, as if that explained everything, then stood to look at Nonnie again.

“So how is my best girl?” he said, giving her the grin that had won Nonnie’s heart from the moment she had first laid eyes on Justin, when I had dragged him home for family dinner two years ago.

“Better now,” she said. “All these good-looking men around. You should see my doctor. What a hunk!”

And as if on cue, said doctor strolled into the room, my mother in tow. “You tell her, Dr.Williamson. Because she won’t listen to me—oh, Justin! What are you doing here?” Ma said, her eyes wide as Justin stepped forward and wrapped her in a hug.

“Why wouldn’t I be here?” he said, smiling down at her as he released her.

Even Dr. Williamson seemed happy to see Justin, but I think this might have been because Nonnie’s hunky M.D. was likely of Colin’s persuasion. But he contained himself, of course, and once everyone had settled down, Dr. Williamson explained to Nonnie—to all of us—that her heart was still in good shape and would stay that way, but only with a proper diet and exercise. “And, um, your daughter mentioned something about late-night poker games, Mrs. Caruso. I don’t know how to put this, but maybe you might want to start them a little earlier in the evening. And perhaps, uh, lower the stakes?”

“Oh, Dr. Williamson, she worries too much!”

“Well, someone’s gotta worry about you,” Dr. Williamson said with a wink. “You’re lucky you have so many people to care about you,” he added seriously, before he made his goodbyes.

And it was clear Nonnie had plenty of people to worry over her, because within the next hour, practically my whole crazy family had filed into that tiny room, with Sonny keeping an eye on the nurse’s station to make sure we didn’t get thrown out for having too many visitors. Everyone was relieved to see Nonnie in such good spirits. And the rest of my family had been just as surprised and happy to see Justin as Nonnie and my mother had been.

Sonny and Vanessa showed up first. Vanessa had refused to stay away, despite the arguments Sonny gave her. In truth, she was so big with child, I thought they should have just given her a bed so she could wait it out. Joey and Miranda came, too. Miranda had dropped the kids off with her mom, and now, as she stood talking quietly with my mother in one corner of the room, I realized she was making big headway as far as my

mother was concerned. I guess if nothing else, this family drama may just have gotten Miranda into my mother’s heart.

And Artie might have found his way in, too, I realized, when he came back to the room breathless from his mission for Nonnie and carrying a brown paper bag, which my grandmother snatched from him and promptly stuffed in her drawer.

But not before my mother saw. “Ma! What was that? Artie, what are you up to?”

Then, marching over to the drawer, she grabbed the bag and opened it, her eyes widening. “I demand an explanation for this,” she said, pulling out what looked like a chocolate eclair.

“It’s fat- and sugar-free!” Artie insisted, earning a shocked glare from Nonnie.

“I know you wanted the Snickers bar, sweetheart, but I just couldn’t get it for you. We want you around for a long, long time.” Then he smiled down at her, taking her hand in between his two. “I want you around for a long, long time.”

“Oh, Artie,you old rascal,” Nonnie said, smiling as she rested her hand over his.

Finally we were ordered out of the room and I was glad. Not only because Nonnie had begun to look a bit tired, but because I couldn’t wait to get Justin alone. I wanted to talk to him. To know what had taken him to Chicago and if he would be leaving for Vegas soon. But my mother insisted we all go back to the house for dinner. I could barely eat the lasagna she had tossed into the oven the moment we arrived, but Justin was eating enough for both of us, yukking it up with my brothers, gazing in wonder at Vanessa, even pressing his hand to her stomach to experience the baby’s now-furious kicks. Next he was trading baseball stats with Artie, who, as it turned out, was a Yankee fan, too. By the time my mother whipped out the tiramisu, I scarfed down two slices just to get dessert over with. I think Ma knew something was up, because she kept glancing at me every time my eyes strayed to Justin’s handsome face, which was often.

And just when I thought Justin and I would make a safe escape to the Avenue U bus together and alone—well, at least surrounded by strangers who could make what they would of the conversation I planned to have with him—Joey gallantly offered to drive us back to Manhattan in his ‘67 Cadillac, which he couldn’t resist giving Justin a ride in once he discovered Justin’s appreciation for Joey’s careful salvaging and restoration of the old car. Justin, of course, joyously agreed. So while I sat in the back seat with Miranda, listening to her babble on about Timmy and Tracy, I watched Justin examine the dash with gusto and listen avidly as Joey painstakingly described every piston he’d replaced, every dent he’d knocked out. Guys…sheesh!

We did get home—eventually (there was traffic—there’s always traffic)—and by the time Justin and I stepped into the apartment together, I was burning up inside—and with more than just questions.

“Justin what—” I began, once we were safely inside the living room.

He stopped me, trapping my face between his big hands and kissing me so deeply, I found my knees buckling beneath me until he swept me up, dropped me right down on sofa #3 and pressed that beautiful body into mine.

“I missed you so much,” he said once he came up for air. “Why didn’t you return my calls?”

“Why didn’t I—Justin! I thought you were leaving me. I came home and you weren’t here. Even…even Bernadette was gone!” I said, glancing over at the windowsill in confusion and seeing it was still bare. “Where’s Bernadette?”

He smiled. “I took her over to Pete’s while I was gone. I would’ve let Tanya take care of her, except I noticed she had this half-dead ficus the last time I was over there. But Bernadette’s in good hands with Pete. Did you know he used to work in a nursery during college?”

“Never mind Pete!” I replied, “Where did you go?”

“I went to Chicago—actually Oak Park, just outside of Chicago. You know, my hometown?”

“But why?” I asked.

“I had to do some thinking. Besides, I hadn’t seen my parents’ grave in a long time. So I paid them a visit. Then I went to see some friends from college. My uncle Luigi.”

“Uncle Luigi? I didn’t know you had an uncle Luigi.”

“Uh-huh. He owns a chain of Italian restaurants in Chicago.

You didn’t think I learned how to make that marinara from you, did you?“ he said, smiling down at me.

“But you’re not even Italian! How do you have an uncle Luigi?”

“My mother’s sister married him, Ange. I am Italian—by marriage, anyway. And I could get a little more Italian right now,” he said, reaching between us for the button on my jeans.

“Wait!” I cried, despite the heat that immediately snaked through me. “I thought you were going to Vegas?”

He sighed, realizing he was going to get nowhere fast unless he disclosed to me whatever revelations he had had in Chicago. “I’m not going to Vegas. I don’t know what I’d do without New York City. Without you…” He looked down at me, then blew out a breath. “You were right, okay? Even Uncle Luigi said you were—and that was before I told him you were Italian. He thinks I should go back to filmmaking. He even confessed to being pretty pissed off at me for not taking it any further, since he was one of my big investors in the first film I made. So I thought that if I was going to make a movie, I needed it to be about New York. I even had some ideas for the screenplay while I was there. Kind of like The Godfather meets Moonstruck. You know, a mob flick and a romantic comedy. Except I don’t know where I’m going to find a lead actress. I’m thinking about approaching Marisa Tomei.”

“Justin!” I said, pushing at his chest while I felt my own bursting with sheer joy.

He smiled. “I love you, you know that? Every anxiety-ridden, insane bit of you.”

“I’m insane?You’re the insane one, buster,” I said, pulling him close and kissing him until I felt insane. Insane with desire for him.

And then we did get crazy. All over sofa #3. Then #2 and #1…

It was Sunday night, and Justin, Grace and I were in a taxi heading home to Manhattan, which I could already see glittering in the distance. We were coming home from the Villa Napoli in Brooklyn, a glitzy little hall right on Avenue U, where we celebrated the christening of guess who?—Sonny and Vanessa’s baby, a little girl, who came into the world not three weeks earlier. I think baby Carmella (named for my Nonnie, much to her delight) was a big surprise to Sonny, who really did think he was getting a son out of the deal. Not that it mattered— Carmella was the apple of her daddy’s eye. And my mother’s— you often had to battle her for the right to hold the baby, as Carmella spent ninety percent of the time in my mother’s arms. Of course, I got to hold her today—at least while the priest baptized her. You see, I was the godmother. And I was pretty good at it, too. Carmella didn’t cry once when I held her, but that may have been because Justin was standing by my side the whole time, making funny faces at her over my shoulder.

My mother had practically moved in with Vanessa and Sonny since Carmella had been born, not that Vanessa minded. She

liked to have the help, and between my mother and her own mom, she was getting plenty of it. Nonnie, of course, came, too, when she wasn’t dragging Artie through Kings Plaza shopping for baby clothes. She claimed this was her way of getting the doctor-recommended exercise, and in truth I think she was wearing her Cobby Cuddlers thin at the soles.

It was warm for a November night, and I’d cracked open a window to let in some air. Besides, the conversation was getting a bit heated for a while there in the cab. We had been conducting the Furniture Negotiations, which I had taken up with Justin once we got in the car, having learned that Joey and Miranda had bought me a giant-screen TV for my apartment (yes, even bigger than the one we had now) and it was being delivered next week. And no, this was not some random act of generosity on my brother’s part. It was a congratulations. Because I had just learned that I had landed the part of Lisa Petrelli on NewYork Beat, Lifetime network’s newest dramatic series!