Page 23 of Just A Little Fling

In the time I’d been gone, Ma texted me daily to ask if I had enough food in the house. She didn’t need to know that I hadn’t gotten around to grocery shopping, so obviously, the answer was a lie. Until I found time to go shopping, I was getting by on takeout.

All that convenience was taking a hit on my bank account. This morning, I made a legitimate promise to get real food this weekend. I should have scooped up all the times my ma had offered to teach me to cook, but I’d never gotten around to it. My repertoire of dishes was sadly lacking. I could make three things: spaghetti from a jar, mac and cheese from a box, and tacos.

“Smells good. What are you making?”

“Your father said he wanted some Guinness stew and rolls.”

“You know you’re not Irish, right?” I teased her and snagged a sip of the broth from the ladle she’d just put on the counter.

“I’m pretty sure you don’t need to be Irish to like stew and fresh bread,” Ma said with a laugh. After our tense conversations about me moving out, it was nice to see her laughing again.

“Where are Copy and Paste?”

“Nico.” Ma sighed. “I wish you wouldn’t call them that. It’s rude.” I schooled my features into an appropriate apologetic-adjacent expression. She wasn’t wrong, but I wasn’t thrilled to have her point it out.

“You’re right, Ma. Where are Luca and Leo?”

“They’re on their way home. We’re celebrating tonight, and they wanted you to be here for it.” I rolled my eyes at that line. They hadn’t given a damn about me before, so I wasn’t sure why it mattered now. If they weren’t brothers, I’d wonder if there wasn’t some mutual pining.

They were a pair. I was a singleton.

“How’s work going?” As much as Ma wasn’t thrilled over my decision not to attend college, she adored Gabe and fawned over him every time they ran into each other. She stopped by the office occasionally to meet me for lunch, and he always took the time to flirt with her. It was beyond cringe. I wanted to die every time, but they enjoyed themselves. Last time, Rory was there and fell off his chair laughing at their antics. I was the only one bothered by it, so I kept my mouth shut.

“It’s fantastic. We’ve got some great projects coming up, but our in-house project manager decided to move back to Ohio or Idaho… I don’t remember exactly, but it’s one of those ending-in-Ostates. Anyway, she did it fast, so I’m taking care of some of it while Gabe looks for another person.”

I loved this part of our relationship—Ma and I talking without interruption or competition for attention from anyone else while she worked in the kitchen. Since I never took her up on the offers to cook, I mostly just watched or stirred things, but it was our time.

“What does a project manager do?” Ma asked as she began chopping vegetables for a salad. The methodical thunk on the cutting board seemed unnaturally loud in the quiet room.

“They manage the scheduling and deadlines. Mostly, they’re the point of contact for the project and keep the cats herded. Why?” While I answered, I jumped onto the counter so it would be easier to sneak snacks off the cutting board. I wasn’t as slick as I hoped. The smack on my knuckles for swiping one too many tomatoes hurt.

“Jesus, Ma. That hurt,” I whined and rubbed away the sting.

“Stop stealing the good stuff.”

“Copy and—” Her cleared throat interrupted me. “I mean, Leo and Luca don’t even like tomatoes.”

“I do, and so does your dad. Leave some for the rest of us.” With a threatening wave of her knife—safety first wasn’t the rule in her kitchen—she returned to her chopping. “So they manage and organize and make sure people who need to know things know the things?”

“I mean, that’s oversimplified, but yeah.” Ma’s voice was deceptively casual.

“That sounds like what you do.”

“Not really. I keep Gabe’s calendar and straighten out filing systems.”

“When I picked you up for lunch the other day, you were meeting with someone and talking about deadlines and whatnot when you came out of the conference room.” She wasn’t wrong, but I was lost on the point.

They’d never taken much interest in my job except to complain that I hadn’t gone to college. As much as it irritated me, I knew it was because they loved me. She was a customer service rep, and my dad worked in a warehouse. They’d both been laid off at least once, although my dad had been several times when the warehouse was between larger contracts. They wanted me to have more security than what they’d had.

“Why not apply for it yourself?” Ma’s nonchalant tone was so fake that I was forced to give herthe look. The one that said I knew what she was doing and she needed to back off.

“That’s not how it works, Ma.”

“Why? If you’re good enough to do it sometimes, why not all the time?” She had me there. Fortunately for me, Copy and Paste interrupted our discussion, and I happily tabled it so their big announcement could take center stage.

“Hey, the baby has come home for a visit,” Copy, a.k.a. Luca, shouted as he entered the kitchen. He was still tall. He was still toned. He was still blond. It was still unfortunate. He pulled me off the counter and gave me a noogie. Unfortunately, seeing how he had a solid six inches on me, I had no chance of shoving him off me. It didn’t stop me from wrestling him, though, trying anyway.

“I’m sure your brother doesn’t want to hang out here all night since he doesn’t want to live with us anymore.” And there it was. “So go set the dinner.”

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