Page 32 of Love Around the Corner
“TheMets,” Alex declared.
Nick raised his beer in salute. “Good man.”
Alex clinked it with his glass of scotch. “You said it.”
“When did this happen?” Livie murmured to Jess.
“It was bromance at first sight,” Jess murmured back.
It shouldn’t be a surprise that Nick was settling right into her family. Everybody liked him—well, maybe not Gemma yet. But a charming, friendly guy like Nick would have no problem winning over the rest of them. Part of her liked it—liked that her family liked him, too. But it also felt a little strange, maybe slightly scary, because she could tell it would be very easy to get used to this, to think that it might last. And one thing she was sure of was that Nick’s time with the Romanos was temporary. No matter how right his presence felt right now.
“Hey, you didn’t tell me your computer genius wasthiscomputer genius,” Jess said.
“Which computer genius?”
“The computer genius who hacked the Department of Defense when he was at DeWitt.”
Livie felt her face flush. “Oh. That.”
“Yes,that. He’s famous at DeWitt.”
“Famous? Really?”
“Well, more infamous, really,” her sister conceded. “Like Billy the Kid or D. B. Cooper. You should have seen Alex when he realized who he was. Instant fanboy.”
“All because Nick hacked some computer when he was eighteen?”
Jess shook her head, smiling fondly. “Boys.”
Gemma returned, sliding a plate of food across the bar to Livie.
“Mmm, smells good, Gem. What is it?”
“I was playing around with one of Grandma Romano’s old recipes for chicken in a cream sauce,” she said, waving a hand in the air. “I classed it up a little, and left the chicken breasts whole and pounded them flat, layered it with some parma ham, added some rosemary and shallots to the pan drippings, finished it with sherry...”
Livie stopped listening after the first few words and just ate. Gemma was always trying to interrogate her about her recipes.“Is it too heavy on the tarragon? Maybe a little lemon zest for brightness?”Livie was terrible at teasing out one flavor from another. She only knew what she liked, and this wasdelicious.
“It’s really good, Gem,” she muttered, her mouth full.
“That’s a vast understatement,” Nick said. “Gemma, it was magnificent.”
Gemma gave him a grudging thanks. That was an improvement from all the distrustful glares she’d been shooting at him that she didn’t think Livie had noticed. Seemed Nick might be winning her over, too.
“That’s our Gemma,” Dad said, squeezing her shoulder. “She’s a miracle worker in the kitchen.”
When her father was called away to refill another customer, Frank roped Alex and Nick into conversation.
Livie leaned in to Jess. “You think we should rescue them?”
“Nah, they’re good.”
“But Frank is talking about his ex-wife again. You know he never stops once he gets started on that.”
“They haven’t heard it a thousand times like us. Listen. They’re actually giving Frank advice.”
Nick leaned forward on his elbow. “You know what you need, Frank? You need to sign up to a dating site.”
“What, on the internet?” Frank scoffed. “I’m too old for that nonsense. No woman out there is looking for a dried-up old relic like me.”
