Page 144 of Charity's Redemption

“Hey, Boss?” Vito said from behind me, sounding a little out of breath.

“What, Vito?”

They’re here.”

Luca slid his hands off her shoulders and stood a little taller, and adjusted his charcoal gray shirt down and over his hips, then slid his hand around Charity’s waist.

I stepped inside the kitchen and took a seat on the barstool.

“Who’s here?” Charity said with confusion.

“Hello, cupcake.”

A man with silver hair and deep-set wrinkles stepped around Vito.

“Detective Gibbons, you’re early,” Luca said, stepping forward and shaking his hand.

“I decided to come early so we can visit with our daughter.” Gibbons turned behind him and grabbed his wife’s hand, who looked awestruck as she glanced over every detail of the home with a bashful disposition. “This is my wife Lynnet.”

“It’s nice to finally meet you,” Luca said.

Max snorted as he took a drink of his water.

I turned my gaze over my shoulder and glared at him. It was a warning. Don’t screw this up for her, don’t make this worse than they already are, regardless of how Charity feels about her mother.

“Likewise,” she said, shaking his hand. “You have a beautiful home.”

“Grazie.”

Luca put on a charm I’d only seen a handful of times, erasing his rough exterior and coating everything with politeness and formality. She’d never know that blood coated his hands thicker than any callous.

We all did.

My mother would beclutching her non-existent pearls by the time this BBQ was over, and I’d be laughing in the corner like the psycho that I was, enjoying every minute of it.

She was in for a culture shock, the likes of which her sheltered Christian-self had never seen before.

“Charity,” my mother's voice penetrated the fog of thoughts clouding my mind. “Aren’t you going to say hello to your mother?”

“I hadn’t planned on it,” I mumbled under my breath.

Luca squeezed my side and nudged me forward in a traitorous act.

“Hi, mother.”

Silence sliced through the room like a machete, bleeding us all with awkward tension.

“Anyway…”

I’m going to scream if she ruins my first family get-together.

My father cleared his throat. “Charity, could we have a word?”

“Sure.” I plastered on a smile and walked towards him as Luca slipped his hand above my elbow, halting me, then placing a kiss on my cheek and whispering in my ear.

“Play nice.”

If only I could tell him how much the word ‘nice’ wasn’t in my vocabulary.

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