Page 29 of Falling for my Family's Rival

I shift uncomfortably from one foot to the other. “Why would you think that?”

“Maybe . . . because you’re being shady,” Angelo says.

“Okay, so you think I was on a date, because I’m being shady?” I say. “Please explain this logic to me.”

Angelo regards me for a long moment, and I can tell that he’s trying to think of a way to respond. I don’t want him to push me on the date thing because I don’t know how long I can lie to my brother. He’s not usually this perceptive. I can probably dodge a few more rounds with him, but after that, I’m going to need to get away from him.

“I don’t know, bro,” Angelo says. “It just seems like if you were out doing something stupid, you’d tell me. I don’t know why you want to keep your date a secret, but I guess I get it.”

“You do?” I ask, confused. I haven’t admitted to anything, so I’m not sure what he thinks he understands.

“Sure,” Angelo says. “If you were out on a date and you don’t want to tell me about it, it must not have gone very well.”

“If you must know, I was on a date. But you’re actually wrong,” I say. “It went very well.”

“I knew it!” Angelo exclaims.

“You did not,” I say.

“I did, too,” Angelo insists proudly. “Well, tell me about her.”

I hesitate. I feel like my hand is being forced here. But it would feel good to tell someone. I just don’t know how Angelo will react to the news, though. Just the other day, he was ready to start some kind of turf war with Marissa’s family. Do I really want him to have this to hold over my head?

I decide that he’s going to find out sooner or later, and if I tell him, then I get to control the narrative. If he hears the truth somewhere else, he might not get the right story, or it might make him mad enough to act out his weird revenge plot.

“Okay, but you can’t mention any of this to Mom and Dad, okay?” I say. Angelo smirks at me. “Angelo, I mean it,” I say firmly, making myself very clear about the gravity of what I’m about to divulge to him.

“Okay, okay. I promise that I won’t say anything,” he says with sincerity. Fortunately, I think I know my brother enough to know he means it.

“I met a woman the night of the masquerade ball,” I start. “But I didn’t know who she was until the week after. Turns out, she’s the daughter of the owners of Little Italy. We really connected, so I asked her out. Her name’s Marissa. And I’ve been seeing her ever since.”

There’s a long moment of silence, and I think that Angelo might be getting mad. Then he grins at me. “Wow,” he says. “That’s great. Is it, like, serious, Bro? It sounds like it’s serious.”

Relief washes over me. It seems like he’s being genuine, and it does feel good to be able to talk about my relationship with Marissa. “Yeah, you could say it’s pretty serious,” I say. “I’m in love with her, Angelo.”

“Wow. Uh, yeah, I can see why you don’t want Mom and Dad to know yet,” Angelo says. “But what’s your plan? I mean… how ya gonna handle this… this… messy situation?” Angelo gets it, for sure. I’m relieved. It feels so good to get this off my chest.

“Well… I haven’t figured that all out yet. But for the future?” I say. “Honestly, I’m going to ask her to marry me. I don’t care what trouble it causes. I want to spend the rest of my life with her.”

“Whoa. This is incredible. I’m here for you, man. I just hope keeping this a secret doesn’t cause more stress than you can handle. I know it seems like what you have to do now, but the longer it goes on, the harder it will be,” Angelo says.

“I know,” I reply. “But at the moment, I don’t see any other options. Dad is convinced that Marissa’s whole family has some grand scheme to bring our restaurant down. And from what she says, her father feels the same. There isn’t a lot of room for good feelings and grand announcements - not at this moment anyway.”

Angelo nods. “I hear you. I wouldn’t want to be in your position.”

“What do you think I should do?” I ask.

“That’s a tough one,” Angelo says. “I feel like you need to decide when, not if, you’re telling Mom and Dad. Before that, I suppose you need to figure out how to end all the animosity between the two families.”

“Ha. That’s definitely easier said than done,” I say.

“Listen, I’ll do whatever I can to help,” Angelo says. “I don’t know what I can do, but if you think of anything, let me know.”

“Thanks, man,” I say.

We hug, and I head down the hall to my bedroom, feeling lighter than I have in a long time. There is hope in this whole situation. I can’t wait to talk to Marissa about my talk with Angelo.

Eighteen

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