Page 2 of Gin & Trouble

“I’ll deny I ever said this, but me, too. I’m freaking starving.”

Chuckling, Gabe turned his attention back to the game. A split second later, he darted toward the TV. “Run! Go! Go, go go… Yes! Touch-doooown Saints!”

A chorus of “Who dats!”erupted from my other brothers, their wives, and their kids. We might have been born in Sicily, but we’d lived in the Big Easy since we were in grade school. Needless to say, we bled black and gold when the New Orleans Saints played.

Normally, I’d be shouting along with them, but not this year. Gabe was right. This Thanksgiving sucked. My only hope of salvaging the day was Julia—a woman I’d technically never met, but had spent the last several months gaming with online.

Speaking of which, what better time to ask her out than a holiday?

I pulled out my phone and fired off a text.

Me:Happy Thanksgiving.

Julia:You, too. How was it?

Me:My sister-in-law’s turkey was so dry it turned to powder in my mouth.

Julia:It couldn’t have been that bad.

Me:Jerky has more moisture. I doubt any of us will recover from the T-Day trauma in this lifetime.

Julia:LOL Did anyone eat it?

Me:We tried. Five minutes in, my brother gave up and ordered Chinese.

Julia:Dry turkey and Chinese is better than the cereal I had. Plus, you were with your family. That has to count for something right?

Smooth. Real smooth. Complaining when the only family she has nearby is her pain-in-the-ass sister.

I slipped outside and called her.

“Hi.”

Hearing her voice sent a shock of electricity from my ear to my toes and back again. Parts of me softened, but other parts hardened. “Are you busy?”

“Nope.”

“Do you have plans tonight?” I hadn’t been so nervous about asking a woman out since middle school.

“Besides a Sci-Fi channel marathon and splurging on a shrimp po-boy?” Julia’s laughter gave me a shot of courage.

“Want some company?” The fact that my voice cracked like my teenage nephew’s should have made me run for the bayou, but I dug the way she made me feel.

I dug the slightly nauseous, too excited to turn back, next-in-line-for-the-roller-coaster craziness of a new relationship.

I dug her.

“It’s Thanksgiving. You should spend it with your family.” Her words had a singsong quality to them that told me she was smiling.

She’s going to say yes this time. I know it.

“I’ve been here since ten this morning. You know what they say about too much of a good thing…”

“Families are like sunshine. They’ll burn you if you get too much?” She sounded like she’d bit back more laughter.

“Not a bad analogy. I’m an introvert in a house full of loud Italians. I usually spend the day after family dinners nursing a too-many-people-hangover.”

“Do you drink raw egg, tomato and pickle juice smoothies?”

---