Page 14 of Don Caselli

“Boss know you went and got the same whip as him?” one of the security guards asked.

I laughed. “Fuck he gonna do about it?”

He chuckled before letting me through. I cruised up toward the house, already thinking of my excuse to cut out early. Any time Stevie wanted us all together; she started wanting to talk feelings and being closer to one another. After the last time whenI found out that my best friend was going to set me up, I wasn’t in the mood to discuss my feelings.

I pulled in behind Kora’s car and leaned my head back to take a breath before going inside. Kora and Menace were a fucking lot together, and being that I didn’t see Zoya’s car, I knew I was gonna have to face them alone without Zoya being my backup.

Searching the middle compartment for my key fob I tossed there earlier; I laughed when I picked up Navy’s kindle. I was surprised she didn’t have Greene track me down for it. I sat it back down where she had left it, located my keys and got out.

It wasn’t Menace’s house unless you were being rained on by a sanitizing mist before fully stepping inside. Soon as I turned the corner into the living room, Lupita was putting the finishing touches on brunch.

“Don, how are you doing?”

“I’m straight… you?”

She smiled. “New life in the Caselli home is always a good thing. We’re all anxious waiting for baby Caselli to come. Are you excited to be an uncle?”

It was a loaded question because as much as I was excited to be an uncle, who knew how close me and the baby would be? It wasn’t like me, and my siblings were all that close to each other. Since Stevie had married into the family, we gathered more frequently at their house these days. I wanted to be the uncle that my niece or nephew called for everything.

When their parents didn’t give them their way, I wanted to be the person they called because they knew there was never any rules at Uncle Don’s house. I was excited, and then nervous for my brother. This was a different role that he was stepping into, and I remembered how we were raised.

He didn’t sit me down and kiss my wounds when life kicked me down. His response was to get the fuck up and show themwhat we were about. Then again, he was different with his wife and hopefully would be with his child.

“More nervous than excited.”

She smiled. “Babies make everyone like that. I know this is a new thing for you Caselli’s, but love doesn’t have any instructions… you just feel it.”

“Thanks, Lupita.”

“No worries. Everyone is outside… give me a few more minutes and then the food will be ready.”

As I walked through the house to get to the back, it always felt like I was in a museum. Menace’s house had never looked lived in. He kept the same theme even after being married, which shocked me. Aside from a few more art pieces that I knew Stevie had a hand in, the house remained the same. Despite it not changing as much, it had a new warmness that it never had before.

The sound of laughter and conversation greeted me when I slipped out the back door. I headed down the path toward the pool where everyone was sitting at the Italian concrete table that cost too fucking much and weighed just as much. Stevie looked up mid-laugh and got excited.

She jumped up so fast that Kora nearly spilled her wine, trying to make sure she wouldn’t fall. “Landon, you came!” I met her halfway instead of making her waddle over toward me.

Stevie gave the best fucking hugs and sometimes you needed that shit after not having one for a while. With the shit I heard earlier, her hug was much needed. Everything on her was completely swollen, and it was amazing to witness the changes a woman’s body made while carrying life. Her face was so swollen that when she smiled, her eyes appeared closed. “What up, Stevie? I told you that I would stop by for a little while.”

“You all say that and then it comes time to come over, and I hear crickets.”

I chuckled because we did ignore her overly positive ass in the family group chat. Her man was the one who started it, and he never spoke in there. It was her making all these plans for our family. “How much more can you grow?” I touched her stomach.

“Doctor says any day now. Greene has everything packed for us to head to the hospital when the time comes.” She snapped her finger like she remembered something. “Oh, you have to meet Greene’s cousin… she’s a celebrity.”

Before we could fully turn around, I already knew she was referring to Navy. I smirked when our eyes finally met, and she blushed while trying to look away from me. “I’m not a celebrity, Stevie.”

She held a drink in one hand while balancing a small plate filled with finger foods on it with the other. “You’re my celebrity,” Stevie insisted.

“With the way she waits for your videos… you really are,” Greene laughed, and poured more wine into Kora’s glass.

Kora looked over the couch that was situated around the table. “Hey Landon, you gonna stand there or greet your big sister? I emailed you, by the way, and you never replied.” I leaned down to kiss her on the cheek.

My reason was valid on why I hardly responded to my sister-in-law. It was never one question with Stevie. She always sent a bunch of text messages that she fired off at random and piecing them together to see what the fuck she was talking about was a damn chore.

“What up, Greene?”

“Hey, Don,” Greene looked down at her phone, and then over at her cousin, who was focused on her drink and not looking over at me. “We literally had hookah, and I drove home,” she copped a plea, as if I was going to press her about what she and Beans got into after we left Tiny’s.

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