Page 120 of It's Always Sonny

She shushes our cheers, a troubled look on her face.

“I haven’t been honest with you all. I love and miss your grandfather every day. Mary is a good sister, but she has her own children and grandchildren who keep her occupied. The truth is, I’m lonely. I want companionship, and I’ve found someone who makes me happy.”

Several people gasp.

Nonna looks past the family to someone outside the pavilion that everyone just now noticed. “Bob, could you come here?”

I hear gasps as a fit, serious looking older man starts walking toward us with his cane.

Mary gasps and turns on Nonna. “What are you doing? Why did you invite him?”

“Because I love him,” Nonna says.

“Who is he?” Dad asks.

“He’s the reason we can’t go on a cruise or across the Atlantic ever again!” Mary says. She points a crooked finger at him like she’s cursing him with a plague. “He’s the man from the plane!”

“And he’s the man I want to marry,” Nonna says.

Everyone flips. There are shouts and people jumping to their feet. My dad and his siblings surround Nonna, demanding an explanation. PJ rushes over to me.

“What is going on?

“I think Bob just broke my family,” I say, only half kidding.

Mary runs right over to Bob and starts chewing him out. Bob takes his hat off and holds it to his heart, taking in every word.

The great grandkids watch raptly.

“This is better than anything on YouTube,” Felix says.

Then Amber storms over and says, “What have you been watching on YouTube?”

And all heck keeps breaking loose.

PJ and I gape at each other.

My aunts and uncles pepper Nonna with questions, while my parents try to keep Mary from attacking Bob. Nonna’s hand covers her mouth, and tears run down her lined face.

I’ve never seen Nonna look so small.

She’s always been larger than life, with the strength to carry the burdens of our huge, crazy family.

Now she looks like a little, lonely, heartbroken woman whose one attempt at love in fifty years has destroyed the bedrock she built her whole legacy on.

“Look at her,” PJ whispers. “I have to do something.”

Before I can answer, she gives my hand a squeeze and springs into action. She runs through the melee, jumps onto the stage, and pushes past my aunts and uncles.

I hobble quickly behind her.

“Mom, be reasonable,” Bruno is saying. “He put you on the No Fly List, for Pete’s sake! What is this jerk even doing here?”

But PJ gets between them. “He’s here because she invited him. Nonna doesn’t tell her own stories, so you all seem to be in the habit of being her voice. I think it’s time for everyone to shut up and give it back.”

Bruno rocks back on his heels, but he isn’t fazed. “Okay then. Mom, what’s going on?”

Mary’s still chewing out Bob, though, so I take a few steps toward her and put my arm on her slight shoulders. “Aunt Mary, let’s hear them out. The worst that happens is we get another good story out of it, right?”

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