Luca
I look up and see Nick waving like a madman, and Mona coming out to meet him, wrapping her arms around his waist. “This should be fun,” I say under my breath, getting out and walking around the car to find Eliahn unbuckling Aiden.
“I should just apologize now for whatever he says.” I look at Eliahn who just shakes her head.
“It’s going to be fine,” she says, and I want to hold her hand while we walk to the door, but if I know Nick he’s going to point it out right away. So instead we walk toward the house both of us holding Aiden’s hand.
“There he is,” Nick says, holding out his hands. “My favorite nephew.”
“He’s your only nephew,” I point out when we finally get to them after walking up the stairs. “Aiden, this is your uncle Nick and auntie Mona.” I look at Aiden, smiling when Nick put his hands out to fist bump him, and he smiles while fist bumping Nick. “Mona, this is Eliahn.” Mona takes her arms from around Nick and puts her hand out to Eliahn, who takes it smiling.
“It’s so nice to finally meet you,” Mona says. “You are like a God around here,” she says, making Eliahn laugh, and I roll my eyes.
“Thank you so much for having us,” Eliahn says, and then looks at Nick. “It’s nice to see you again.”
“The last time I saw you, Romeo’s head was about to explode. I mean, it’s better than the time before that when he”—he points to me—“was about to cry at saying goodbye to you on that cruise.” He laughs.
“I was not crying,” I tell him and then turn back to Eliahn. “I didn’t cry.”
“Please, you looked like a kid when someone ate their candy,” Nick says, showing us a pouting face. Why am I friends with him?
This time, both Mona and Eliahn laugh out loud. “Are you done?” I ask Nick.
“I think we are just getting started,” Nick says and then looks at Aiden. “I bought you something.”
“A present?” Aiden says, all excited, and Nick nods. “What is it?”
“Well, come in and see,” he tells him and motions with his head.
Aiden follows him with me following Aiden, and I hear Mona tell Eliahn, “It’s good to have another girl around.”
I walk to the back of the house where the kitchen is. “Look at all this,” Nick tells Aiden, and I groan. There are so many presents it covers the entire table. “This is my favorite one.” He gives Aiden the square box to open. He takes the box and tears open the wrapping, seeing it’s an iPad.
“Who the hell gives a six-year-old an iPad?” I look at him.
“You mean who besides his father gives a six-year-old an iPad?” I look over my shoulder to see that Eliahn is leaning against the island counter, trying not to laugh.
“The guy in the store said this would get me to the top of the list for best uncle, and that I might even win the best uncle awards.” He takes the box from Aiden. “And look, I found a picture of your mommy and daddy,” he says, opening the iPad, and a picture of us taken on the cruise shows up. “That might have been the night you were conceived,” he says, and we all yell his name. “What, not many people are lucky enough to have proof?” He looks over at us, and then I look at Aiden, who doesn’t even give a shit what is on his iPad screen saver.
Eliahn comes over to see the picture of the two of us sitting on one of the blue chairs from the cruise. I was lying down with the back pulled up a bit, and she was between my legs laughing at something I just said. Her hand hung on the one leg that was up, and our right hands were intertwined. “I never saw that picture,” Eliahn says.
“We took it from the bar,” Nick says to us. “He used that picture to try to find you,” he tells Eliahn, and I groan and roll my eyes. “It was almost like have you seen my cat? Except it was you.”
She turns to look at me, asking me softly, “You tried to find me?”
“Tried to find you?” Nick laughs. “Did you not tell her that Carnival banned you and almost sued you for impersonation of a lawyer?”
Mona lets out a laugh now; the only ones who knew how bad I had it for Eliahn were the boys. “Of course, he did.” I look at Eliahn who doesn’t say anything, and I watch her try to process all of this. I was going to tell her eventually; I mean, I might have left some things out.
“You had to see him. He sulked and sulked and sulked,” Nick continues.
“Okay, we get it,” I say. “What do you want to do for lunch?”
“Oh, I want to go check out the new brunch place they have by the water,” Mona says. “It’s supposed to have the best mimosas of life.”
“You think we need reservations?” Eliahn asks, and Nick just shakes his head.
“No, if anything, we will get Luca to call Lauren and have her husband put us on the list,” he says and then looks at Aiden. “When we come back, you can open the Xbox and PlayStation that I got you?” He winks at him.
“You’re taking all that back,” I tell him, “and then you can come back with a normal gift. Like, I don’t know, Hot Wheels.”
This makes Mona laugh. “Normal gift. Normal and Nick don’t go hand in hand.”
We walk out and decide to just take my car, and after we get in the car, Mona continues. “Remember that one year he got me pole dancing lessons?”
“That is good exercise,” Nick says, trying to plead his case. “Those girls hold their bodies up by their thighs.”
“He also installed a pole in our bedroom,” Mona says.
“To help you practice,” Nick points out.
“And put a chair right in front of it and had a disco ball also put in,” Mona says. “And came home with singles.”
I look in my mirror as Nick looks at her. “You loved it.”
“No”—she shakes her head—“you loved it.”
He smiles big, nodding his head. “I did love it. She still sometimes wears the outfits I bought her,” he says, and Mona punches his arm.
“Some things are private,” she hisses at him, and he puts his arm around her.
“It’s not my fault you’re a hot babe.” He kisses her lips. “Aiden, you’re super lucky you got the best uncle and hottest aunt in all the land.”
“Can I play on the pole?” Aiden asks him, and I groan inwardly.
“No, that is only for Auntie Mona. She hates to share,” Nick says, and Mona groans. “But we can kick around the soccer ball I bought for you.”
“I love soccer,” Aiden says when we pull up, and the valet takes the car away.
“This looks fancy,” Eliahn says, walking in, and she isn’t wrong.
The staircase leading to upstairs is the first thing that your eyes find when you walk in. To the right side of the restaurant against the back wall is the long bar with two bartenders behind it, running right and left. The piano playing makes me turn my head to the left where a baby grand piano sits on a stage in the corner with a man playing and another one playing the bass fills the room. All the tables around the room are filled as a hostess comes up to us. “How may I help you?”
“Four plus a child,” I tell her, and she looks down at her seating chart.
“Do you have reservations?” She looks up at me, and I shake my head when I hear Eliahn’s name being called. We all look over at a man who looks like he’s a supermodel with a perfect smile. His blond hair is perfectly flipped over to the right while his white pants are rolled up at the ankle, and he wears boat shoes. The blue T-shirt and dress coat make the outfit.
“Troy,” she says, going to him. “What are you doing here?”
“We were checking out this place. It’s supposed to be to die for,” he says, and she points back at us.
“We thought the same thing, but it looks like there isn’t any room.” Eliahn smiles.
He flicks his wrist. “No way. Suzie!” he yells over to us. “Can you put them at our table in the back?”
“Sure thing, Troy.” She smiles at him. “That’s Todd’s little sister,” he tells her and comes to us.
“I got us a table,” she says and then introduces us. “This is Troy, he and I share a cubicle at work.” Troy just nods; this is the guy she went home with. I stand tall, trying to puff out my chest even though he’s gay.
“Troy, this is my son, Aiden, his dad, Luca, and these are Luca’s best friends, Nick and Mona.” Nick is the one who leans forward and grabs his hand in a handshake.
“Nice to meet you,” Nick says, and then Troy holds out his hand to me, and I take it and smile.
“If you will follow me,” Suzie says. “Your table is ready.”
Troy walks in front with Eliahn and Aiden while Nick, Mona, and I walk behind them. “Dude, that guy is so pretty,” Nick says.
“Yeah,” I say when we walk through the doors in the back and come out to the back terrace. A low concrete wall is in the middle of the room with benches against them. Big white and blue striped cushions are against the wall and light blue ones on the concrete chair. Little bistro tables pushed together are everywhere.
“I found someone,” Troy says to a man who gets up, and I turn to Nick.
“They must be vampires,” he says. “No one is that pretty, let alone two of them.”
“Would you just shut up and try to be normal?” Mona whispers and hisses at the same time, and then smiles when Troy introduces us to his husband, Todd.
“So this is the dad,” Todd says, smiling at me and putting out his hand to greet me. “I’ve heard great things about you,” he says, smiling, and I have no doubt that it’s a bit of a lie.
Todd and Troy sit next to each other on the corner bench while Eliahn sits next to Troy, and Aiden sits in the middle of Eliahn and me. Mona and Nick sit facing the five of us.
Todd talks first. “Is this everyone’s first time here?” he asks, and we all nod our heads.
“I heard they have the best mimosas around,” Mona says, and Todd nods his head. Raising his hand, he motions for the waiter to come over.
“We will have a bottle of champagne for mimosas.” The waiter nods at him and turns to walk away when Nick tells him he will take a beer.
“I have issues with champagne,” he tells us, and Mona and I laugh.
“If by issues, you mean getting so drunk that you have to drive home with your head hanging out of the window, then yes, he has issues.” Mona laughs.
“I think Tom still has pictures,” I tell Mona. “It was so bad.” I look at everyone. “I was driving, thank God. And then when he rolled down the window, I had no idea what he was going to do till he just starting throwing up.” Everyone starts laughing.
“It’s funny now,” Mona says, “but not when it happened.” She shakes her head, closing her eyes.
“She was sitting behind me,” I tell them. “So when he started throwing up, I was going so fast it was coming inside. She woke up thinking it was raining in the car.” I laugh while Mona groans.
“It was so gross.” She looks at Nick, who shrugs.
“It was Luca’s fault; his driving sucks.” Nick grabs a glass of water that was filled up and takes a sip.
“Now that sounds like a party,” Troy says, then looks at Todd. “We need to party with them.”
“Anytime,” I tell them. You know what they say … keep your friends close and your enemies closer. Except is he really my enemy?
The waiter comes back with a bottle of champagne and what he says is freshly squeezed orange juice and a special blend for their mimosas. Aiden asks for apple juice, and he comes right back with that and the beer for Nick.
“Shall we have a toast?” Troy says. “To new friends and new beginnings.” He smiles and winks at Eliahn, and I look down at my plate. I want to hold her hand and then lean over and kiss her cheek, but with Aiden in the middle of us, all I can do is look at her and wink. She smiles and then grabs her glass.
We all hold up our glasses. Even Aiden wants to clink everyone’s glass. “Cheers,” I tell him, and he laughs and takes a sip of his apple juice, then turns to Eliahn.
“Cheers.” He holds up his glass again and does this with all of us.
I have one mimosa while Mona, Eliahn, Troy, and Todd have the rest. The four of them have a little clique going on, and I just look at Nick who shrugs. “You have to do it.” I hear Todd tell Mona. “Goat yoga is the new thing.”
“What?” I ask.
“So it’s yoga, but they have goats roaming around,” Troy starts to say. “It’s very relaxing.”
“I think Noah did that,” I tell them, and Todd just nods.
“You know Noah?” he asks me, and I nod my head. “I usually do yoga at Kaleigh’s studio. I know that Kaleigh brought him to it once,” he says. “Don’t listen to anything he says.” He shakes his finger. “A goat can not rape you.”
“What’s rape?” Aiden asks, and Nick just laughs.
“It’s a …” I try to find the words. “It’s not a nice word to say,” is the best I can come up with, and he just shrugs like whatever. I look over at Eliahn, who hides her smile with her glass of mimosa.
The food comes out, and we ordered so many dishes we need another table to put the food on. Aiden doesn’t care what we have; he has his spaghetti, so he’s a happy boy. The meal goes off smooth with some light conversations and a promise to get together soon, thanks to Mona and Eliahn.
“I need a nap,” Nick says from the back seat when he gets in. “I ate more than my share of food.”
“I told you not to eat all that,” Mona tells him and he puts his head back. When we get back to their house, I grab all the gifts, and Mona slips me the gift receipts, knowing I’m going to take half this shit back, and she’s not wrong.
He bought him every single game console under the sun. Some we had to google to see what they did. When supper rolls around, we just opt for light, which means light for us and pizza for Aiden.
“Daddy,” Aiden says at the table, “can you tuck me in even if I sleep at Mommy’s house?” I look at him, smiling.
“Whenever you want me to tuck you in, I’ll come and tuck you in,” I tell him, and he smiles. “Will you buy Mommy a pole like Auntie Mona?”
I laugh and look over at Eliahn, who kind of glares at me. “No, there will be no pole.”
“That’s too bad. She could pretend to be a fireman,” he says while he takes a bite of pizza and chews.
“It is too bad,” I say, and Eliahn full-on glares at me. “She would be a great fireman.”
“Hurry up and eat so your father can give you a bath,” she says, and I shake my head. This right here, this meal with the three of us, is exactly what my life was missing.