Page 16 of Books and Hookups

“I’m fine,” I said. “Really.” But Savannah shoved the sausage link in my face, speared on her fork. “Thanks. And maybe I do need sausage…but the other kind. A good dicking would help me sleep.”

A throat cleared again, and I didn’t have to look to see that our server had snuck up on us again. “Can I get you all anything else?”

I grimaced at her. “Do you have a hot male friend looking for some no-strings-attached sex?”

Her eyes widened. “S-sorry, not that I can think of.”

“Then we’re good, thanks.”

A balled-up napkin hit me in the face. “Lucie!” Savannah hissed. “Behave.”

I wiped a drop of syrup from the corner of my mouth. “Carly, are you going to eat your last pancake? Trade you my cantaloupe for it.”

Carly was such a good friend that she traded her pancake for the cantaloupe, even though it smelled off. Strange that my senses of taste and smell had gone funny. Maybe I should visit the doctor like Savannah said.

I’d make time for it. Next week.

7

Good Bones

Bicicletta

Combine 3 ounces pinot grigio and 2 ounces Campari in a glass. Fill three-quarters with ice, top with chilled club soda, and stir. Garnish with 2 orange wheels.

DANNY

I’d come straight from Mass, but my mom’s place was already full of people when I arrived, toting a case of Italian pinot grigio to celebrate the visible signs of spring.

As soon as I set foot on the front walk, cousins clapped me on the back, aunts kissed me, then dragged their thumbs across my cheek to wipe away the lipstick, and small second cousins tackled my legs. I climbed the stairs onto the porch with one, Emma, clinging to my khakis.

Inside the front door, Leo detached the little one and hoisted her onto his hip. “Yo, Nico,” he called, “come get this booze.”

At the wordbooze,Nico and three other cousins came running. They took the heavy carton from me and carried it to the dining room. I held out my arms for Emma, and Leo handed her over, smelling of anise candy. She smacked my cheek with a sticky kiss.

“There you are,” my mother said, bustling up to me and standing on her tiptoes to kiss my cheek. She patted Emma’s dark, wispy curls before combing her fingers through my hair. “Come on. I have someone I want you to meet.”

“You what?” I shook out my hair. “Ma, we talked about this last Sunday. I’m focused on the bar right now. Leo and I both are.”

My brother stared at his loafers. “I’m getting a drink. Want something?”

“Beer,” I said.

My mother lifted Emma from my arms and set her on the floor. “There’s anginetti in the kitchen,” she whispered. Emma beelined to the kitchen.

My mother straightened and narrowed her eyes at me. “Danny, I’ve known you since you were in my womb. You want a family. And the clock is ticking.”

“Ticking?” My voice went squeaky. “I’m only twenty-nine.”

“I had three children by the time I was thirty. And the twins when I was thirty-two.”

I gulped. “I—I’m not ready for that.”

“Come on. There’s no harm in meeting a nice young lady. You don’t have to propose today, not like your father did with me.”

“Is it warm in here? Can I open a window?” I was tempted to pop another button at my collar, but that might send the wrong message to whoever Ma wanted me to meet.

She stepped closer. “I’m telling you, you don’t have to do things the way your father and I did. But if you limit yourself to hookups, you’ll never meet Ms. Right.”

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