Page 30 of Books and Hookups

“Family, Danny,” she reminded me.

“Grab some glasses,” Giuliana ordered them.

I sighed. “Ma, sit down.”

With a worried look, she sank into the chair. Leo sat on one side of her, and I sat across from her. Giuliana twisted the cage on the bottle of prosecco.

I met each of their gazes, unsure how to start. I wasn’t even sure how I felt, much less what they’d think. It had been at this very table that our mother had given Leo and me the talk when we were in middle school. She’d told us to always use condoms and never, ever have sex with someone we wouldn’t mind raising a child with. I’d taken it to heart after watching three men abandon her.

I wouldn’t mind raising a child with Lucie, but the feeling wasn’t mutual.

“So, ah…” I began, “there was an accident?—”

“An accident?” Ma leaped from her chair and circled the table to cradle my face and peer into my eyes. “Are you all right?”

“Not that kind of accident, Ma.” Gently, I removed her hand from my face and held it. “I got a woman pregnant.”

“A baby?” Her concerned expression flashed into joy faster than a grease fire. “You’re going to be a father? I’m going to be a grandma?” She tugged me up and hugged me. Even though I was a foot taller than her, it felt as good as the hugs she’d given me when I’d failed a test at school.

“Hey!” Giuliana popped the cork and poured the fizzy wine into the juice glass Tony handed her.

Elena pounded my back. “Danny’s gonna be a daddy!”

I winced. “Yeah, I guess? She’s decided to keep the baby.”

My mother pulled back to scan my face, her eyes narrowing. “Who is she?”

“No one you know. Lucie Knox, my neighbor.”

Leo whistled. “Lucie? How’d you manage that? She’s way outta your league.”

I turned my gaze toward Ma’s pampered roses outside the window. “I know.”

“Your neighbor is your girlfriend?” Elena asked.

“She’s not my girlfriend.” A fat bumblebee hovered above the buds as if waiting for them to open. “Like I said, it was an accident.”

“Your dick accidentally fell into her vagina?” Tony crowed.

Ma smacked the side of his head. “Don’t be crude about my first grandchild. What’s done is done. Now there’s a baby to think about. When is she due?”

“Due?” I counted on my fingers. “November, I guess?”

“November,” Leo said. “But that’s when?—”

“We have time.” Ma squeezed my hand, then returned to her seat. “Giuliana, pass me a glass. Danny, tell me about this girl.”

“Girl?” Leo laughed. “Lucie’s no girl. She’s gotta be, what, late thirties? You met her Saturday, Ma. Remember, she came in during Belinda and Jung-mi’s baby shower. Tony, pass me the whiskey.”

My mother’s glass of prosecco froze, mid-toast. “The older woman in all black?”

I blinked. “Sure, she’s older than me, but I wouldn’t call herolder.”

“Danny.” Ma set down her glass. “How old is she?”

I pulled out my phone and googled her to be sure. “Thirty-nine or forty.”

“A baby at forty.” Ma slumped back in her chair. “Better pour me some of that.” She pointed at the whiskey.

---